9/11 Truth: The 9/11 Cover-Up 9 / 11 Truth: El 9 / 11 Cover-Up

Thousands of New Yorkers were endangered by WTC debris—and government malfeasance. Miles de neoyorquinos se vea amenazada por el WTC de escombros y malversación de gobierno.

Michael Mason Michael Mason

In the aftermath of the first explosion, the air over Lower Manhattan transformed instantly. A raíz de la primera explosión, el aire más bajo Manhattan transformado instantáneamente.

“The sky was glittering with glass,” says Nina L., a Tribeca resident who asked not to be further identified. "El cielo es brillante con un vidrio", dice Nina L., un residente de Tribeca, que pidió no ser identificada. She ran to her window and saw a shower of flaming jet fuel cascading from one of the towers. Ella corrió a su ventana y vio una ducha de chorro de combustible de la llama en cascada de una de las torres.

“This can’t be a good thing to have my windows open,” she immediately thought to herself. "Esto no puede ser una cosa buena de tener mi ventanas abiertas", ella pensó inmediatamente a sí misma.

Nina closed her windows and shut her air conditioner flues. Nina cerrado sus ventanas y cerrar su aire acondicionado flues. As a former jeweler, she’d worked around dangerous chemicals before and understood the hazards of toxic fumes. Como antiguo joyero, que había trabajado antes en torno a productos químicos peligrosos y entendido los peligros de humos tóxicos. From her apartment seven blocks north of the World Trade Center, she sat transfixed until a second explosion jolted her into action. Desde su apartamento siete cuadras al norte del Centro de Comercio Mundial, ella se sentó transfixiada hasta que una segunda explosión sacudido en su acción.

Nina tore up an old pillowcase, fashioned a makeshift bandanna over her face, packed her cats into cages, and trekked northward. Nina rompieron la una antigua funda de almohada, esbozaron un bandanna improvisadas sobre su cara, sus gatos envasados en jaulas, y caminado hacia el norte.

“The whole neighborhood was blanketed in a gray snow,” she recalls. "Todo el vecindario estaba envuelta en un gris nieve", recuerda. “Some people were walking by in moon suits.” "Algunas personas caminaban por la luna en trajes".

Although Nina could not have known it at the time, she had just entered one of the most dangerous atmospheric conditions ever to occur on American soil, and she suffers the consequences. Aunque Nina no podía saber en ese momento, ella acababa de entrar una de las más peligrosas condiciones atmosféricas que se producen cada vez en suelo americano, y ella sufre las consecuencias. She had chronic bronchitis until 2003 and still has esophagitis and sinusitis. Tenía la bronquitis crónica hasta 2003 y todavía tiene la esofagitis y la sinusitis. Many health professionals believe others like her won’t experience the harsher, suffocating symptoms for several more years. Muchos profesionales de la salud creen otros como ella no la experiencia más duras, asfixiante síntomas por varios años más.

Up to 70 percent of Hasta el 70 por ciento de first responders Los primeros respondedores are ill as a result of Están enfermos como consecuencia de 9/11 contamination 9 / 11 contaminación . If a similar rate of illness holds true for those who lived and worked near the Twin Towers, the number of seriously ill New Yorkers could climb to 300,000 in the near future. Si una tasa similar de la enfermedad es válido para aquellos que viven y trabajan cerca de las Torres Gemelas, el número de enfermos graves neoyorquinos pudieran llegar a 300000 en el futuro próximo. About 70,000 New Yorkers so far have listed themselves with the Acerca de 70000 neoyorquinos hasta la fecha con una lista de la World Trade Center Health Registry World Trade Center registro sanitario , a database that tracks the health impact of the 9/11 attacks. , Una base de datos que rastrea el impacto en salud de los 9 / 11 ataques. The registry has been El registro ha sido criticized Criticó for excluding large numbers of those potentially sickened outside a designated one-square-mile area. Para excluir a un gran número de enfermos a los que podrían designado a uno fuera de una milla cuadrada de superficie. Despite the insistent denials of city and federal officials, tens of thousands of New Yorkers were unnecessarily exposed to a chemical brew without even the most rudimentary precautions. A pesar de los insistentes desmentidos de la ciudad y de los funcionarios federales, decenas de miles de neoyorquinos fueron innecesariamente expuestos a una sustancia química, incluso la cerveza sin las precauciones más elementales. Today New York City is still mired in a fog of Hoy en día la ciudad de Nueva York todavía está sumida en una niebla de cover-ups Encubrimiento and Y half-truths Verdades a medias regarding its environmental welfare. En relación con su medio ambiente de bienestar.

Civil rights attorney Felicia Dunn Jones, who worked a block from the towers, was caught in the initial deluge of dust when the towers fell. Felicia abogado de los derechos civiles Dunn Jones, que trabajaba a una cuadra de las torres, fue sorprendido en la inicial avalancha de polvo cuando las torres se desplomaron. Although her family rejoiced upon her return home, Dunn Jones developed a serious cough the following January. Aunque su familia se alegró a su regreso a casa, Dunn Jones desarrollado una tos seria el siguiente enero. She died barely five weeks later of sarcoidosis, an immune disorder caused by toxic exposure. Murió apenas cinco semanas después de la sarcoidosis, un desorden inmunológico causadas por la exposición tóxica. Dunn Jones’s name will be added to the list of victims when the memorial is completed in 2009, and the honor isn’t just a token gesture. Dunn Jones el nombre se añadirá a la lista de las víctimas, cuando el monumento se completó en 2009, y el honor no es sólo un gesto simbólico. The addition of her name is a La adición de su nombre es una hard-won acknowledgment Tanto ha costado el reconocimiento that exposure to 9/11 contaminants can lead to death. Que la exposición a 9 / 11 contaminantes puede provocar la muerte.

David Worby David Worby , a personal injury lawyer, is representing more than 10,000 individuals who claim they’ve suffered serious illness as a result of 9/11. , Un abogado de lesiones personales, representa a más de 10000 personas que afirman que han sufrido una enfermedad grave, como resultado de 9 / 11. Already, 130 of them have died of causes similar to Dunn Jones’s, though Dunn Jones was not a client of Worby’s. Actualmente, 130 de ellos han muerto de causas similares a Dunn Jones's, aunque Dunn Jones no es un cliente de la Worby. Worby is critical of government officials for their overly sanguine assurances about the safety of the air and is especially critical of the city’s lax enforcement of federal requirements that respirators be worn at contaminated sites. Worby es crítica de los funcionarios gubernamentales por sus excesivamente optimista acerca de las garantías de la seguridad de la vía aérea y es especialmente crítico de la ciudad laxa observancia de los requisitos federales de que los respiradores de ser usados en sitios contaminados.

“They are getting sick because of people like Christie Todd Whitman and Rudy Giuliani,” Worby says. "Ellos están enfermos a causa de gente como Christie Todd Whitman y Rudy Giuliani," dice Worby. Whitman was administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and Giuliani was the mayor at the time the towers fell. Whitman fue administrador de la Agencia de Protección Ambiental, y el alcalde Giuliani fue en el momento en que las torres cayeron. “My people don’t want their names to be on the wall, because they are not victims of terrorists—they’re victims of bad government. "Mi pueblo no quieren que sus nombres sean en la pared, porque no son víctimas de los terroristas-they're víctimas de mal gobierno. Giuliani should be banned from public office for what he did.” Giuliani debe ser prohibido a los cargos públicos por lo que hizo. "

New York City, the Port Authority, and the contractors who were responsible for the cleanup (Bovis and Turner Construction) are all defendants in the Worby lawsuit. Ciudad de Nueva York, la Autoridad Portuaria, y los contratistas que se encargan de la limpieza (Turner Construction y Bovis) son todos los demandados en el pleito Worby.

