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Proposed Settlement Not Nearly Enough for 9/11 Heroes
A proposed settlement has been reached of the more than 10,000 lawsuits by the rescue and recovery workers suffering serious illnesses from the toxic mix of chemicals, jet fuel, asbestos and other debris they were exposed to at Ground Zero of the Sept. 11 World Trade Center attack in 2001.
But congressional and union leaders say much more must be done to provide justice and health care for the nearly 60,000 workers and community members whose health is at risk from their exposure to the contaminated rubble.
Denis Hughes, president of the New York State AFL-CIO, says the proposal, which would establish a compensation fund of up to $657 million, will provide those involved in the lawsuit “some long overdue compensation for their injuries.” But he adds:
There are many more individuals who are sick than those who filed lawsuits….Overall, more than 55,000 responders and 4,500 community members are receiving medical monitoring and/or treatment in this program due to their 9/11 exposures and illnesses….These individuals need ongoing medical care, and those who are sick need to be fairly compensated for their losses.
In an op-ed in the New York Daily News, Reps. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) and Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), authors of the 9/11 Health and Compensation Act (H.R. 847)— which would establish a medical monitoring and treatment program for the Sept. 11 first responders and the community at the site of the attacks—say the settlement alone will not be enough to fully meet the financial or medical needs of the men and women who rushed into harm’s way on Sept. 11, or were innocent victims of the attacks.
Congress must finally pass our bill…which would provide long-term health care and compensation for all those who are sick because of the terrorist attacks on our city and nation.
The bill has already been approved by one House committee and is expected to be approved tomorrow by the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Health subcommittee. Says Hughes:
Nearly nine years after the Sept. 11 attacks and the collapse of the World Trade Center, it is time for Congress to act and pass the 9/11 Health and Compensation Act so the heroes of 9/11 and all of those who have been made sick finally get the medical care and compensation they need.
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New York committee for Occupational Safety & Health (NYCOSH) on WTC Court Settlement:
The proposed settlement of the lawsuit by 9/11 rescue and recovery workers acknowledges what the scientific literature already confirms – that health harm occurred from exposure to World Trade Center-derived environmental contaminants.
“These exposures were largely unnecessary and avoidable,” NYCOSH Executive Director Joel Shufro said Friday. “If city, state and government officials had enforced longstanding OSHA and EPA laws during the many months of work at ground zero, thousands of workers might have been spared the serious respiratory and other illnesses that have since devastated their lives.”
The existing regulatory framework of environmental and occupational safety and health laws is supposed to prevent avoidable exposures. But the regulatory framework failed for several reasons, Shufro said.
“The City of New York, both as the controlling entity at Ground Zero and as an employer of thousands of workers at Ground Zero, simply did not comply with applicable protective regulations for workers at the site.”
According to NYCOSH, applicable protective OSHA and EPA regulations were not enforced by federal or state agencies, either. “The sad fact is that politics won out over sound public health principles,” Shufro said.
Shufro stated that there are significant gaps in the regulatory framework that must also be addressed. As just one example, there are no protective legal limits for exposure to dioxin. EPA dioxin measurements blocks from the WTC were the highest ever recorded.
He said that while disaster preparedness and response has improved somewhat since 9/11 and Katrina, much more remains to be done.
In addition, Shufro noted that “the populations that have suffered adverse health impact from WTC-derived exposures are much broader than those covered by the proposed court settlement. For this reason, it’s essential that the pending federal James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act be passed in order to ensure long term access to medical care for those with persistent or late-emerging medical conditions, which the city’s proposed settlement does not.”
(NYCOSH is a union-based non-profit organization that has worked for 30 years to ensure safe and healthy workplaces. Since 9/11/2001, NYCOSH has worked closely with unions, employers, community and tenant organizations, faith-based groups, and government agencies on WTC environmental and occupational health issues.)
After the attorneys skim off their share of the loot, the remaining $$ would pay some workers with mild health problems as little as $3,250, although it would spare them of having to convince a jury that their illnesses were caused by World Trade Center ash, up to $1 mil for more serious injuries.
H.R. 847, the 9/11 Health and Compensation Act is the answer. Contact your House member and ask her/him to support the bill and get it on the floor for a vote.