Health effects arising from the September 11, 2001 attacks

There has been growing concern over the health effects arising from the September 11 attacks in the Financial District

Financial District, Manhattan

The Financial District of New York City is a neighborhood on the southernmost section of the borough of Manhattan which comprises the offices and headquarters of many of the city's major financial institutions, including the New York Stock Exchange and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York...

of Lower Manhattan

Lower Manhattan

Lower Manhattan is the southernmost part of the island of Manhattan, the main island and center of business and government of the City of New York...

. Within seconds of the collapse of the World Trade Center

Collapse of the World Trade Center

The twin towers of the World Trade Center collapsed on September 11, 2001, as a result of al-Qaeda's September 11 attacks, in which terrorists affiliated with al-Qaeda hijacked four commercial passenger jet airliners, flying one into the North Tower and another into the South Tower...

, building materials, electronic equipment, and furniture were pulverized and spread over the area.

In the five months following the attacks, dust from the pulverized buildings continued to fill the air of the World Trade Center site

World Trade Center site

The World Trade Center site , also known as "Ground Zero" after the September 11 attacks, sits on in Lower Manhattan in New York City...

. Increasing numbers of New York residents are reporting symptoms of Ground Zero respiratory illnesses.

Materials in the 9/11 cloud, and potential for creating Ground Zero illnesses

The dust from the collapsed towers was "wildly toxic", according to air pollution expert and University of California Davis Professor Emeritus Thomas Cahill. The thousands of tons of toxic debris resulting from the collapse of the Twin Towers consisted of more than 2,500 contaminants, more specifically: 50% non-fibrous material and construction debris; 40% glass and other fibers; 9.2% cellulose; and 0.8% of the extremely toxic carcinogen asbestos

Asbestos

Asbestos is a set of six naturally occurring silicate minerals used commercially for their desirable physical properties. They all have in common their eponymous, asbestiform habit: long, thin fibrous crystals...

, as well as detectable amounts of lead, and mercury

Mercury (element)

Mercury is a chemical element with the symbol Hg and atomic number 80. It is also known as quicksilver or hydrargyrum...

. There were also unprecedented levels of dioxin and PAHs

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons , also known as poly-aromatic hydrocarbons or polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, are potent atmospheric pollutants that consist of fused aromatic rings and do not contain heteroatoms or carry substituents. Naphthalene is the simplest example of a PAH...

from the fires which burned for three months. Many of the dispersed substances (asbestos, crystalline silica, lead, cadmium, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) are carcinogenic; other substances can trigger kidney, heart, liver and nervous system deterioration. This was well known by the EPA at the time of collapse.

Ground Zero illnesses

This has led to debilitating illnesses among rescue and recovery workers, and the pulmonary fibrosis

Pulmonary fibrosis

Pulmonary fibrosis is the formation or development of excess fibrous connective tissue in the lungs. It is also described as "scarring of the lung".-Symptoms:Symptoms of pulmonary fibrosis are mainly:...

death of NYPD member Cesar Borja. Increasing numbers of cases are appearing in which first responders are developing serious respiratory ailments. Health effects also extended to some residents, students, and office workers of Lower Manhattan and nearby Chinatown

Chinatown, Manhattan

Manhattan's Chinatown , home to one of the highest concentrations of Chinese people in the Western hemisphere, is located in the borough of Manhattan in New York City...

Ground zero workers and cancer

On November 28, 2006, the Village Voice reported that several dozen recovery personnel have developed cancer

Cancer

Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...

– as opposed to having contracted respiratory ailments, and that doctors have argued that some of these cancers developed as a result of the exposure to toxins at the Ground Zero site:
"To date, 75 recovery workers at ground zero have been diagnosed with blood cell cancers that a half-dozen top doctors and epidemiologists have confirmed as having been likely caused by that exposure."

Judgments and statements by leading physicians

Dr. Larry Norton of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Hospital said "Why isn't the whole nation mobilizing to take care of the chronic health impact of this disaster?". Dr. Norton cited the 70 percent illness rate among first responders as "a wake up call." Dr. Nathaniel Hupert of Weill Cornell Medical College, quoted by Jill Gardiner of the October 4, 2006 issue of the New York Sun

New York Sun

The New York Sun was a weekday daily newspaper published in New York City from 2002 to 2008. When it debuted on April 16, 2002, adopting the name, motto, and masthead of an otherwise unrelated earlier New York paper, The Sun , it became the first general-interest broadsheet newspaper to be started...

said that premature deaths and other ailments of dogs in the area are "our canary in the coalmine."
Richard Clapp and David Ozonoff, professors of environmental health at Boston University School of Public Health

Boston University School of Public Health

Boston University School of Public Health is Boston University's graduate School of Public Health. It is located in the heart of Boston University's Medical Campus in the South End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. The Dean is Robert Meenan...

; Michael Thun, director of epidemiological research at the American Cancer Society

American Cancer Society

The American Cancer Society is the "nationwide community-based voluntary health organization" dedicated, in their own words, "to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives, and diminishing suffering from cancer, through research, education, advocacy, and...

; Francine Laden, assistant professor of environmental epidemiology

Epidemiology

Epidemiology is the study of health-event, health-characteristic, or health-determinant patterns in a population. It is the cornerstone method of public health research, and helps inform policy decisions and evidence-based medicine by identifying risk factors for disease and targets for preventive...

at Harvard School of Public Health

Harvard School of Public Health

The Harvard School of Public Health is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University, located in the Longwood Area of the Boston, Massachusetts neighborhood of Mission Hill, which is next to Harvard Medical School. HSPH is considered a significant school focusing on health in the...

; Jonathan Samet, chairman of the epidemiology department at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is part of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...