“I started this suit on behalf of one cop that got sick,” Worby says of his class-action lawsuit filed in 2004. "Comencé este juicio en nombre de una policía que se enfermó", dice Worby de su clase de acción judicial presentada en 2004. “Nobody would touch the case with a 10-foot pole because it was considered unpatriotic to say anything against the cleanup or the EPA. "Nadie toque el caso con un poste de 10 pies porque se considera antipatriótico a decir nada en contra de la limpieza o la EPA. We have come a long way. Hemos recorrido un largo camino. They once called the 9/11 cough a badge of honor. Ellos una vez llamado el 9 / 11 tos una insignia de honor. Now they know that the whole thing is a catastrophic government disaster.” Ahora saben que todo esto es un desastre catastrófico gobierno ".

Since the attacks, various scientific studies have demonstrated that New Yorkers are engulfed in billows of illness and disease related to 9/11. Desde los ataques, diversos estudios científicos han demostrado que los neoyorquinos están sumidos en billows de las enfermedades y afecciones relacionadas con el 9 / 11. First the 9/11 cough and mental health problems caught the attention of local doctors. En primer lugar el 9 / 11 tos y problemas de salud mental llamaron la atención de los médicos locales. Then chronic respiratory and gastrointestinal conditions began to surface. Luego crónicas respiratorias y gastrointestinales comenzó a las condiciones de superficie. Recently Recientemente a program at Mount Sinai Un programa en el Monte Sinaí noted the emergence of Observó la aparición de rare blood cancers among 9/11 first responders Rara cánceres de la sangre entre los 9 / 11 primeros respondedores . Experts predict that more problems will surface in the next few decades. Los expertos predicen que la superficie será más problemas en las próximas décadas.

While the progression of diseases continues to unnerve New York residents, more people Si bien la progresión de las enfermedades sigue unnerve los residentes de Nueva York, un mayor número de personas are asking Están pidiendo why basic health and safety standards were ignored and violated in the wake of the attacks. ¿Por qué la salud básica y las normas de seguridad se ignoraron y violaron a raíz de los ataques. One nonprofit organization, the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH), keeps a Una organización sin fines de lucro, de Nueva York Comité de Seguridad y Salud Ocupacional (NYCOSH), que lleva el diligent watch Diligente reloj on 9/11-related issues. 9/11-related sobre cuestiones.

Image courtesy of NOAA Imagen cortesía de la NOAA

“The first indication I knew something was wrong was that by September 12 there was no evidence of or even consideration of organization,” says David Newman, an industrial hygienist with NYCOSH. "La primera indicación que sabía algo andaba mal fue que antes de septiembre 12 no había pruebas de examen, o incluso de la organización", dice David Newman, un higienista industrial con NYCOSH. Newman was consulting on environmental hazards at 9/11 from day one. Newman estaba consultando sobre los riesgos ambientales en el 9 / 11 desde el primer día. “There was no health or safety plan at the site, and this is Safety 101.” "No había plan de la salud o la seguridad en el lugar, y esto es de seguridad 101."

Asbestos was most likely in various construction materials used to build the World Trade Center, an EPA memo stated. El amianto es más probable en diversos materiales de construcción utilizados para construir el World Trade Center, un memo de la EPA dijo. It explained that short-term exposure to asbestos can cause respiratory, skin, or eye irritation. Explicó que a corto plazo la exposición al amianto puede causar respiratorio, la piel o la irritación de los ojos. The information was dangerously incorrect. La información era incorrecta peligrosamente.

“If our purpose was to save lives and avoid injury and illnesses, we did not have years, months, or even weeks to wait for corrective actions,” said former Occupational Safety and Health Administration chief John Henshaw in a recent House Judiciary Subcommittee hearing. "Si nuestro objetivo es salvar vidas y evitar lesiones y enfermedades, que no tienen años, meses, o incluso semanas para esperar a que las medidas correctivas", dijo la ex administración de seguridad y salud jefe John Henshaw, en una reciente audiencia Subcomité Judicial. OSHA played an advisory role during the WTC cleanup. OSHA desempeñado un papel consultivo en el WTC de limpieza.

Inhalable asbestos particles are microscopic and completely unidentifiable without the aid of a microscope. Partículas de amianto inhalables son microscópicos y totalmente identificables sin la ayuda de un microscopio. Exposure to asbestos is dangerous in part because it does not cause obvious irritation; contamination manifests itself over the course of years and decades, not days. La exposición al amianto es peligrosa, en parte, debido a que no causa irritación evidente; contaminación se manifiesta en el transcurso de los años y décadas, no en días. It’s an invisible, deadly, and patient toxin. Es una invisible, letal, y la toxina del paciente. The only effective protection against airborne asbestos is a special respirator. La única protección eficaz contra el amianto en el aire es un respirador.

“I was down there watching people working without respirators,” Newman says. "Yo estaba allí viendo personas que trabajan sin respiradores", dice Newman. “Others took off their respirators to eat. "Otros se quitaron sus respiradores para comer. It was a surreal, ridiculous, unacceptable situation.” Se trataba de un surrealista, ridícula, situación inaceptable ".

Stringent protocols govern asbestos contamination cleanup. Estrictos protocolos regulan la contaminación por amianto de limpieza. After a specialized training period, health exam, and certification, licensed technicians must wear industrial-grade respirators and asbestos-resistant suits. Después de un período de formación especializada, examen de salud, y la certificación, los técnicos deben usar con licencia de grado industrial respiradores y trajes de amianto-resistentes. New York City has a history of properly addressing asbestos contamination. La ciudad de Nueva York tiene un historial de tratamiento adecuado de la contaminación por amianto. Back in 1989, a Ya en 1989, un relatively small steam pipe explosion Relativamente pequeña explosión de tuberías de vapor on Gramercy Park South sent 200 pounds of asbestos blowing onto neighboring buildings. En Gramercy Park South envió 200 libras de amianto en edificios cercanos soplando. As a precaution, the entire building was covered in protective plastic sheeting, and city environmental officials complained that the cleanup would require more than four weeks of painstaking procedures for outdoor decontamination alone. Como precaución, todo el edificio estaba cubierta en láminas de plástico de protección, los funcionarios ambientales y de la ciudad se quejaron de que la limpieza se requieren más de cuatro semanas de arduo procedimientos de descontaminación al aire libre solo. More than 200 area tenants were displaced for weeks following the accident. Más de 200 inquilinos zona fueron desplazados durante semanas tras el accidente.

The World Trade Center had been, by some accounts, the largest fireproofing project in the world, with possibly 400 to 1,000 tons of asbestos, which was El World Trade Center ha sido, según algunos informes, el mayor proyecto ignífugo en el mundo, posiblemente con 400 1000 toneladas de amianto, que se released during the collapse Puestos en libertad durante el colapso . Bureaucrats aired their assurances to the world. Burócratas al aire sus garantías al mundo.

“The air is safe as far as we can tell, with respect to chemical and biological agents,” Giuliani pronounced two days after the attack. "El aire es seguro en la medida de lo que podemos decir, con respecto a los agentes químicos y biológicos," Giuliani pronunciado dos días después del ataque.

On September 12, a regional EPA office volunteered to send 30 to 40 electron microscopes to Ground Zero to test bulk dust samples for the presence of asbestos fibers, according to EPA whistle-blower Cate Jenkins, yet the local EPA office declined the offer, opting for the less effective polarized light microscopy testing method instead. El 12 de septiembre, una oficina regional de la EPA se ofrecieron como voluntarios para enviar 30 a 40 microscopios electrónicos a la Zona Cero para probar muestras de polvo grueso de la presencia de fibras de amianto, de acuerdo a la EPA voz de alarma Cate Jenkins, sin embargo, la oficina local de la EPA ha rechazado la oferta, optando Menos eficaz para la microscopía de luz polarizada método de ensayo en lugar. Jenkins had further alleged that regional office personnel were told by the local EPA office: “We don’t want you fucking cowboys here. Jenkins ha denunciado también que el personal de la oficina regional se les dijo por la oficina local de la EPA: "No queremos que usted follando vaqueros aquí. The best thing they could do is reassign you to Alaska.” Lo mejor que podrían hacer es reasignar a Alaska ".

