Bill Would Help Thousands Exposed to 9/11 Dust Plume

New York Slimes ^ | 3.27.2004 | Anthony DePalma

[NYC GOP Chick]

I liken those people to Chelsea Clinton and her b.s. stories about how she came running down here - in the middle of a major terrorist attack - in search of a payphone...

[Bahbah]

Ah, yes, Chelsea was jogging around the WTC, or maybe not. I'm very glad you are ok, BTW.

[NYC GOP Chick]

Ah, yes, Chelsea was jogging around the WTC, or maybe not. I'm very glad you are ok, BTW.

Jogging around it while clutching a grande latte! Thanks for the kind words -- I suppose I was lucky enough that if I had to be there, I was to the immediate east of the site, which turned out to be the least dangerous place to be. But I'd give *anything* not to have been there - and not to have the memories and nightmares that still haunt me. That's what drives me crazy about these people trying to glom on and pretend that they were personally affected: they have no idea that what they're wishing for themselves is beyond hideous and would haunt them for the rest of their lives.

[Ditter]

There are always those who will try to get onto the dole. Breathing problems are pretty obvious to even a layman. It should not be difficult to weed out the fakes.

[hellinahandcart]

You really need to re-read the article, Ditter. This bill is about paying for people with NO symptoms as yet.

Ms. Maloney said the expanded screening was needed because so much was still not known about the health impact of the dust cloud and the hazards it contained. "Right now, the only people coming forward are people who think they are sick," Ms. Maloney said. "The point of screening is that we don't know what is going to develop."

So naturally, we must screen everone who had even the briefest exposure to the cloud, and the federal government must pay. After giving billions to this city, it's not enough, we have demands we haven't BEGUN to make yet.

How about people just say "I dodged a real bullet on 9/11, I could have been killed in an act of war and yet here I am alive", instead of "those damned capitalists put bad stuff in thir buildings and somebody's gotta pay now"?

[Ditter]

Can you say "vote buying liberals"? Are we surprized? LOL

[Dog Anchor]

REPARATIONS...REPARATIONS

[jocko12]

A waste of taxpayers money.

[hellinahandcart]

A waste of taxpayers money.

Since the World Trade Center was a unique set of buildings, and any future attacks/ building collapses will probably bear only a slight resemblance to them, yes. The "health screening" isn't going to yield a lot of useful information, it will cost a fortune, and it will be used as a precedent to provide free extended medical care to anyone who is near anyplace where anything bad happens. Then it's only a small step to request it when disasters don't happen.

[spookycc]

[...]Oh, and I do have a damn good idea of what was in that cloud -- steel, glass, concrete, plastic and other things I *really* don't wish to ponder.

Too true, and too sad. One of the saddest songs post-9/11 was written (at least it's said) by a subway musician. It's called "Ashes of My Friends".

[Tabi Katz]

Ms. Maloney said the expanded screening was needed because so much was still not known about the health impact of the dust cloud and the hazards it contained.

That's the spirit! Whenever something can't be predicted with absolute certainty, sue the city's pants off. I might get sick someday due to the air I've been breathing all my life, not just since 9/11. Heck, I don't know all the potential long term affects of the food I put into my mouth last night. Who can I sue?

[lavrenti]

I was on 12th and University when this went down, and later with my daughter on Sixth Avenue when the north tower dropped. I still work within three blocks of GZ.

Emotionally impacted? Obviously. I took a number and waited patiently in the waiting room of life with EVERYONE ELSE until I was able to process whatever bothered me about the experience. Worked with my girl, too. CS Lewis Narnia Chronicles was her MSW.

As for the "plume" and its impact. Well, this happens when two buildings of its size and time of construction collapse in flames. Also, when they burn uncontrollably for several months. Happens. I know full well the risks involved from living and working in lower Manhattan. As does most. We choose to continue.

I'm annoyed. Manhattan is a tightly compacted city, with major traffic. Who knows what gets spewed in the air every day...for the last hundred years. So, they're crying about the WTC "plume"? Get over it. We did, and so did plenty of others. There's going to be a multiple number of co-factors in the illnesses we may have as we age. WTC is only one of several.

Ah, as usual, the demands of a neurotic few take precedence over the needs of everyone else.

Ugh.

[mewzilla]

Actually, we know of some folks who worked on the pile and are having pulmonary problems, a few severe. But the claims should be checked out, by all means. And I'm all for sending the bill to the Saudis.

[NYC GOP Chick]

I don't even want to think about that either.

[NYC GOP Chick]

The city, of course!

[NYC GOP Chick]

I'm annoyed. Manhattan is a tightly compacted city, with major traffic. Who knows what gets spewed in the air every day...for the last hundred years. So, they're crying about the WTC "plume"? Get over it. We did, and so did plenty of others. There's going to be a multiple number of co-factors in the illnesses we may have as we age. WTC is only one of several.

Right. And they're trying to turn us into a bunch of weaklings and wimps!

I still work within three blocks of GZ.

You and I probably cross paths on a regular basis. :)

[lavrenti]

Yep. You, me and 2 million plus others. Getting our Starbucks, flipping through CDs at J&R, grabbing a slice. Going to the new Borders.

Moving on with our lives.

[NYC GOP Chick]

Yes, I'm sure that at least some people who worked right on the site in the days and weeks afterward are suffering from pulmonary/respiratory problems, and I did mention them above as an exception.

I'm talking about people who live on the Upper West Side and were no further south than W.57th Street for the duration of the attacks (from the first tower being hit until both collapsed), and who were bitching about it months later.

I'm also talking about a screechy leftist hag who lives by the FDR Drive near Houston Street and was blaming all her woes on *allegedly* breathing those fumes.

I'm just wondering how I -- although I didn't work on the "pile" -- was here when the towers were hit (close enough to have been covered with tiny glass shards from the North tower), was caught up in the debris cloud when they collapsed, was back here a few days later to get stuff from my apartment and moved back a week after that, yet people who were miles away seem to have more health problems from this than I do.

[NYC GOP Chick]

Getting our Starbucks, flipping through CDs at J&R, grabbing a slice. Going to the new Borders.

OK, that settles it. You and I have *definitely* crossed paths! :)

[wtc911]

It was too hot in the pit to keep anything across your mouth to filter what you were breathing. A lot of the work was heavy lifting, no equipment bigger than a small garden spade was used (except for a saws-all to cut through beams). The pails were filled by hand and each handfull was sifted visually for any identifiable material. Any time spent even slightly below the surface of the rubble was like lifting weights in a smoke filled closet. If you didn't have goggles your eyes were grit-filled in no time.

We coughed for weeks afterwards but show no signs now. Twenty years from now will tell the story. I'm not at all surprised that some others who worked there in the first days are having problems.