; and Charles Hesdorffer, associate professor of oncology at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine

Johns Hopkins School of Medicine

The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine , located in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S., is the academic medical teaching and research arm of Johns Hopkins University. Hopkins has consistently been the nation's number one medical school in the amount of competitive research grants awarded by the National...

argue that the cancer incidence among monitored individuals cannot be called a coincidence. They assert that the Ground Zero cloud was likely the cause of the illnesses. The American College of Preventative Medicine is concerned that malignant mesothelioma

Mesothelioma

Mesothelioma, more precisely malignant mesothelioma, is a rare form of cancer that develops from the protective lining that covers many of the body's internal organs, the mesothelium...

will develop among persons exposed to Ground Zero air.

2010 New York Fire Department Medical Office Study

A study of 5000 rescue workers published in April 2010 by Dr. David J. Prezant the chief medical officer for the Office of Medical Affairs at the New York City Fire Department found that all the workers studied had impaired lung functions with an average impairment of 10 percent. The study found the impairments presented itself in the first year of after the attack with little or no improvements in the ensuing six years. 30 to 40 percent of workers were reporting persistent symptoms and 1000 of the group studied were on “permanent respiratory disability”. Dr. Prezant noted the medications that are being given ease symptoms but are not a cure. Dr. Byron Thomashow, medical director of the Center for Chest Disease and Respiratory Failure at New York–Presbyterian/Columbia hospital said that "The drop-off in lung function initially is really quite significant and doesn’t get better. That’s not what we’ve generally come to expect in people with fire and smoke exposure. They usually recover."

Ongoing monitoring of first responders' and residents' health

There is scientific speculation that exposure to various toxic products and the pollutants in the air surrounding the Towers after the WTC collapse may have negative effects on fetal development. Due to this potential hazard, a notable children's environmental health center (Columbia University Center for Children's Health) is currently analyzing the children whose mothers were pregnant during the WTC collapse, and were living or working near the World Trade Center towers. The staff of this study assesses the children using psychological testing every year and interviews the mothers every six months. The purpose of the study is to determine whether there is significant difference in development and health progression of children whose mothers were exposed, versus those who were not exposed after the WTC collapse.

Mount Sinai Medical Center

Mount Sinai Hospital, New York

Mount Sinai Hospital, founded in 1852, is one of the oldest and largest teaching hospitals in the United States. In 2011-2012, Mount Sinai Hospital was ranked as one of America's best hospitals by U.S...

is conducting an ongoing monitoring program, World Trade Center Worker and Volunteer Medical Screening Program.
A leader of Mt. Sinai monitoring efforts is Stephen M. Levin, Medical Director of the Mount Sinai – Irving J. Selikoff Center for Occupational and Environmental Medicine. First responders met in a conference, November 11, 2006 in an effort to monitor responders' health. The event was organized by the World Trade Center Monitoring Program.

An ongoing Pennsylvania State University

Pennsylvania State University

The Pennsylvania State University, commonly referred to as Penn State or PSU, is a public research university with campuses and facilities throughout the state of Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1855, the university has a threefold mission of teaching, research, and public service...

/Monmouth University

Monmouth University

Monmouth University is a private university located in West Long Branch, New Jersey, United States.Founded in 1933 as Monmouth Junior College, it became Monmouth College in 1956, and later Monmouth University in 1995 after receiving its charter....

study reported that respiratory illnesses grew by more than two hundred percent in the year and a half after the September 11 attacks. (This was the first study that monitored police officers at the Ground Zero site. It was published in the "Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.") In this study of 471 police officers, 19 percent of the officers in October 2001 experienced shortness of breath; 44 percent of the officers experienced shortness of breath in April 2003. The percentage of the 471 officers coughing up phlegm

Phlegm

Phlegm is a liquid secreted by the mucous membranes of mammalians. Its definition is limited to the mucus produced by the respiratory system, excluding that from the nasal passages, and particularly that which is expelled by coughing . Phlegm is in essence a water-based gel consisting of...

increased from 14 percent in October 2001 to 31 percent in 2003.

A 2006 medical study of fire fighters reported that those personnel who inhaled Ground Zero air essentially lost 12 years of lung function. Additionally, a Mount Sinai report found that 70 percent of recovery and rescue workers reported an increase in debilitated respiratory function between 2002 and 2004.

A 2008 report by New York City's Department of Health indicated that up to 70,000 people might have long term health problems due to the dust. The findings were the result of the city's health registry of September 11 first responders, residents, and others.

August 2007 deadline for Ground Zero-related worker's compensation

Apparently, out of at least 100,000 eligible, fewer than 14,000 have registered, as reported by the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health

National Council for Occupational Safety and Health

The National Council for Occupational Safety and Health is established under Part III of the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994.The composition and the duties of the council has been laid out under this Part of the Act, the section related to the National Council for Occupational Safety and...

. The final registration deadline for September 11-related workers' compensation was August 14, 2007.

Filing extension by Governor Eliot Spitzer

On July 12, 2007, Governor Eliot Spitzer

Eliot Spitzer

Eliot Laurence Spitzer is an American lawyer, former Democratic Party politician, and political commentator. He was the co-host of In the Arena, a talk-show and punditry forum broadcast on CNN until CNN cancelled his show in July of 2011...

extended to August 14, 2008 the filing deadline for worker's compensation claims, for people who worked or volunteered at Ground Zero. Individuals would register with the State Workers’ Compensation Board.

World Trade Center health administrators and controversies

On June 11, 2007, Mayor Bloomberg appointed Jeffrey Hon as World Trade Center health coordinator. Hon had previously worked as the spokesman for the American Red Cross

American Red Cross

The American Red Cross , also known as the American National Red Cross, is a volunteer-led, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief and education inside the United States. It is the designated U.S...

September 11 Recovery Program. People have offered conflicting statements, however, regarding Hon's role. In an interview with the New York Daily News

New York Daily News

The Daily News of New York City is the fourth most widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 605,677, as of November 1, 2011....