Three days after 9/11, following questionable air sampling techniques, a spokesperson for the EPA said that levels of asbestos were either at low levels, negligible, or undetectable. Tres días después del 9 / 11, a raíz de cuestionables técnicas de muestreo de aire, un portavoz de la EPA dijo que los niveles de asbesto o bien en niveles bajos, insignificantes, o indetectable.

“I am glad to reassure the people of New York and Washington, DC, that the air is safe to breathe and their water is safe to drink,” Whitman said one week after 9/11. "Me alegro de tranquilizar a la población de Nueva York y Washington, DC, que el aire es seguro para respirar y su agua es segura para beber", Whitman dijo una semana después de 9 / 11.

Under the gray, noxious air, trusting residents returned to their homes in Lower Manhattan, unsuspecting children returned to their schools, and hundreds of thousands of downtown workers trudged to their desks. Bajo el gris, nocivas del aire, en la confianza de los residentes regresaron a sus hogares en el Bajo Manhattan, incautos niños regresaron a sus escuelas, y de cientos de miles de trabajadores trudged centro de la ciudad a sus escritorios. In the following year, the EPA gave more than 50 public assurances concerning the toxic exposure. En el siguiente año, la EPA ha dado más de 50 garantías públicas relativas a la exposición a tóxicos. At least another 15 came from New York City officials. Por lo menos otros 15 procedían de la ciudad de Nueva York funcionarios.

The systemic failures began occurring almost immediately following the disaster, in part because of an unclear chain of command. Las fallas se producen comenzó casi inmediatamente después de la catástrofe, en parte a causa de una poco clara cadena de mando. In times of environmental crisis, a blueprint for a federal response, called the En tiempos de crisis ambiental, un plan de respuesta federal, la llamada National Contingency Plan Plan Nacional de Contingencia , entitles the EPA to oversee safety and cleanup efforts—but it does not obligate the EPA to do so. , Da derecho a la EPA para supervisar los esfuerzos de limpieza y de seguridad-pero no obliga a la EPA para hacerlo. During 9/11, New York City initiated a lead role in the environmental crisis response, and as a result, the mayor’s leadership has been called into question. Durante 9 / 11, la ciudad de Nueva York inició un papel principal en la respuesta a la crisis ambiental, y como resultado de ello, el alcalde de liderazgo ha sido puesto en tela de juicio.

“We didn’t have the authority to do that [health and safety] enforcement, but we communicated that to the people who did,” Whitman said in a "No tienen la autoridad para hacer que [la salud y la seguridad] de aplicación, pero nos comunicó que a la gente que lo hizo," dijo Whitman en un 60 Minutes interview 60 Minutos entrevista . “Really, the city was the primary responder.” Whitman’s office repeatedly declined an invitation to speak with DISCOVER. "Realmente, la ciudad fue el principal de respuesta". Whitman oficina del repetidamente declinó una invitación para hablar con DESCUBRE.

Image courtesy of EPA Imagen cortesía de EPA

At a time that demanded clear thought and action, a brazen can-do attitude emerged from the rubble, and nobody embodied the reactionary spirit more than New York City’s mayor. A la vez que exigió claro el pensamiento y la acción, una descarada actitud puede hacer-surgido de los escombros, y nadie encarna el espíritu reaccionario más de la ciudad de Nueva York del alcalde.

“You smell it, and you feel there must be something wrong,” Giuliani said. "Usted es el olor, y lo que debe haber algo mal", dijo Giuliani. “But what I’m told is that it is not dangerous to your health.” Days later he encouraged New Yorkers to “go back to normal.” "Pero lo que me dijeron es que no es peligroso para la salud." Días más tarde alentó a los neoyorquinos a "volver a la normalidad."

Once praised for his heroic response, Giuliani has now made New York City vulnerable to a billion-dollar lawsuit that addresses many haphazard health violations that occurred under his watch. Una vez que elogió por su heroica respuesta, Giuliani ha hecho la ciudad de Nueva York vulnerables a un mil millones de dólares que demanda la salud aborda muchos azarosa violaciónes que ocurrieron bajo su vigilancia. Fewer than 30 percent of Ground Zero workers, for example, wore respirators. Menos del 30 por ciento de los trabajadores de Ground Zero, por ejemplo, llevaban respiradores. After repeated phone calls and e-mails, Giuliani would not return calls or send comments. Después de repetidas llamadas telefónicas y mensajes de correo electrónico, Giuliani no devuelva la llamada o enviar comentarios.

The president’s 2002 proposal establishing the Department of Homeland Security addressed the lead-agency issue in the event of future crisis as follows: “After a major incident, the EPA will be responsible for decontamination of affected buildings and neighborhoods and providing advice and assistance to public-health authorities in determining whether it is safe to return to the areas.” El presidente de la propuesta de 2002 se crea el Departamento de Seguridad abordó la cuestión por conducto de un organismo en caso de futuras crisis de la siguiente manera: "Después de un incidente grave, la EPA será responsable de la descontaminación de edificios y barrios afectados y la prestación de asesoramiento y asistencia A las autoridades de salud pública para determinar si es seguro regresar a las zonas ".

Nevertheless, a lengthy Sin embargo, un largo 2003 report Informe de 2003 (pdf) from the EPA’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) hammered the EPA for not fully utilizing its abilities, for making uninformed assurances to New Yorkers, for not taking a proactive approach, and for deferring the onus of environmental decision making to ill-prepared New York City officials. (Pdf) de la EPA de la Oficina del Inspector General (OIG) martillaron la EPA por no utilizando plenamente sus posibilidades, para hacer ayuno garantías a los neoyorquinos, para no adopción de un enfoque proactivo, y del aplazamiento de la carga de la toma de decisiones ambientales Mal preparados a la ciudad de Nueva York funcionarios.

With NYC officials and local landowners left to head up sampling and cleaning facilities, a number of private interests could easily sway air-testing results. Con la ciudad de Nueva York y los funcionarios locales de tierras izquierda a la cabeza de muestreo y de las instalaciones de limpieza, una serie de intereses privados podrían fácilmente influir en el aire de los resultados de los ensayos. An opportunity for collusion exists between the city and landlords: If buildings were found contaminated, property owners could lose millions due to asbestos-blighted buildings, devaluing one of the most lucrative real estate locations in the world. Una oportunidad para la colusión existente entre la ciudad y los propietarios: En caso de los edificios se encontraron contaminados, titulares de derechos de propiedad podría perder millones por el amianto-arruinadas edificios, la devaluación uno de los más lucrativos de bienes raíces lugares en el mundo. It was in the financial interest of Manhattan’s most wealthy citizens to see their properties up and running at capacity again. Es en el interés financiero de Manhattan más ricos a los ciudadanos a ver sus propiedades en marcha y funcionando en la capacidad de nuevo.

Initially, the New York City Department of Health (NYCDOH) took the lead in implementing an indoor cleanup program, which placed the responsibility for asbestos removal directly on landlords and residents themselves, in direct violation of city, state, and federal laws and at an enormous potential health risk. Inicialmente, la ciudad de Nueva York Departamento de Salud (NYCDOH) tomó la iniciativa en la aplicación de un programa de limpieza interior, que puso la responsabilidad de la retirada de amianto directamente a los propietarios y residentes de sí mismos, en violación directa de la ciudad, el estado y las leyes federales y en un Enorme potencial riesgo para la salud.

Nina, for example, returned to her Tribeca apartment a week after 9/11. Nina, por ejemplo, regresó a su apartamento Tribeca a la semana después del 9 / 11. She found the entire place salted with what appeared to be a fine coating. Ella encontró todo el lugar salados con lo que parecía ser un fino recubrimiento.

“This stuff goes through clothes, cracks, everything,” says Nina. "Este material va a través de la ropa, grietas, todo", dice Nina.

