No one with any common sense should have ever worked at ground zero unless they were provided with proper gear to insulate them from the myriad of toxic elements in and around the area. It is commendable that so many risked their lives and did so anyway, but they were foolish to think that because some bureaucrat said it's OK, that it's really OK. I feel bad for these people but no one put a gun to their heads and told them they had to go there. It's like going into a war zone. Your odds of staying healthy are greatly dimmished every day you spend there. If you go you take the risk and suffer the consequences. Who said life is fair?

Posted by: thegup at November 29, 2006 11:44 AM

"Thegup", it wasn't "some bureaucrat", it was the head of the Environmental Protection Agency! Backed up, of course, by the criminal-in-chief at the White House. The people of New York - and many thousands of New Yorkers will undoubtedly develop these diseases, not just people who worked at ground zero - were deliberately lied to by their government. The liars need to go to prison, and all the victims need to be fully compensated - by the federal government, not the city of New York.

Posted by: Ken Sisson at November 29, 2006 12:16 PM

I have to decide what is plausible. I don't think any sensible person can rule out the dust from gound zero causing cancer.
When you look at the dust cloud you're lookin at a large portion of the two world trade buildings that were pulverized to fine dust. You have a variety of building materials, including asbestos, and you also have a wide spectrum of manufactured products; more than two hundred and fifty floors worth of computers, CRT and LCD monitors, flourescent light bulbs, various plastics and metals, and more. Consider the electronics alone; people have been advised for years to recycle printed circuit boards and CRT monitors to protect the groundwater. Not even in an enviornmentalists worst nightmare would these products be pulverized into dust and inhaled by people for months. It's safe to say that nobody has ever been exposed to anything like this. To ignore the possibility that this toxic cocktail could cause cancer is ridiculous.

Posted by: Christopher D Coccio at November 29, 2006 12:39 PM

I got Thyroid Cancer I was only there for one day.

Posted by: k9 at November 29, 2006 5:05 PM

I am most surprised that there has not been further outcry from the management and owners of companies with workers in the area. I worked 4 blocks from the pile for months, until the fires were out. I also went to classes at BMCC. 6 days a week. I got bloody noses every-day, and needed a combivent inhaler for two years. I know for a fact that many of my coworkers and classmates are in the same boat. I know the first responders deserve all of the care and attention they are getting, and much more, but what about the rest of NYC. The pollutants didn't stop at the fences.

Posted by: Matthew Sherian at November 29, 2006 5:14 PM

I've been sentenced to Death Row by going to do what I was trained to do as a Rescue Worker on 9/11 at the WTC. Who can help me explain to my young children that because I went to help others, I am slowly dying from lung disease and other ailments?

There is no accountability for the EPA lies. What is worse, Workers Comp denies my claims and wont pay the bills but they recognize I have lung disease from 9/11 and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Is there anyone out there listening?
WE NEED HELP!

Posted by: Reggie Cervantes at November 29, 2006 7:32 PM

JPMorgan Chase *demanded* that I return to the Ground Zero office to work. When I had a doctor tell them that no way were my asthmatic lungs going back there, that'd I'd work anywhere in midtown--they fired me based on the EPA's then assessment that the air and area were safe. The EPA sucks.

Posted by: at November 29, 2006 9:45 PM

The problem in this discussion is a measure of apples and oranges. Whittman's assurance was made to the general public, as opposed to rescuse workes, who, without respirators, might have just as well scooped up ground zero dust and mixed it in their breakfast drinks.

As usual, there is a middle ground. Rescue workers should have been forbidden access to the site until they had respirators with the proper filters. For this, the city should be held to account, and medical expenses and disabilities should be paid. At the same time one should also question the common sense of construction workers, steel workers, and other professionals who volunteered who did not demand respirators while they worked. The truth is they are cumbersome to wear, and I suggest this decision to work with proper protection was made, not just out of ignorance, but convenience.

So, Yes - I do believe in the cluster. But, I'm going to wait until I see where the EPA said it was OK for the ground zero workers to roll around in the dust unprotected - before I call people liars.

Posted by: Ken Wallo at November 30, 2006 10:42 AM

'Ken' Whitman was appointed to head the EPA, not elected (therefore a bureaucrat). The gov't lies all the time, not just this one, everyone, so if you believe them in matters of life and death, you are a fool. We are all products of the choices we make. If my boss said I had to go back to work around that stinking hole, I would seek differnet employment. Sometimes events occur that alter the way you make decisions. This was one of them. I feel bad for the people who have gotten sick from being in that place, but like I said, no one forced them there at gunpoint.

Posted by: thegup55 at November 30, 2006 10:49 AM

I'm Australian - but was living in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn at the time of 9/11 - when I returned that day - my entire neighbourhood was covered in ash - my apartment was filled also. In the summer of 2002 I developed a severe pain in my back, which I thought was a pulled muscle. The doctor gave me some muscle relaxants and told me to rest for a couple of days. Two days later I found it difficult to breathe - it was my lung - I was rushed to Lennox Hill hospital with bacterial pneumonia - here I had an operation to have my lung drained. As it turns out, last night I had some pain in my lung and now found this article in my in box....very concerned...just wondering if there are any other people in the Carroll Gardens area with lung issues...?

Posted by: Kim at November 30, 2006 6:46 PM

I have a chronic pain disorder as a result of a head-on collision suffered in 1997. As a secondary school teacher, I was no longer able to work. Not only have I had to deal with the pain, I have had to fight my car insurance and my extended health carrier WBR LeoP

Posted by: Health Pharmacy at March 9, 2007 11:22 PM

I was a Chaplin at Ground O 1 month after i returned to Ohio i noticed a white spot on my tongue watched it for 1 year and found out it was precancer they had to remove a large portion of the tongue also suffer from lung problems a leg weakness and pain i have been not abel to work since 2003 and receive no compensation at all.Dr's in Ohio have no clue how to even treat 911 responders thank god you live in NYC the cost to travel there from here for medical treatment is not possible .PLEASE get checked at once.for me it is to later my time is very short on this earth we did our best to answer the call for help and now they will not help us who are dieing.
GOD bless all who are suffering from 911.you are all in my prayers.
Fr.Stephen
Ohio

Posted by: Fr.Stephen at May 12, 2007 4:58 PM

i lived in dumbo across the river from ground zero. not only did the air get raided by the seemingly endless cloud, but the city parked piles of the crashed vehicles from ground zero a block from my home. the air smelled like ground zero for weeks on end. in 2004, at age 43, i was diagnosed with multiple myeloma (an extraordinarily young age for this highly rare cancer), a blood cell cancer that has been linked to benzene, a predominant burn element from the "pile". has anyone else in brooklyn gotten this/a blood cell cancer?

Posted by: Mike at June 2, 2007 8:54 PM