9/11 Dust Still Causing Health Worries

Six years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the number of people seeking treatment for illnesses they attribute to toxic dust inhalation at Ground Zero in New York City continues to increase -- confounding medical predictions.

Lung, stomach and mental health issues are the most common among the 40,000 people involved in rescue and cleanup at the site of the World Trade Center collapse, and more people are seeking help than anticipated, according to a report today in Newsday. About half are seeking treatment or being monitored.

The collapse of the buildings sent a plume of toxic dust laced with various contaminants into the air of lower Manhattan. People worked furiously to search for the living among the rubble, often shunning respirators in their zeal to help. For months afterward, people worked to excavate and clear the debris, and in the process exposed themselves to dust on an ongoing basis.

Political fighting between then-EPA chief Christine Todd Whitman and then-New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani has erupted sporadically over the veracity of claims that the air was safe to breathe, and over any efforts to boost the use of protective respirators. Now, the political fight is over who pays to treat the workers who claim health problems.

COMMENTS ()