In the mail, she received a letter from the NYCDOH instructing her how to clean her apartment: Use a wet rag and use a High Efficiency Particulate Airfilter vacuum. En el mail, ella recibió una carta del NYCDOH instrucciones a su manera de limpiar su apartamento: Utilice un trapo húmedo y el uso de partículas de alta eficiencia Airfilter vacío. (A study cited in the EPA’s OIG report shows that most residents failed to follow cleaning instructions appropriately.) Only trained, respirator-equipped professionals should conduct asbestos cleanup. (Un estudio citado en el informe de la Oficina del Inspector General la EPA muestra que la mayoría de los residentes no seguir adecuadamente las instrucciones de limpieza.) Sólo capacitado, equipado con respirador profesionales deben realizar la limpieza de amianto. Shortly after returning to her apartment, Nina developed crippling headaches and respiratory problems—troubles she never had before. Poco después de regresar a su apartamento, Nina desarrollado agobiante dolor de cabeza y problemas respiratorios, problemas que nunca antes había.

Eventually, in May 2002, the EPA reclaimed the initiative for indoor air cleanup. Finalmente, en mayo de 2002, la EPA recuperado la iniciativa para la limpieza del aire interior. It offered a more involved testing for contaminants, but it still did not adhere to the minimum criteria for protecting human health under the EPA’s own guidelines for a Superfund site. Se ofreció una mayor participación de las pruebas de contaminantes, pero que todavía no se adhería a los criterios mínimos de protección de la salud de la EPA en virtud de las propias directrices para un sitio de Superfund. As a result, the cleanup efforts received little public trust. Como resultado de ello, los esfuerzos de limpieza recibido poca confianza de la opinión pública. In the first cleanup attempt, 4,166 entities had registered; only 295 residents and building owners participated in the second program. En el primer intento de limpieza, las entidades se habían inscrito 4166; sólo 295 residentes y propietarios de edificios participó en el segundo programa. Outdoor air sampling and cleaning was another matter. Al aire libre toma de muestras de aire y la limpieza es otro asunto.

“Our rooms were microcosms for what was going on in the neighborhood,” Nina says. "Nuestras habitaciones son microcosmos de lo que estaba pasando en el barrio", dice Nina.

A toxic cloud Nube tóxica composed of industrial waste and human remains crept out from the aching, smoldering pit at Ground Zero and wound its way into the adjoining streets. Compuesto por los desechos industriales y restos humanos deslizado fuera de la las, smoldering pozo en Ground Zero y herida su camino en la calles adyacentes. Its vapors circled around and up buildings, pumped in and out of nostrils, mouths, and lungs, and stung the eyes of every woman, child, man, bird, and beast within a wide range. Sus vapores y hasta en círculos alrededor de los edificios, bombeado dentro y fuera de las fosas nasales, la boca, y pulmones, y el picado de los ojos de cada mujer, niño, hombre, pájaro, y la bestia dentro de una amplia gama. It spread itself on building walls and inside boiler rooms and left its trail on parked cars, handrails, and public benches. Se propagó por sí en la construcción de muros y el interior de salas de calderas y dejado su rastro sobre los automóviles estacionados, barandillas, bancos y público. That day, New York City was blinded by a perpetually sickening haze. Ese día, la ciudad de Nueva York fue cegado por una neblina perpetua repugnante. It poisoned the minds of politicians who acted with hubris and paranoia. Es envenenado las mentes de los políticos que actúan con la arrogancia y la paranoia. It obscured the vision of responders and residents, many of whom acted with heroism and reckless bravado, never thinking that their actions might be endangering themselves, their families, their cities, and their very future. Se oscurece la visión de los que respondieron y los residentes, muchos de los cuales actuaron con heroísmo y valentía temeraria, nunca pensando que sus acciones podrían poner en peligro a sí mismos, sus familias, sus ciudades, y de su propio futuro. The cloud billowed southward, over the river, enveloping everything in the dust and debris of blown-apart lives. La nube billowed hacia el sur, sobre el río, envolviendo todo en el polvo y los desechos de soplado-aparte vidas.

Teroy Canfield, now a music producer in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was a student at the Institute of Audio Research in Manhattan in September 2001. Teroy Canfield, ahora un productor de música en Tulsa, Oklahoma, fue un estudiante en el Instituto de Investigación en Sonido Manhattan, en septiembre de 2001. On the day of the attacks, he remembers getting a “light dusting” following the collapse of the towers. En el día de los ataques, él recuerda obtener una "luz de polvo" tras el colapso de las torres. Several hours later, he joined thousands in their exodus across the Manhattan Bridge toward Brooklyn. Varias horas después, se unió a miles en su éxodo a través del Puente de Manhattan hacia Brooklyn.

When Canfield returned to his apartment near Clark and Henry Streets in Brooklyn Heights, loose papers and other debris were blowing across the area. Canfield Cuando regresó a su apartamento cerca de Clark y Henry Calles en Brooklyn Heights, papeles sueltos y otros desechos se sopla a través de la zona. His home was in the path of the cloud but supposedly far from the designated danger areas. Su casa estaba en el camino de la nube, pero, supuestamente, lejos del peligro de las zonas designadas.

“There was dust on our air-conditioning units and on the vents,” Canfield recalls. "Había polvo en nuestras unidades de aire acondicionado y de los respiraderos," recuerda Canfield. “When we turned it on, the dust would blast into the room. "Cuando lo convirtió en, la explosión de polvo en la habitación. We had wet bandannas and T-shirts, and we would put them on our faces when we went to sleep.” Tuvimos mojado bandanas y camisetas, y nos ponemos en nuestras caras cuando nos fuimos a dormir. "

Canfield couldn’t decide which was worse—to suffer the heat, to have an air-conditioning unit blowing dust into the room, or to open the windows and endure the noxious odors that were creeping their way into Brooklyn. Canfield no puede decidir que es peor-a sufrir el calor, disponer de una unidad de aire acondicionado que sopla polvo en la habitación, o al abrir las ventanas y soportar los olores nocivos que se rampante Brooklyn en su camino. More often than not, they chose to run the air. La mayoría de las veces, se optó por ejecutar el aire. As Canfield explains, he simply thought the dust was just dust—skin cells, fibers, whatever. Como explica Canfield, simplemente pensé que el polvo era sólo polvo de células de la piel, fibras, lo que sea.

In the following week, Canfield noticed that his dorm room rapidly collected an inordinate amount of the gray stuff, which prompted him and his roommate to clean the place three separate times that week. En la semana siguiente, Canfield cuenta que su propio dormitorio rápidamente recogido una cantidad excesiva de la materia gris, lo que llevó a él ya su habitación para limpiar el lugar tres veces esa semana. Neither of them had heard of, nor followed, any precautions. Ninguno de ellos había oído hablar de él, ni seguido, cualquier precauciones. School had already resumed, and nobody there seemed to be talking about toxins or asbestos, so why worry, he thought. Escuela ya había reanudado, y nadie parecía haber hablando de las toxinas o amianto, así que ¿por qué preocuparse, pensó.

About six months later, Canfield developed a catch in his throat. Aproximadamente seis meses después, Canfield desarrolló una captura en su garganta.

“It was like if you swallowed a piece of rice and your instinct is to hack,” he said. "Fue como si se ingiere una pieza de arroz y su instinto es cortar", dijo. “A dry, hard hack. "A seco, duro hack. I might cough three or four times a day, or a week.” Podría tos tres o cuatro veces al día, o una semana ".

Every so often, the hacking would yield a small clump of tissue—different from phlegm or anything else Canfield had ever seen. De vez en cuando, la piratería informática produciría un pequeño clump de tejidos diferentes de flema o cualquier otra cosa Canfield había visto nunca.

“It was sometimes brown and pinkish-bloody,” says Canfield, who has never smoked. "A veces es de color rosado y marrón sangrientos", dice Canfield, que nunca ha fumado. “It didn’t hurt, so I figured it would go away.” "No duele, por lo que pense que se va."

Canfield says that he no longer coughs as frequently as he used to, but he has developed a breathing sensitivity. Canfield dice que él ya no tose con la frecuencia que solía, pero él ha desarrollado una sensibilidad para respirar. Ordinary smoke from indoor cooking or an outdoor barbecue seems to bother him the most. Ordinario humo de la cocina o de una cubierta de barbacoa al aire libre, parece que le molestan más.