Hon said that his role was to correct inconsistencies in city agencies and to handle related pension issues. Yet, Mayor Bloomberg said that Hon's role would not involve handling pension-related issues. A press release also indicated that the coordinator will "provide a central repository of WTC health information and ensure effective communication with those who may be experiencing 9/11-related health effects."

Dr. John Howard

John Howard (public health administrator)

John Howard is a physician, professor, and public health administrator. He served a 6-year term as the director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and was appointed to be a special coordinator to respond to the health effects of the September 11 attacks...

was appointed the medical administrator of the federal James Zadroga Act fund. On July 22, 2011, Howard's report on a study of a link between particulate exposure in the aftermath and cancer was released. The report said that there was insufficient evidence of a link between particulate exposure and cancer. The report's findings meant that many first responders to the attacks would be limited in their access to funds for medical treatment. Three New York Congressional delegation Representatives, Peter T. King

Peter T. King

Peter T. "Pete" King is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1993. He is a member of the Republican Party. King's central Long Island district includes parts of Nassau and Suffolk counties....

, Carolyn B. Maloney

Carolyn B. Maloney

Carolyn Bosher Maloney is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1993. She is a member of the Democratic Party. The district, popularly known as the "silk stocking district", includes most of Manhattan's East Side; Astoria and Long Island City in Queens; and Roosevelt Island.-Early life,...

and Jerrold Nadler

Jerrold Nadler

Jerrold Lewis "Jerry" Nadler is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1992. He is a member of the Democratic Party.The district includes the west side of Manhattan from the Upper West Side down to Battery Park, including the site where the World Trade Center stood...

, said that they believed that further studies would indicate a link between exposures and cancer.

Early findings and muted warnings

Dr. Edwin M. Kilbourne, a high level federal scientist, issued a memo on September 12, 2001 to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are a United States federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services headquartered in Druid Hills, unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, in Greater Atlanta...

against the speedy return to buildings in the area because of possible hazards from various toxic materials.

Associate City Health Commissioner Kelly McKinney on October 6, 2001 said that proper safety protocol for WTC site workers was not being enforced.

President George W. Bush's alleged manipulation of EPA statements

President George W. Bush

George W. Bush

George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

has been faulted by the Sierra Club

Sierra Club

The Sierra Club is the oldest, largest, and most influential grassroots environmental organization in the United States. It was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by the conservationist and preservationist John Muir, who became its first president...

for allegedly interfering with the United States Environmental Protection Agency

United States Environmental Protection Agency

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is an agency of the federal government of the United States charged with protecting human health and the environment, by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress...

(EPA) interpretations and pronouncements regarding air quality.

Early statement by Christine Todd Whitman

On September 18, 2001, EPA administrator

Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency

The Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency is the head of the United States federal government's Environmental Protection Agency, and is thus responsible for enforcing the nation's Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, as well as numerous other environmental statutes. The Administrator is...

Christine Todd Whitman

Christine Todd "Christie" Whitman is an American Republican politician and author who served as the 50th Governor of New Jersey from 1994 to 2001, and was the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency in the administration of President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2003. She was New...

told the public, via a press release, "We are very encouraged that the results from our monitoring of air-quality and drinking-water conditions in both New York and near the Pentagon show that the public in these areas is not being exposed to excessive levels of asbestos or other harmful substances" and that "Given the scope of the tragedy from last week, I am glad to reassure the people of New York … that their air is safe to breathe and the water is safe to drink."

Alleged EPA deceptions about Ground Zero air quality

An August 2003 report by the Office of the Inspector General of the EPA said the Bush administration pressured the EPA to remove cautionary information about the air quality at Ground Zero.

Numerous key differences between the draft versions and final versions of EPA statements were found. A recommendation that homes and businesses near ground zero be cleaned by professionals was replaced by a request that citizens follow orders from NYC officials. Another statement that showed concerns about "sensitive populations" was deleted altogether. Language used to describe excessive amounts of asbestos in the area was altered drastically to minimize the dangers it posed.

In September 2006, the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security

United States House Committee on Homeland Security

The U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives, the lower house of Congress. Its responsibilities include U.S...

held a two-day hearing on illnesses caused by post-9/11 air quality. Former EPA head Christine Todd Whitman

Christine Todd Whitman

was a frequent target of criticism.

EPA scientist Dr. Cate Jenkins said on CBS

CBS

CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

television on September 8, 2006 that agency officials lied about the air quality in the weeks following September 11, 2001. She said that in her opinion the EPA knew about the toxicity of the air, and that WTC dust included asbestos and disturbingly high PH levels. She said that some of the dust was "as caustic and alkaline as Drano." Dr. Marjorie Clarke

Marjorie Clarke

Marjorie J. Clarke, Ph.D., is an environmental scientist who specializes in recycling participation, waste prevention methods, waste-to-energy/incinerator emissions controls, environmental impacts of the World Trade Center fires and collapse, and community botanical gardening; her experience also...

also warned of the consequences of breathing toxic dust and fumes. Yet, agencies did not heed her warnings.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is responsible for the conservation, improvement, and protection of natural resources within the U.S. state of New York. It was founded in 1970, replacing the previous Conservation Department...

conducted a study of the World Trade Center site, but refused to release the results of its study, saying they were part of a criminal investigation.

On September 13, 2006, Congressmen Jerrold Nadler

Jerrold Nadler

(NY), Anthony Weiner (NY), Bill Pascrell Jr. (NJ) filed a request with US Attorney General

Attorney General

In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...

Alberto Gonzalez to investigate whether criminal charges may be brought against Whitman for lying about air safety in the Ground Zero area.

