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First Death Officially Tied to Exposure to Ground Zero Toxic Dust and Debris |
For the first time, the death of a survivor of the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center has been officially linked to exposure to the toxic dust and debris from the towers’ destruction by the city’s medical examiner.
But rescue and recovery workers, their unions, health care advocates and survivors and their families have long said there is a deadly link between the exposure to the poisonous Ground Zero rubble and the debilitating illnesses—and in some cases deaths—of those exposed.
The New York Times reports that the city’s chief medical examiner, Dr. Charles S. Hirsch, says he is “certain beyond a reasonable doubt” that exposure to the trade center dust contributed to the death of 42-year-old civil rights lawyer Felicia Dunn-Jones.
Dunn-Jones worked just a block from the World Trade Center and was exposed to the toxic cloud as she fled. The paper says she later developed a serious cough and breathing problems and died five months after the attack. According to The Times:
By making a formal connection between Mrs. Dunn-Jones’s death and her relatively brief exposure to the dust, the medical examiner’s decision could have a wide impact on how the city deals with the growing number of illnesses and deaths linked in some way to ground zero.
The medical examiner’s decision also could be cited as supporting evidence in the federal lawsuits filed against the city by thousands of firefighters, police officers and recovery workers who say they were injured by breathing the dust during the 10-month cleanup.
Last year, we reported how the Bush administration sought to cover up the toxic and chemical hazards workers faced at Ground Zero, including how Bush officials pressured the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to tone down reports about the potential health hazards resulting from the buildings’ collapse.
On Sept. 14, 2001, the Bush administration assured New Yorkers the air in proximity to the World Trade Center debris was safe.
This year, William Gleason told a Senate committee how he was forced to retire from his job as a lieutenant in the New York City Emergency Medical Service Command due to Ground Zero-related health problems. The AFSCME District Council 37 member told the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee:
I worked at Ground Zero from the night of September 11 and for the next two days. After that, I was assigned to work at Ground Zero for several more shifts until May 2002.…I began to experience health problems on September 12, 2001, when I could not breathe out of my nose. Shortly thereafter, I developed recurring sinus and upper respiratory infections…I get short of breath when I walk up stairs or even take walks down a long hall…have developed sleep apnea and require a machine at night that blows air into my lungs.
On Wednesday, we reported that the former head of the New York City’s Office of Emergency Management has sharply criticized former mayor and Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani for some his Sept. 11 actions, including Giuliani’s failure to require Ground Zero rescue and recovery workers to wear respirators to protect them from the dangerous dust and toxins.
Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) told The Times that Dunn-Jones’ death is further proof that work at Ground Zero is causing serious health problems.
The city medical examiner has now accepted what thousands of people with 9/11-related illnesses and their doctors have long understood: that ground zero dust was harmful and even deadly.
The AFL-CIO Executive Council has urged Congress to act immediately to address the pressing health of workers exposed to Ground Zero toxins, dust and debris.
2 Comments
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No one should be surprised. The Republicans do not care about common people. Only the very rich.
This is an enormously important article, and I support the AFL-CIO Executive Council is its efforts regarding this issue.
As it is, the EPA director at the time, Christie Todd Whitman, had faced questions about her having lied about the air quality at Ground Zero after the WTC attacks. When it got a little heated, she turned and blamed Giuliani’s administration. I’m not saying she was mistaken about that, but it seems to me that her public assurances that the air was safe led to a failure of policy, both municipal and federal (which was her balliwick after all), and cost people their lives.
Whitman, as well as Giuliani, both need to be questioned by Congress.