“Some people were buried in the dust,” explains Noah Greenspan, a cardiopulmonary specialist at the Pulmonary Wellness and Rehabilitation Center in midtown Manhattan. "Algunas personas fueron enterradas en el polvo", explica Noah Greenspan, un cardiopulmonar especialista pulmonar en el Centro de Rehabilitación y Bienestar en el centro de Manhattan. “There were a lot of toxins in the air, a lot of things that are very hard to clean out of the lungs, things like fiberglass and asbestos. "Había una gran cantidad de toxinas en el aire, un montón de cosas que son muy difíciles de limpiar fuera de los pulmones, cosas como la fibra de vidrio y asbesto. If you inhale those things in large quantities, it’s very difficult for the body to recover from that completely.” Si se inhalan estas cosas en grandes cantidades, es muy difícil para el cuerpo a recuperarse de que completamente ".

Greenspan has conducted a number of breathing tests on New Yorkers and expressed concern that many people don’t know that pulmonary rehabilitation is a helpful treatment option. Greenspan ha llevado a cabo una serie de pruebas de la respiración en Nueva York y expresó su preocupación de que muchas personas no saben que la rehabilitación pulmonar es una opción de tratamiento útil. He explained that some victims won’t even show any signs of disease for years. Explicó que algunas de las víctimas aún no muestran signos de la enfermedad durante años.

“Smokers can smoke for 25 years before they become symptomatic,” he says. "Los fumadores pueden fumar durante 25 años antes de que se conviertan en sintomáticos", dice. “I think we are going to see a similar trend for people who were exposed to 9/11.” "Creo que vamos a ver una tendencia similar para las personas que fueron expuestas a 9 / 11."

No agency has tracked the number of former residents like Canfield who have since left New York and fanned out across the globe, nor is there an agency outside of state lines devoted to meeting their health-care needs. Ninguna agencia ha rastreado el número de antiguos residentes como Canfield que desde entonces han dejado Nueva York y avivado a cabo en todo el mundo, ni tampoco existe un organismo estatal fuera de las líneas dedicadas a la satisfacción de sus necesidades de atención de la salud. At best, former residents are advised to download a treatment guideline from the NYCDOH Web site and pass it on to their doctors. En el mejor de los antiguos residentes que se pongan en descargar un tratamiento de la directriz NYCDOH sitio Web y pasarlo a sus médicos. Canfield, who has no health insurance, tells me that he doesn’t plan on seeing a specialist anytime soon. Canfield, que no tiene seguro de salud, me dice que él no tiene previsto en la consulta a un especialista en cualquier momento pronto.

“I just treat myself if I have to—just eat some soup and my veggies, you know?” he says. "Acabo de tratar a mí mismo si tengo que comer sólo algunos-y mi sopa de verduras, ¿sabe usted?", Dice. “I don’t have money to go to a doctor.” "No tengo dinero para ir a un médico".

Even those who conducted air sampling in 2001 have suffered. Incluso aquellos que realizaron toma de muestras de aire en el año 2001 han sufrido. While the EPA was conducting its own measurements, outdoor air had to be tested for radioactive materials, too, and that required the help of an elite group of government scientists from the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). Mientras que la EPA está llevando a cabo sus propias mediciones, el aire exterior ha de ser la prueba de materiales radiactivos, también, y que requiere la ayuda de un grupo de la élite de gobierno científicos de la Administración Nacional de Seguridad Nuclear (NNSA).

Before 9/11, Steve Centore ran four miles a day, led an active family life as the father of three boys and a daughter, and held a security clearance earned from more than 25 years in government service. Antes de 9 / 11, Steve Centore corrió cuatro millas al día, llevó una activa vida familiar como padre de tres hijos y una hija, y celebró una seguridad obtenidos de más de 25 años en la administración pública. As a physicist with NNSA, he was among the first sent onto the scene following 9/11. Como un físico con NNSA, él fue uno de los primeros enviados a la escena después de 9 / 11. The New York City Department of Health asked Centore to conduct air sampling at Ground Zero, but when he showed up at their makeshift command center on Chambers Street, the NYCDOH simply handed him a hard hat and a painter’s mask and told him to get to work. La ciudad de Nueva York Departamento de Salud pidió Centore para realizar el muestreo de aire en Ground Zero, pero cuando él apareció en su centro de comando en improvisadas salas Street, la NYCDOH simplemente le entregó un gorro duro y un pintor de la máscara y le dijo a obtener Al trabajo.

“We weren’t worried about contamination, and we were told we didn’t need respirators,” Centore says. "No nos preocupa la contaminación, y se nos dijo que no era necesario respiradores", dice Centore. Even though he was a scientist, he still had to rely on the EPA’s findings for his own safety. Aunque él era un científico, que aún tenía que depender de las conclusiones de la EPA por su propia seguridad.

Centore spent the next four months working among the steaming ruins, looking for radioactive material in both the pile and the debris being carted off to various sites. Centore pasó los próximos cuatro meses de trabajo entre las humeantes ruinas, en busca de material radiactivo tanto en la pila y los escombros que se carted off a diversos sitios. The radioactive air samplings came back negative—he claims everything had been burned up and swept into the air. Las muestras de aire radiactivos volvió negativos-afirma todo había sido quemados y barrió en el aire.

Centore didn’t think much about the cough he had developed until several months later, when it got so persistent that he ruptured a blood vessel in his upper torso. Centore no piensa mucho acerca de la tos que ha desarrollado hasta varios meses más tarde, cuando empezó a ser tan persistente que le rompió un vaso sanguíneo en su parte superior del torso.

“It turned half my chest black and blue,” he says. "Resultó la mitad de mi pecho negro y azul", dice.

The bruise initiated a succession of doctor’s visits, but with little relief. Los cardenales iniciaron una serie de visitas médicas, pero con poco relieve. By 2005 Centore was a different man—not just physically but mentally. Para 2005 Centore era un hombre diferente, no sólo físicamente, sino mentalmente. He could no longer exercise, and he seemed detached much of the time. Él ya no podía ejercer, y él parecía separarse mucho de la época. His list of medications steadily increased. Su lista de los medicamentos de manera constante aumento. For the first time in his life, he began drinking heavily. Por primera vez en su vida, comenzó a beber mucho. His wife began to take notice of strange behavior. Su esposa comenzó a tomar nota de comportamiento extraño.

“She would find me in the middle of the night standing in the driveway, wearing my pajamas and shaking,” Centore says. "Ella me encuentre en medio de la noche de pie en la calzada, llevaba mi pijama y temblando", dice Centore. A psychiatrist gave him a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder and put him on psychotropic medications for his panic attacks. Un psiquiatra le dio un diagnóstico de trastorno de estrés postraumático, y lo puso sobre medicamentos psicotrópicos por sus ataques de pánico. He took a leave of absence from work, knowing that he would probably never return. Él tomó una licencia de ausencia del trabajo, a sabiendas de que probablemente nunca regresar.

By the spring of 2006, however, a more serious set of symptoms emerged. En la primavera de 2006, sin embargo, un conjunto de los más graves síntomas surgido. Centore’s organs began deteriorating. Centore comenzó el deterioro de los órganos. First his gallbladder failed him, then his spleen and liver began to malfunction. En primer lugar su vesícula biliar no él, entonces, su bazo y el hígado comenzó a funcionar incorrectamente. He would require a liver transplant eventually. Se requeriría un trasplante de hígado el tiempo.

“I started bleeding everywhere—out of my ears, mouth, penis, and anus, and none of the doctors could figure out why,” Centore says. "Me comenzó a sangrar por todas partes-de mis orejas, boca, pene y ano, y ninguno de los médicos pueden averiguar por qué," dice Centore. “I was in the hospital for four weeks, and I can’t tell you how many colonoscopies I had in that time.” "Yo estaba en el hospital por cuatro semanas, y no puedo decirles cuántos colonoscopias tuve en ese momento."