Alleged government downplaying of health risks

Critics assert that government officials – notably Bush, Christine Todd Whitman

Christine Todd Whitman

(former head of the United States Environmental Protection Agency

United States Environmental Protection Agency

), and then-New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani

Rudy Giuliani

Rudolph William Louis "Rudy" Giuliani KBE is an American lawyer, businessman, and politician from New York. He served as Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001....

– downplayed the health risks of the area and rushed to reopen the area around Ground Zero, although this posed a grave and immediate health risk to first responders. Many corporations were eager to hear the news of the New York Stock Exchange

New York Stock Exchange

The New York Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located at 11 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, USA. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies at 13.39 trillion as of Dec 2010...

being reopened only a few days after the collapse. On June 25, 2007, Whitman testified before a House of Representatives

United States House of Representatives

The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...

committee chaired by Jerrold Nadler

Jerrold Nadler

. She said that a White House

White House

The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...

official informed her that President Bush expected that the Financial District would reopen within three days, that is, by September 14. She said that she replied that this would be cumbersome, since the EPA was still judging the health situation in the area.
Investigations after the attacks suggest that the Bush administration pressured Whitman and Giuliani to provide health reassurances in order to keep Wall Street operating.

Statements by Mayor Rudy Giuliani

Two days after the collapse of the World Trade Center

Collapse of the World Trade Center

, mayor Giuliani said, "The air is safe as far as we can tell, with respect to chemical and biological agents." Giuliani, in attempting to deflate New York Daily News

New York Daily News

The Daily News of New York City is the fourth most widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 605,677, as of November 1, 2011....

journalist Juan Gonzalez

Juan Gonzalez (journalist)

Juan González is an American progressive broadcast journalist and investigative reporter. He has also been a columnist for the New York Daily News since 1987...

' reportage of the 9/11 air issue, claimed that "the problems created… are not health-threatening."
In the first month after the attacks, the mayor said, "The air quality is safe and acceptable."

In November 2001, Giuliani wrote to the city's Congressional delegation and urged that the city's liability

Legal liability

Legal liability is the legal bound obligation to pay debts.* In law a person is said to be legally liable when they are financially and legally responsible for something. Legal liability concerns both civil law and criminal law. See Strict liability. Under English law, with the passing of the Theft...

for Ground Zero illnesses be limited, in total, at $350 million. Two years after Mayor Giuliani finished his term, FEMA appropriated $1 billion to a special insurance fund to protect the city against 9/11 lawsuits.

In a September 18, 2006 New York Daily News article titled, "Rudy's Black Cloud: WTC health risks may hurt Prez Bid", Sally Regenhard

Sally Regenhard

Sally Regenhard is an American activist who has become one of the leading voices for the families of the victims of the September 11 attacks. A former long-time resident of Co-op City in The Bronx in New York City who has degrees in behaviorial sciences and gerontology and has worked in the...

, mother of Firefighter Christian Regenhard, who died on September 11, is quoted, "There's a large and growing number of both FDNY families, FDNY members, former and current, and civilian families who want to expose the true failures of the Giuliani administration when it comes to 9/11." She told the New York Daily News that she intends to "Swift Boat

Swift Boat

Swift Boat may refer to:*a Patrol Craft Fast*Swift Vets and POWs for Truth, originally named Swift Boat Veterans For Truth*Swiftboating, political jargon for a particular form of character assassination as a smear tactic...

" Giuliani.

Then senator Hillary Rodham Clinton

Hillary Rodham Clinton

Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton is the 67th United States Secretary of State, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She was a United States Senator for New York from 2001 to 2009. As the wife of the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, she was the First Lady of the...

contemplated calling Giuliani to testify before a Senate committee on whether the government failed to protect recovery workers from the effects of polluted Ground Zero air.

Congressman Nadler was quoted in a March 1, 2007 "New York Sun" article,
"Potential Clinton-Giuliani Battle Brews Over 9/11 Health Issues." He said that he "absolutely" wishes to interview Giuliani administration officials regarding the environment in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. He asked, "Who made decisions, if any, that resulted unnecessarily in a lot of people getting sick?"

Handling of cleanup procedure

A May 14, 2007 New York Times article, "Ground Zero Illness Clouding Giuliani's Legacy", gave the interpretation that thousands of workers at Ground Zero have become sick and that "many regard Mr. Giuliani's triumph of leadership as having come with a human cost." The article reported that he seized control of the cleanup of Ground Zero, taking control away from established federal agencies, such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency

Federal Emergency Management Agency

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security, initially created by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1978 and implemented by two Executive Orders...

, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration

Occupational Safety and Health Administration

The United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Labor. It was created by Congress of the United States under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, signed by President Richard M. Nixon, on December 29, 1970...

. He instead handed over responsibility to the "largely unknown" city Department of Design and Construction. Documents indicate that the Giuliani administration never enforced federal requirements requiring the wearing of respirators. Concurrently, the administration threatened companies with dismissal if cleanup work slowed.

Workers worked without proper respirators. They wore painters' masks or no covering. Specialists claim that the only effective protection against toxins such as airborne asbestos, is a special respirator. New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health industrial hygenist David Newman said, "I was down there watching people working without respirators." He continued, "Others took off their respirators to eat. It was a surreal, ridiculous, unacceptable situation."

The local EPA office sidelined the regional EPA office. Dr. Cate Jenkins, a whistle-blower EPA scientist, said that on September 12, 2001, a regional EPA office offered to dispatch 30 to 40 electron microscopes to the WTC pit to test bulk dust samples for the presence of asbestos fibers. Instead, the local office chose the less effective polarized light microscopy testing method. Dr. Jenkins alleged that the local office refused, saying, "We don't want you f---ing cowboys here. The best thing they could do is reassign you to Alaska."