When Centore asked the doctors if he could leave the hospital after four weeks’ worth of testing, he was surprised by their answer. Cuando Centore preguntó a los médicos si podía dejar el hospital después de cuatro semanas de valor de las pruebas, fue sorprendido por su respuesta. Centore had been moved to number one in line on the liver transplant list, and doctors told him that he might only have hours to live. Centore se había trasladado a la número uno en línea en la lista de trasplante de hígado, y los médicos le dijo que sólo podría tener horas para vivir. A liver was harvested in time, and Centore survived the operation. Un hígado se cosechó en el tiempo, y Centore sobrevivido a la operación. It has taken him a while to be weaned down from 34 daily medications to only 19, but he’s grateful he has his life. Se le ha tomado un tiempo para ser destetados abajo de 34 medicamentos al día a sólo 19, pero es que ha agradecido su vida. Although he believes his health problems are related to 9/11 contaminants, he no longer holds grudges. Aunque él cree que sus problemas de salud están relacionados con el 9 / 11 contaminantes, que ya no tiene rencores.

“Every once in a while I still have panic attacks,” Centore says, “and I go to the doctor all the time, at least once a week. "De vez en cuando todavía tengo ataques de pánico," Centore dice, "y yo ir al médico todo el tiempo, por lo menos una vez a la semana. I am not out of the woods by a long shot.” Yo no estoy fuera de peligro de largo. "

Heat up a ballpoint pen, a computer, an office sofa, electric wire, or any other object you might find in a high-rise and there comes a point when you can inhale it. Calor hasta un bolígrafo, una computadora, una oficina sofá, cable eléctrico, o cualquier otro objeto que usted pueda encontrar en un lugar alto y llega un momento en que se puede inhalar. The Twin Towers contained tens of thousands of computer terminals, each housing about four pounds of lead, and an untold number of fluorescent bulbs that contained mercury. Las Torres Gemelas que figuran decenas de miles de terminales de computadora, cada vivienda unas cuatro libras de plomo, y un número indecible de bombillas fluorescentes que contenía mercurio. Released metal particles from the smoldering pit of the World Trade Center were so fine that they could easily slip past a paper face mask and reach deep into lung tissue, where they are poorly soluble in lung fluid. Liberado partículas metálicas de la piscina smoldering del Centro de Comercio Mundial eran tan finas que podrían fácilmente pasado un documento máscara facial y penetrar profundamente en los tejidos de los pulmones, donde son escasamente solubles en el líquido pulmonar. Metals and glass can remain trapped there for long periods of time and make their way into the heart. Los metales y el vidrio pueden permanecer atrapados allí durante largos períodos de tiempo y se hicieron lugar en el corazón.

Image courtesy of NOAA Imagen cortesía de la NOAA

Though the list of known toxins released into the air keeps expanding, it doesn’t deter the ongoing investigations of Thomas Cahill, a professor of physics and atmospheric sciences at the University of California at Davis. Aunque la lista de conocidos toxinas liberadas en el aire se mantiene en expansión, no impedir las investigaciones en curso de Thomas Cahill, profesor de física y ciencias atmosféricas en la Universidad de California en Davis. Cahill has led some of the Cahill ha llevado a algunos de los most exhaustive scientific studies Más exhaustivos estudios científicos of 9/11-related toxins, and he has discovered a large number of health-threatening substances from air samples taken in the weeks and months after 9/11. 9/11-related de toxinas, y que ha descubierto un gran número de sustancias que amenazan la salud de las muestras de aire tomadas en las semanas y meses después del 9 / 11.

“There were two separate pollution events, and the first was an initial dust cloud,” Cahill explains. "Hay dos eventos de contaminación, y la primera fue una primera nube de polvo", explica Cahill. “What must not be forgotten is that the later effects from the smoldering pile were far, far worse.” "Lo que no debe olvidarse es que los efectos posteriores de la pila smoldering eran mucho, mucho peor."

Unlike the publicly lambasted EPA tests and findings, Cahill’s studies, which were published in peer-reviewed forums, were widely praised for their accuracy. A diferencia de la pública puede hacer pruebas y los resultados de la EPA, Cahill estudios, que fueron publicados en revistas foros, fueron ampliamente elogiado por su precisión. Though the University of California at Davis has offered the conclusions to the EPA, the Senate, and New York City health officials, Cahill says he isn’t aware of a single state or federal agency that has acted on his findings. Aunque la Universidad de California en Davis ha ofrecido las conclusiones de la EPA, el Senado, la ciudad de Nueva York y los funcionarios de salud, Cahill dice que él no tiene conocimiento de una sola agencia estatal o federal que ha actuado sobre sus conclusiones. Through sample analysis, Cahill first discovered that 21 percent of the initial dust cloud contained finely powdered, highly caustic cement—thought to be responsible for the “ A través de análisis de muestras, Cahill descubrió que el 21 por ciento de la nube de polvo inicial que figura en polvo fino, muy cáustico de cemento-que se consideran responsables de la " 9/11 cough 9 / 11 tos .” Cahill noticed that the heat generated by the piles was converting gases into highly toxic, very fine aerosols. ". Cahill observado que el calor generado por las pilas se convierten en gases altamente tóxicos, los aerosoles muy fino. His study “ Su estudio " Analysis of Aerosols From World Trade Center Attack El análisis de los aerosoles de World Trade Center Attack ” indicated that the contaminated air sometimes descended to ground level over a mile from Ground Zero, far outside the safety zones established by the EPA. "Indicó que el aire contaminado a veces descienden a nivel del suelo más de una milla de Ground Zero, mucho fuera de las zonas de seguridad establecidas por la EPA. Within a few hours’ time, a person exposed to the fumes could ingest toxins that would otherwise take a year to accumulate in a typical environment. Dentro de algunas horas de tiempo, una persona expuesta a los humos puede ingerir las toxinas que, de otro modo tener un año de acumular en un entorno típico.

“The fuming World Trade Center debris pile was a chemical factory that exhaled toxins in a particularly dangerous form that could penetrate deep into the lungs of rescue workers and local residents,” Cahill and his fellow researchers concluded. "El World Trade Center humeante montón de desechos era una fábrica de productos químicos tóxicos que exhala en una forma especialmente peligrosa que puede penetrar profundamente en los pulmones de los trabajadores de rescate y residentes locales", Cahill y sus compañeros llegó a la conclusión de los investigadores.

It’s painful just listening to Susan talk on the phone. Es doloroso escuchar a Susan acaba de hablar por teléfono. Her gasps and wheezes and long pauses in conversation give you the impression that she may not make it through an entire conversation, and I caught her on a good day. Su gasps y wheezes y largo pausas en la conversación le dan la impresión de que ella no podrá hacerlo a través de una conversación, y he cogido que en un buen día. A bad day means that she won’t even be able to make the trek from Queens to her office downtown. Un mal día significa que no va a ser capaz de hacer la caminata de Queens a su oficina centro de la ciudad.

“The public isn’t aware of just how bad the effects have been,” Susan says. "El público no es consciente de cuán mal los efectos han sido", dice Susan.

“Susan,” an anonymous source, was one of 386,000 people who worked in Lower Manhattan before the attacks. "Susan", una fuente anónima, fue una de 386000 personas que trabajaban en el bajo Manhattan antes de los ataques. A week after the attacks, she returned to her job downtown. Una semana después de los ataques, regresó a su centro de trabajo.

“Within 24 hours of returning to work, I had a problem,” she warbles. "Dentro de las 24 horas de volver al trabajo, tuve un problema", warbles. “I could not breathe at the office.” "No podía respirar en la oficina."

Even though she had heard the assurances of officials on television, today she bears the signs of serious toxic exposure: internal chemical burns, chronic respiratory infections, and severe asthma attacks. A pesar de que ha escuchado el testimonio de los funcionarios en la televisión, que hoy lleva las señales de exposición a tóxicos graves: internos quemaduras químicas, infecciones respiratorias crónicas y graves ataques de asma.

For average citizens like Susan, New York City offers only one publicly funded treatment option: the Por medio de los ciudadanos como Susan, la ciudad de Nueva York ofrece una única opción de tratamiento financiados con fondos públicos: la WTC Environmental Health Center Centro de Salud Ambiental WTC (WTC-EHC) at Bellevue Hospital, a new program launched in January 2007 that will expand to treat about 6,000 New Yorkers with 9/11-related health problems. (WTC-EHC) en el Bellevue Hospital, un nuevo programa puesto en marcha en enero de 2007 que se ampliará para tratar cerca de 6000 los neoyorquinos 9/11-related con problemas de salud. The World Trade Center Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program based at Mount Sinai and the Fire Department of New York’s Bureau of Health Services programs offer services to first responders. El World Trade Center de Medicina Programa de Tratamiento y Seguimiento basado en el Monte Sinaí y el Departamento de Bomberos de Nueva York de la Oficina de Servicios de Salud programas ofrecen servicios a los primeros respondedores. Politicians have proposed Los políticos han propuesto $1.9 billion in funding over the course of six years. $ 1,9 millones en fondos en el curso de seis años.

“We get about 100 to 200 calls a week,” says Dr. Joan Reibman, director of Bellevue’s WTC-EHC. "Recibimos alrededor de 100 a 200 llamadas a la semana", dice el Dr Joan Reibman, director de Bellevue del WTC-EHC. “We have a couple of hundred people waiting, so to get an appointment takes six weeks.” "Tenemos un par de cientos de personas esperando, de modo de obtener una cita toma seis semanas."

The Bellevue clinic currently serves about 1,300 patients in all. La clínica Bellevue actualmente atiende a unos 1300 pacientes en total. Although the three WTC treatment programs have been praised by Mayor Bloomberg’s office, Reibman explained to me that the WTC treatment programs were initiated by private organizations. Aunque los tres programas de tratamiento WTC han sido elogiados por la oficina del Alcalde Bloomberg, Reibman me explicó que el WTC programas de tratamiento fueron iniciados por organizaciones privadas.

“Neither the city or the federal government asked anyone to start any of the programs,” she says. "Ni la ciudad ni el gobierno federal pidió a nadie a empezar a cualquiera de los programas", dice. Eventually the programs drew the support of city officials and gained funding. Eventualmente los programas señaló el apoyo de oficiales de la ciudad y de la financiación obtenida.

Critics of the WTC health programs contend that there is no central entity that integrates the gathered information, which could provide a greater understanding of disease incidence as well as a certain level of continuity of treatment. Los críticos de los programas de salud WTC sostienen que no existe una entidad central que integra la información reunida, que podría proporcionar una mayor comprensión de la incidencia de la enfermedad, así como un cierto nivel de continuidad del tratamiento.

“We [the WTC health programs] all work together on the development of guidelines,” Reibman says. "Nosotros [los programas de salud WTC] trabajar todos juntos en la elaboración de directrices", dice Reibman. “We all share our information with each other. "Todos compartimos nuestra información con los demás. We have different populations, so our questionnaires are different.” Tenemos diferentes poblaciones, de modo que nuestros cuestionarios son diferentes. "

Although it still makes her ill, Susan continues to plod downtown to work. A pesar de que todavía le hace mal, Susan sigue plod centro de la ciudad a trabajar. She says sometimes the air in her workspace makes her eyes burn, but she doesn’t have a choice—disability payments won’t cover the rent or put food on the table. Ella dice que a veces el aire en su trabajo hace quemar los ojos, pero ella no tiene una opción de pagos de discapacidad no alcanzan a cubrir el alquiler o llevar comida a la mesa.

“You can’t dwell on it every single minute,” she says. "No se puede insistir en que cada minuto", dice. “If people dwelled on what happened, nobody would live downtown because they would be too frightened.” "Si la gente detenerse en lo que pasó, nadie viviría centro de la ciudad, ya que sería demasiado asustados".

Curious about whether the workers and residents of Lower Manhattan are still haunted by health problems like Susan’s, Nina’s, and Teroy’s, I took a walk through the streets surrounding the 9/11 reconstruction site. Curiosidad acerca de si los trabajadores y los residentes del Bajo Manhattan aún están acosados por problemas de salud, como Susan's, Nina, y Teroy's, tomé un paseo por las calles que rodean el 9 / 11 la reconstrucción del sitio. Although six years have passed since the attacks, the number of people I encountered seemingly with residual health problems surprised me. Aunque han transcurrido seis años desde los ataques, el número de personas con las que ha tropezado con aparentemente residual de los problemas de salud que me sorprendió.

“They told us it would be OK to come back here,” recalls Nicholas Rowe, a silver-haired bartender at a nearby Blarney Stone restaurant and bar. "Nos dijeron que sería en Aceptar para volver aquí", recuerda Nicholas Rowe, una de plata de pelo camarero en un restaurante cerca de Blarney Stone y bar. In an Irish lilt, Rowe chose colorful words to denounce the EPA’s assurances, none of them printable. En un irlandés lilt, Rowe eligió colorido palabras para denunciar las garantías de la EPA, ninguno de ellos impresora.

“Three months after the attacks, we would open the bar doors each day,” Rowe recalls. "Tres meses después de los ataques, que abriría la puertas de la barra de cada día", recuerda Rowe. “And every time I would wipe off the bar counter, there was black dust. "Y cada vez que se limpie la barra de contrarrestar, hubo polvo negro. Now I have nose and throat and sinus infections that keep coming back, and I never had those before. Ahora tengo la nariz y la garganta y las infecciones de sinus que volver, y yo nunca los había antes. My regulars come in with problems too.” Mi habituales en venir con problemas también ".

Just a couple of blocks from the Blarney Stone, I stopped and chatted with Jim Moock, a director of business development at CQG, a market-data provider located in a Broadway high-rise. Sólo un par de cuadras de la Blarney Stone, me detuve y charlamos con Jim Moock, un director de desarrollo de negocios en CQG, un proveedor de datos de mercado situado en un Broadway de gran altura.

“Some people had painter’s masks on their faces, apparently the cops were giving them out,” Moock said, recalling the day of the attacks. "Algunas personas han pintor máscaras en sus caras, al parecer, los policías les estaban dando", dijo Moock, recordando el día de los ataques. “I didn’t get one. "No tuve uno. It was chaotic, and the only clear thought I had was, ‘Why didn’t I get one [of the masks]?’” Es caótica, y el único pensamiento que tenía claro era, '¿Por qué no me uno [de las máscaras]? "

Moock developed a dry, hacking cough about two weeks after the attacks. Moock desarrollado una seca, tos con flema alrededor de dos semanas después de los ataques. Finally, after two months of aggravation, Moock scheduled a visit with a pulmonologist. Finalmente, después de dos meses de agravación, Moock programada una visita con un pulmonologist. That visit has resulted in the first of many subsequent checkups throughout the years.

“He gives me a test every year or two, and it has shown diminished [lung] capacity,” explained Moock. “He has me on two forms of inhaled medications that I take daily every morning. One is steroid based, and I’ve been on them since 2001.”

Moock believes he was exposed to the toxic dust in a number of different ways. “When it got to be windy, you would see it blow off the window ledges, and I would be outside and see it land on the sidewalk, and it would just sit there like a clump, not like ashes that would just blow away,” Moock said. “When it got to be windy, you would see it blow off the window ledges, and I would be outside and see it land on the sidewalk, and it would just sit there like a clump, not like ashes that would just blow away, ” Moock said. “This went on for months. I remember watching it rain on this stuff, and it took a lot of rain to get rid of the dust because it was so dense.”

Moock claims he hasn’t seen the familiar pockets of dust for a long time, but does it mean the city is now clean and safe?

In March 2004, in an attempt to “get greater input” regarding the health concerns of New Yorkers, the EPA convened the World Trade Center Expert Technical Review Panel , made up of 18 professionals from academia and public-health organizations. The panel’s goal was to assess any remaining exposures and risks, ascertain any public-health needs that were unmet, and then to offer a recommended course of action. In order to arrive at educated suggestions, the panel needed solid data.