Lawsuit, settlement, and treatment costs

First responders and other individuals are suing the City of New York. Lawyers are criticizing the city for failing to provide proper facial ventilators to clean-up workers

Rescue and recovery effort after the September 11, 2001 attacks

The rescue and recovery effort after the September 11 attacks comprised the local, state and federal agency reaction to the September 11 attacks. The unprecedented events of that day elicited the largest response of local emergency and rescue personnel to assist in the evacuation of the two towers...

.
On October 17, 2006, federal judge Alvin K. Hellerstein rejected New York City's motion to dismiss lawsuits that requested health payments to the first responders.

On November 19, 2010, attorneys said that plaintiffs accepted a settlement which should lead to $625 million being paid to more than 10,000 workers experiencing problems as a result of inadequate preparation to work at Ground Zero. Not all affected participated, but those who did not would be eligible for a portion of $7.4 billion provided by the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, which the U.S. House

United States House of Representatives

passed in September 2010. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg

Michael Bloomberg

Michael Rubens Bloomberg is the current Mayor of New York City. With a net worth of $19.5 billion in 2011, he is also the 12th-richest person in the United States...

asked the Senate

United States Senate

The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...

to do the same. The plaintiffs in the settlement would also be eligible for compensation under the Zadroga Act.

On December 22, 2010, the United States Senate

United States Senate

passed a 9/11 Health Bill running against opposition of the Republican Party

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

. The measure calls for providing $1.8 billion until 2015 to monitor and treat injuries stemming from exposure to toxic dust and debris at World Trade Center site

World Trade Center site

The World Trade Center site , also known as "Ground Zero" after the September 11 attacks, sits on in Lower Manhattan in New York City...

. There are nearly 60,000 people enrolled in health-monitoring and treatment programs related to the 9/11 attack. The bill is formally known as the James Zadroga

James Zadroga

James Zadroga was a New York City Police Department officer who died of a respiratory disease that has been attributed to his participation in rescue and recovery operations in the rubble of the World Trade Center following the September 11 attacks...

9/11 Health and Compensation Act, named after a New York police detective who took part in the rescue efforts at ground zero and later developed breathing complications.

On October 28, 2007, Jim Riches reported that the City of New York and litigating first responders have shown interest in a legal settlement, to resolve lawsuits against the city. The settlement would yield a financial settlement apportioned in the following manner: forty percent to lawyers, and sixty percent to litigants.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health is the United States’ federal agency responsible for conducting research and making recommendations for the prevention of work-related injury and illness. NIOSH is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention within the U.S...

issued a study on July 17, 2007 indicating that the estimates for monthly costs of treating Ground Zero workers had increased from around $6 million per month to $20 million per month by the end of 2007. The causes of the increased expense lie in the increasing numbers of workers getting sick and the worsening illnesses of workers. This indicated that the planned U.S. House appropriation legislation (of $50 million) for the sick workers, for the coming year, would be inadequate. The number of workers that have registered with area hospitals' Ground Zero programs has reached 37,000. With about 500 new workers registering each month, the institute estimated that the number of registrants could reach 65,000 in two years. (The institute is overseen by the Department of Health and Human Services.) 40 percent of the World Trade Center workers being monitored by a Mount Sinai Hospital study lack health insurance.

In June 2008, New York City argued in federal court that 30 percent of the September 11 plaintiffs did not have serious injuries. This is part of a larger debate over the number of people sickened by the collapse of the Twin Towers.

Fallen first responders, workers, volunteers and office workers

Sister Cindy Mahoney, hospice volunteer
Mark DeBiase, communications worker
James Zadroga
James Zadroga
James Zadroga was a New York City Police Department officer who died of a respiratory disease that has been attributed to his participation in rescue and recovery operations in the rubble of the World Trade Center following the September 11 attacks...

, NYPD officer (The causes of Zadroga's death are under dispute. He was originally determined to have died from 9/11 dust. However, the City medical examiner asserted that Zadroga died from self-injection of drugs. On the other hand, a third doctor backs the original claim of WTC dust responsibility. James' father, Joseph, said that the medical examiner reported no "track marks on his arms or body.")
NYPD officer Cesar Borja (Although Officer Borja was referred to in the press as a "first responder", The New York Times reported in February 2007 that Borja actually did not go on duty near the World Trade Center site until late December 2001. He did work traffic and security posts at the site, 12 hours per day.)
NYPD Detective Robert Williamson
Felicia Dunn-Jones, attorney (she was added to the official 9/11 list of fatalities)
NYPD Officer Kevin Hawkins
NYPD Officer Frank Macri

The lead researcher of a New York State Department of Health

New York State Department of Health

The New York State Department of Health, ', is the governmental body responsible for public health in the state of New York. The cabinet-level department is headed by the Health Commissioner, a position held since January 24, 2011 by Nirav R. Shah, M.D., M.P.H.....

study informed The New York Post of a study documenting at least 204 deaths of rescue and recovery workers since September 11, 2001. The researchers for the study confirmed 98 deaths with death certificates. The researchers showed that 77 persons died of illnesses, including 55 from lung and various other cancers. Kitty Gelberg, New York state Bureau of Occupational Health's chief epidemiologist said, "We're not saying they are all World Trade Center related; we're just saying this is what people are dying from." Many of the 55 responders who passed away from cancer had cancer before September 11, 2001, but most of the cancer patients developed the disease afterward.

The 98 deaths include:

55 cancers
21 traumatic injuries (motor-vehicle crashes, gunshots and five homicides, including four cops killed in the line of duty)
12 heart disease, including 10 heart attacks
2 sarcoidosis
Sarcoidosis
Sarcoidosis , also called sarcoid, Besnier-Boeck disease or Besnier-Boeck-Schaumann disease, is a disease in which abnormal collections of chronic inflammatory cells form as nodules in multiple organs. The cause of sarcoidosis is unknown...
1 polyneuropathy
Polyneuropathy
Polyneuropathy is a neurological disorder that occurs when many peripheral nerves throughout the body malfunction simultaneously. It may be acute and appear without warning, or chronic and develop gradually over a longer period of time. Many polyneuropathies have both motor and sensory...

(neorological disorder)
1 pneumonia
1 granuloma pneumonitis
Pneumonitis
Pneumonitis or pulmonitis is a general term that refers to inflammation of lung tissue.Pneumonia is pneumonitis combined with consolidation and exudation...
1 alcoholism
1 amyloidosis
Amyloidosis
In medicine, amyloidosis refers to a variety of conditions whereby the body produces "bad proteins", denoted as amyloid proteins, which are abnormally deposited in organs and/or tissues and cause harm. A protein is described as being amyloid if, due to an alteration in its secondary structure, it...

(bone marrow
Bone marrow
Bone marrow is the flexible tissue found in the interior of bones. In humans, bone marrow in large bones produces new blood cells. On average, bone marrow constitutes 4% of the total body mass of humans; in adults weighing 65 kg , bone marrow accounts for approximately 2.6 kg...

disorder)
1 kidney disease

First responders

In particular, first responders, New York Police Department and Fire Department of New York members that reported to Ground Zero, have asserted that they are victims of diseases associated with the toxic cloud from the pulverized buildings and equipment.
(See article: Rescue and recovery effort after the September 11 attacks.) NYPD Detective James Zadroga

James Zadroga

, 34, was the first 9/11 responder whose 2006 death was directly linked with toxic Ground Zero substances.
Gerard Breton, a pathologist of the Ocean County, New Jersey

Ocean County, New Jersey

-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 510,916 people, 200,402 households, and 137,876 families residing in the county. The population density was 803 people per square mile . There were 248,711 housing units at an average density of 151/km²...

medical examiner's office (which conducted an autopsy

Autopsy

An autopsy—also known as a post-mortem examination, necropsy , autopsia cadaverum, or obduction—is a highly specialized surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse to determine the cause and manner of death and to evaluate any disease or injury that may be present...

), reported that "It is felt with a reasonable degree of medical certainty that the cause of death in this case was directly related to the 9/11 incident."

Cesar Borja, a veteran of the NYPD, died, falling ill from lung disease. He had spent 16 hour days at the smoldering wreckage of Ground Zero. Detective Robert Williamson, 46, died from pancreatic and lung cancer on May 13, 2007. He worked for 16 hour days, without taking days off, in performing recovery work at the Ground Zero site. After the clean up effort, he was among individuals that lobbied Governor George Pataki to sign a bill permitting retirees suffering from Ground Zero illnesses to have their illnesses reclassified and to receive additional pension benefits. His family and union believe that his cancers were directly caused by exposure to Ground Zero dust at the World Trade Center site.

20 year veteran of the NYPD, Officer Kevin Hawkins, 41, died in May 2007 from kidney cancer, soon after filing for a Ground Zero disability pension. He had worked two months at the Ground Zero site. NYPD Officer Frank Macri died of lung cancer that spread throughout his body on September 3, 2007. Macri's lungs were filled with dust when the towers collapsed and he later spent two months working on the site. The long hours on the site gave him vomiting spells and he was diagnosed with an already rapidly progressing stage four cancer only one year after the attack, despite being a non-smoker and cancer free before the attacks.

Surviving first responders and their advocates are asserting that their illnesses have resulted from exposure to toxins at Ground Zero. The Patrolmen's Benevolent Association of the City of New York

Patrolmen's Benevolent Association of the City of New York

The Patrolmen's Benevolent Association of the City of New York is the largest labor union representing police officers of the New York City Police Department. Several representatives of the Association sit on the board of the New York City Police Pension Fund...

(PBA) filed a lawsuit to secure benefits for Officer Christopher Hynes, 36. In March 2004 he was diagnosed as having sarcoidosis. However, the NYPD has refused to bestow line-of-duty injury status to him. Hynes had worked for 111 hours at Ground Zero and its vicinity. He claims that he was never given a proper respirator for his work at Ground Zero. He has had difficulty in paying medical bills because of the denial of line-of-duty status. One medical provider sued him for $3,094 for medical bills. The provider eventually settled out of court for $1,625. The PBA noted that firefighters, by contrast, have been given line-of-duty status for their injuries.

Various volunteers

Hundreds of volunteer firefighters, construction workers, health professionals, clergy, and other individuals descended upon the scene in the days immediately following the attacks. These individuals volunteered directly at the Ground Zero site or cared for traumatized responders. Among individuals in the latter group, newspaper accounts have cited South Carolinian Episcopal nun, Sister Cindy Mahoney’s death as a fatality of Ground Zero illness. Mahoney spent several months attending to first responders’ spiritual needs. Two weeks prior to her death, she was cut off from her insurance. She choked to death on November 1, 2006, following five years of lung troubles.

Sen. Hillary Clinton on Sister Mahoney and Ground Zero illness: “We know that so many are now suffering health effects from breathing the toxic air at Ground Zero … Yet there are still some who doubt the link. By raising attention to her own devastating illness, Sister Mahoney will continue as she did in life, to help those affected by 9/11.”

Communication workers

Communications recovery worker Mark DeBiase, aged 41, died on April 9, 2006 from a Ground Zero illness. He worked without protective gear for restoring communications at the site. "DeBiase's work was so crucial in emergency workers to communicate that he was shuttled between locations in a military helicopter," according to his father, Angelo DeBiase.

Janitorial workers

Manuel Checo is one of many janitors that performed cleanup work who now suffer from World Trade Center cough. He spent six months at the site. Compounding janitorial workers’ troubles, three-quarters of them lack health insurance.

Financial district personnel

Civil rights attorney Felicia Dunn-Jones, 42, died February 10, 2002, from sarcoidosis

Sarcoidosis

Sarcoidosis , also called sarcoid, Besnier-Boeck disease or Besnier-Boeck-Schaumann disease, is a disease in which abnormal collections of chronic inflammatory cells form as nodules in multiple organs. The cause of sarcoidosis is unknown...