“The whole process [of gathering data] has been extraordinarily poor in terms of understanding the extent to which people were exposed and possibly remain exposed, and if there are pockets of pollution left,” says Jeanne Stellman, a professor of public health at Columbia University, who served on the panel. “The whole process [of gathering data] has been extraordinarily poor in terms of understanding the extent to which people were exposed and possibly remain exposed, and if there are pockets of pollution left,” says Jeanne Stellman, a professor of public health at Columbia University, who served on the panel.

Various panel members criticized the EPA’s testing methods, suggesting that the data obtained weren’t sound enough to draw the conclusions the EPA had acted on. “There is only a limited amount of data available on what the nature of the exposure was, which varied day to day and hour to hour,” Stellman explains. “There was remarkably little sampling and analysis.”

With so little data available, the panel wasn’t able to determine if the city still required cleanup or not. Too many questions remained unanswered. “At any rate, the issue of cleanup was never resolved,” Stellman says. “And we never got up to the public-health aspects that we were charged with doing.”

The EPA disbanded the WTC Expert Technical Review Panel in December 2005 without explanation. Few recommendations made it into the public record as a result. Instead of continuing the panel, the EPA decided to implement a second program launched in December 2006. The plan intended to address the cleaning and abatement needs of residents of Lower Manhattan, in the exact same locations it had addressed in its first criticized attempt.

In its June 2007 congressional testimony, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reviewed the WTC panel’s recommendations and corroborated its assessments. The El GAO review stated that the EPA’s decision to incorporate only some, rather than all, of the panel’s recommendations undermined the validity of the second program.

“The majority of panel members do not support EPA’s second program,” the GAO report concluded. “[The second program] was not responsive to the concerns of residents and workers . . . it was scientifically and technically flawed.”

Robert Gulack, an attorney with the federal government, thought he had escaped the toxic environment caused by 9/11. When his department relocated into the Woolworth Building following the destruction of 7 World Trade Center, it took him only a few days to notice the effect on his breathing.

“Three days later I woke up with a severe asthma attack,” Gulack says. “More than half of my coworkers raised their hands during a meeting and said they had illness since coming into the building.”

To the alarm of his coworkers, Gulack began wearing a double-canister respirator to work every day. The precautions couldn’t deter the onset of problems from the contamination he had already suffered, though.

“I was certified as a scuba diver, and I had great lung capacity,” he says. “Now a scan shows damage to my lungs and hyperreactivity to irritants.” Once Gulack was rushed to the hospital for pneumonia following a number of bronchial infections. Now his illness carries a diagnosis of reactive airway disorder.

Gulack explained that even though his agency had received assurances about the building’s air quality from both the landlord and the EPA, later testing (by a private company) proved the area was dangerously contaminated.

Image courtesy of CDC

“I know that I was exposed to things that no human being should be exposed to,” Gulack says. “Not only have I been exposed to asbestos but probably a number of other life-threatening contaminants. I’m 53, I have a wife and kids, and I don’t want to be taken away from them. There was no reason to subject me to those dangers—no justification for this at all.”

As a union steward, Gulack has advocated for employee health concerns and has closely monitored the EPA’s actions since 9/11. He believes that instead of learning from all its mistakes, the EPA remains unprepared for another crisis.

“New victims are being claimed every day as a result of this contamination,” Gulack says. “The EPA has officially taken their bad choices and made it their model. Now all crises will be handled politically, through the White House.”

The EPA’s calamitous handling of the 9/11 cleanup brings White House involvement into question. The damning OIG report showed that important public-health information was held back by Bush’s Council on Environmental Quality, and evidence also suggests that critical press releases were altered, making them contradict scientific fact. As the report noted, “the White House Council on Environmental Quality . . . influenced, through the collaboration process, the information that EPA communicated to the public through its early press releases when it convinced EPA to add reassuring statements and delete cautionary ones.”

Gulack’s concerns are substantiated by another indictment of the EPA—this time in their handling of the hurricane Katrina disaster in New Orleans. A June 2007 report from the GAO contains an eerily reminiscent passage: “EPA’s assurance that the public health is being protected from the risks associated with the inhalation of asbestos fibers is limited because the agency has not deployed air monitors in and around New Orleans neighborhoods where demolition and renovation activities are concentrated.” from the GAO contains an eerily reminiscent passage: “EPA’s assurance that the public health is being protected from the risks associated with the inhalation of asbestos fibers is limited because the agency has not deployed air monitors in and around New Orleans neighborhoods where demolition and renovation activities are concentrated.”

Within sight of Ground Zero quietly stands the Statue of Liberty, seemingly ignored in our post-9/11 world. But like an oracle from a distant time, she offers prophetic words of concern. In the shadow of the attacks, the inscription at her base no longer seems to address immigrants but rather speaks directly to New Yorkers who now find themselves disenfranchised and suffocating with disease: “Give me your tired, your poor/Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” In the shadow of the attacks, the inscription at her base no longer seems to address immigrants but rather speaks directly to New Yorkers who now find themselves disenfranchised and suffocating with disease: “Give me your tired, your poor/Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”

Yet some leaders are speaking up for sickened New Yorkers. Representatives Carolyn Maloney and Vito Fossella of New York introduced the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act , which would expand the current health programs for first responders, area residents, office workers, and students. New York representative Jerrold Nadler tirelessly champions decisive action on behalf of New Yorkers who are still susceptible to toxins.

“We have to clean this up; it was never done properly,” says Nadler, who also says cleanup efforts could run several billion dollars, but there is no exact figure because nobody knows how extensive the contamination is and if it extends to Brooklyn as well. “We have to clean this up; it was never done properly,” says Nadler, who also says cleanup efforts could run several billion dollars, but there is no exact figure because nobody knows how extensive the contamination is and if it extends to Brooklyn as well.

Because adequate testing has yet to be conducted, nobody knows for certain just how toxic Lower Manhattan remains, but there are plenty of indicators that the 9/11 attacks are still dismantling the downtown infrastructure. Two former Deutsche Bank buildings downtown will soon be demolished as a direct result of 9/11 contamination, and more demolitions are expected.

“To clean it up, it costs between $10,000 and $20,000 per apartment,” Nadler says about the current price of adequate cleaning. “To clean it up, it costs between $10000 and $20000 per apartment,” Nadler says about the current price of adequate cleaning. “Are you going to ask a resident to pay that?”

On June 25, 2007, former EPA administrator Christie Todd Whitman testified before a congressional hearing and repeatedly denied any wrongdoing or culpability in the EPA’s handling of the disaster. Nadler, who represents nearly all of Lower Manhattan, presided over the hearings.

“Let’s be clear: There are people to blame,” Whitman said. “They are the terrorists who attacked the United States.”

Nadler offered me a distinction.

“I divide the population of affected people in different ways,” he says. “First are the ones that were killed, and you can blame the terrorists for those. Then there was the plume—we think about 30,000 people were caught in it. Then there was the plume—we think about 30000 people were caught in it. And those people were also sickened by the terrorists. But the others are first responders on the pile, and most of those are sick due to exposure—there you can blame public officials who permitted them to work on the pile.” Nadler also includes area residents and workers among the victims of public officials.

During the hearings, Whitman acknowledged that some first responders were sickened by the contamination because they did not wear respirators.

“After the first three days, it is not a rescue operation,” Nadler says. “It is simply a cleanup, and there is no excuse for not doing it properly. At the Pentagon site, nobody got sick there because they enforced the safety laws.” Workers who did not comply with safety regulations were not permitted on-site at the Pentagon-run cleanup.

“Every action taken by the EPA during the response to this horrific event was designed to provide the most comprehensive protection and the most accurate information to the residents of Manhattan,” Whitman stated in a press release. Her remarks, however, only served to enrage already traumatized New Yorkers.

Through a spokesperson, Whitman declined to answer any questions for this article, instead offering a prepared statement citing her congressional testimony.

“It is clear there are laws and regulations that were in place, which, had they been followed, would have prevented all this,” Nadler says. “They weren’t followed.”

While the courts try to determine who is responsible for the environmental debacle following 9/11, countless New Yorkers continue to live and work near Lower Manhattan with the assumption that it is safe. The dust is now out of sight, out of mind, and possibly in their lungs, hearts, and bloodstreams.

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