. The city's chief medical examiner belatedly attributed her death to her being engulfed in the dust cloud from the collapse of the Twin Towers, one block from her office.

Mayor Rudy Giuliani

Rudy Giuliani

Rudolph William Louis "Rudy" Giuliani KBE is an American lawyer, businessman, and politician from New York. He served as Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001....

acted quickly to "reopen Wall Street

Wall Street

Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...

." The Wall Street area reopened for business on September 17.

Educators and students

Students and staff at Stuyvesant High School

Stuyvesant High School

Stuyvesant High School , commonly referred to as Stuy , is a New York City public high school that specializes in mathematics and science. The school opened in 1904 on Manhattan's East Side and moved to a new building in Battery Park City in 1992. Stuyvesant is noted for its strong academic...

returned to the school which lies within one-third of a mile north of the World Trade Center site, while fires were still burning at Ground Zero. Alumni are circulating a petition for greater attention to health problems related to the Ground Zero air. There is a debate over whether the 2002 Class President Amit Friedlander's developing cancer is related to Ground Zero air.
In addition, the students and staff members at the Murry Bergtraum High School

Murry Bergtraum High School

The Murry Bergtraum High School for Business Careers is a public secondary school in New York City. It is located in Lower Manhattan, adjacent to the Brooklyn Bridge and City Hall. Bergtraum offers business-oriented courses to prepare students for careers in marketing, tourism, finance, human...

returned to the building a couple of days after the attack, with the air system in the school severely affected and damaged from the debris and dust from the World Trade Center site (the school is three-quarters of a mile east of the site). Several teachers, particularly from the business department, and students have developed Asthma and other breathing problems because of the lack of unpolluted air and the failure of cleaning the school's central air system thoroughly years after the attack.

Ground Zero workers' and area residents' protests

On January 30, 2007, Ground Zero workers and groups such as Sierra Club

Sierra Club

and Unsung Heroes Helping Heroes met at the Ground Zero site and urged President George W. Bush

George W. Bush

to spend more money on aid for sick Ground Zero workers. They said that the $25 million dollars that Bush promised for the ill workers was inadequate. A Long Island iron-worker, John Sferazo, at the protest rally said, "Why has it taken you 5½ years to meet with us, Mr. President?"

Area residents joined the protest. Mariama James, who lives within blocks of the Ground Zero site, said that she became ill after cleaning the Ground Zero debris and dust from her apartment. "Recovery workers aren't the only people that were affected by this disaster," she said. "There are other people in need of treatment and monitoring."

Ground Zero workers' lawsuit

Families of Ground Zero workers have filed a mass lawsuit against the city. Andrew Carboy of the firm, Sulivan, Pappain, Block, McGrath and Cannovo said of the deaths of Cesar Borja, James Zadroga, and Mark DeBiase, "If Borja, Zadroga and now DeBiase isn't a wakeup call for the city, I don't know what will wake them."

By June 2007, the number of people filing claims against the city, regarding exposure to Ground Zero toxins, reached 10,000. Attorney David Worby

David Worby

David E. Worby, JD is a trial lawyer who specializes in personal injury cases. He is a published author in American Trial Lawyers Magazine.-Villanova University affiliations:Worby graduated from Villanova University Law School in 1976 with a JD....

is leading a class action

Class action

In law, a class action, a class suit, or a representative action is a form of lawsuit in which a large group of people collectively bring a claim to court and/or in which a class of defendants is being sued...

lawsuit representing 8,000 people. By September, 2007, the number of plaintiff

Plaintiff

A plaintiff , also known as a claimant or complainant, is the term used in some jurisdictions for the party who initiates a lawsuit before a court...

s in the case reached 10,000. "I started this suit on behalf of one cop that got sick." He continued, "Nobody would touch the case with a 10 foot pole because it was considered unpatriotic to say anything against the cleanup or the EPA

United States Environmental Protection Agency

Pending legislation

Various bills are sitting before Congress: The Remember 9/11 Health Act and the James Zadroga Act. The sponsor of the Remember 9/11 Health Act is Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney.
The sponsors of the Zadroga Act are Senator Bob Menendez and Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney

Carolyn B. Maloney

.

On September 13, 2006, Sen. Clinton brought an amendment to a piece of ports security legislation, aiming to create a five-year, $1.9 billion treatment program for sufferers of Ground Zero dust and fumes after-effects.

Lawsuit by area residents

Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn

Brooklyn

Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

residents brought a 111-page lawsuit against the EPA for purported deception of the public about hazards of Ground Zero air and dust. A major force behind this effort is Brooklyn resident Jenna Orkin of the World Trade Center Environmental Organization. On February 2, 2006 Federal Court Judge Deborah Batts

Deborah Batts

Deborah A. Batts is a United States federal judge, currently serving on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. In June 1994, Deborah Batts was sworn in as a Federal District Judge for Manhattan, becoming the nation's first openly LGBT, African-American federal judge...

issued an 83 page statement, indicating that there are sufficient grounds for the case to proceed. She also rejected granting Whitman immunity from the lawsuit.

On December 10, 2007, legal proceedings began in a case on the question of responsibility of government officials in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks. Former EPA Director Whitman is among the defendants in the suit; plaintiffs in the suit allege that Whitman is at fault for saying that the downtown Manhattan air was safe in the aftermath of the attacks.

On April 22, 2008, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals...

ruled that EPA head Whitman could not be held liable for saying to World Trade Center area residents that the air was safe for breathing after the buildings collapse. The appeals court said that Whitman had based her information on contradictory information and statements from President Bush. The U.S. Department of Justice

United States Department of Justice

The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...

had argued that holding the agency liable would establish a risky legal precedent because future public officials would be afraid to make public statements. Judge Deborah Batts

Deborah Batts

had previously declined to dismiss Whitman as a defendant, saying that her actions were "conscience-shocking".

Settlement proposed in March 2009

An arbitrator has said that most of the complainants that did not participate in an earlier fund (created by Congress) would be granted settlement awards. The awards would total $500 million. This resolution would involve all but 3 of the nearly 100 litigants.

Documentaries

Fallout: The Health Impact of 9/11
Dust to Dust: The Health Effects of 9/11
Dust to Dust: The Health Effects of 9/11
Dust to Dust: The Health Effects of 9/11 is an documentary film that was broadcast on the Sundance Channel. It was directed by Heidi Dehncke-Fisher and produced by Bruce Kennedy in 2006. The Executive Producer was Hal Gessner of CBS News Productions...
The Toxic Clouds of 9/11: A Looming Disaster
Toxic Clouds of 9/11
The Toxic Clouds of 9/11: A Looming Disaster is a documentary film that was produced by Alison Johnson, the chair of the Chemical Sensitivity Foundation...
Toxic Legacy
Toxic Legacy
Toxic Legacy is a Canadian documentary film that was produced by Susan Teskey for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It was broadcast on the CBC and Discovery Times in September 2006. The film deals with the toxic legacy of the Ground Zero dust following the September 11, 2001 attacks upon the...

Casualties of the September 11 attacks
Casualties of the September 11 attacks
The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 by Al-Qaeda resulted in 2,996 immediate deaths, including the 19 hijackers and 2,977 victims. 372 foreign nationals perished in the attacks, representing just over 12% of the total...
Collapse of the World Trade Center
Collapse of the World Trade Center
The twin towers of the World Trade Center collapsed on September 11, 2001, as a result of al-Qaeda's September 11 attacks, in which terrorists affiliated with al-Qaeda hijacked four commercial passenger jet airliners, flying one into the North Tower and another into the South Tower...
EPA 9/11 pollution controversy
EPA 9/11 pollution controversy
The EPA 9/11 pollution controversy was the result of a report released by the Office of the Inspector General of the United States Environmental Protection Agency in August 2003 which said the White House pressured the EPA to delete cautionary information about the air quality in New York City...
Rescue and recovery effort after the September 11 attacks

Ground Zero environmental advocacy organizations

Asthma Moms has a thorough World Trade Center site covering articles and resources since September 11, 2001. It is written by a downtown mother who lives a block from the former WTC towers.
9/11 Environmental Action
World Trade Center Environmental Organization
"Beyond Ground Zero" a group of community-based organizations assisting low-income residents and workers.

Worker organizations

Books

Wayne Barrett
Wayne Barrett
Wayne Barrett is an American journalist. He was an investigative reporter and senior editor for the Village Voice for over 20 years. He is currently a fellow with the Nation Institute and contributor to Newsweek....

and Dan Collins, Grand Illusion: The Untold Story of Rudy Giuliani and 9/11 (2006), ISBN 0060536616
Juan Gonzalez
Juan Gonzalez (journalist)
Juan González is an American progressive broadcast journalist and investigative reporter. He has also been a columnist for the New York Daily News since 1987...

, Fallout: The Environmental Consequences of the World Trade Center Collapse (2002), ISBN 1565847547
Steve Centore, One of Them: A First Responder’s Story (2008), ISBN 0-9801274-0-8;

Documentaries

Fallout: The Health Impact of 9/11 – produced by Linda Sills and the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

, aired in May 2006 on BBC World.
911: Dust and Deceit at the WTC – produced by Penny Little and People to People TV.
Sicko
Sicko
Sicko is a 2007 documentary film by American filmmaker Michael Moore. The film investigates health care in the United States, focusing on its health insurance and the pharmaceutical industry. The movie compares the for-profit, non-universal U.S...

– produced by Michael Moore
Michael Moore
Michael Francis Moore is an American filmmaker, author, social critic and activist. He is the director and producer of Fahrenheit 9/11, which is the highest-grossing documentary of all time. His films Bowling for Columbine and Sicko also place in the top ten highest-grossing documentaries...

and Dog Eat Dog Films
Dog Eat Dog Films
Dog Eat Dog Films is Michael Moore's production company. Dog Eat Dog Films has produced the following films, television programs, and DVDs:* Roger & Me * Pets or Meat: The Return to Flint * TV Nation...

, theatrically released on June 29, 2007 by The Weinstein Company
The Weinstein Company
The Weinstein Company is an American film studio founded by Bob and Harvey Weinstein in 2005 after the brothers left the then-Disney-owned Miramax Films, which they had co-founded in 1979...

.

Materials in the 9/11 cloud, and potential for creating Ground Zero illnesses

Ground Zero illnesses

Ground zero workers and cancer

Judgments and statements by leading physicians

2010 New York Fire Department Medical Office Study

Ongoing monitoring of first responders' and residents' health

August 2007 deadline for Ground Zero-related worker's compensation

Filing extension by Governor Eliot Spitzer

World Trade Center health administrators and controversies

Early findings and muted warnings

President George W. Bush's alleged manipulation of EPA statements

Early statement by Christine Todd Whitman

Alleged EPA deceptions about Ground Zero air quality

Alleged government downplaying of health risks

Statements by Mayor Rudy Giuliani

Handling of cleanup procedure

Lawsuit, settlement, and treatment costs

Fallen first responders, workers, volunteers and office workers

First responders

Various volunteers

Communication workers

Janitorial workers

Financial district personnel

Educators and students

Ground Zero workers' and area residents' protests

Ground Zero workers' lawsuit

Pending legislation

Lawsuit by area residents

Settlement proposed in March 2009

Documentaries

See also

Ground Zero environmental advocacy organizations

Worker organizations

Books

Documentaries

Related links