DECEMBER

• Fiterman hope ... I am writing in reference to your recent editorial entitled “Pataki’s Downtown legacy” (Dec. 22 - 28). While you correctly point out that, under Governor Pataki’s leadership, “deadlines to demolish the former Deutsche Bank building and Fiterman Hall were missed” the editorial goes on to say that “the Fiterman project’s beginning remains in doubt.” I am rather hopeful that this is not the case. Earlier this fall, I convened several meetings in my office with the key players involved in the demolition of Fiterman Hall. They included the chancellor of CUNY (which owns the building), officials from the Environmental Protection Agency (which must approve all plans), as well as the chairperson of Community Board 1 and our other local elected officials. I am pleased to report that this project is now squarely back on track and CUNY is now working closely with E.P.A. officials on finalizing a plan to deconstruct the Fiterman Hall building. I believe that we have used these meetings to convince both CUNY and the E.P.A. of the importance of moving this project forward in an expeditious manner and to also do so in a way that insures the safety of local residents and workers. I am also overseeing the creation of a Fiterman Hall Community Advisory Committee to work closely with CUNY, E.P.A. and others involved in this project to insure that the community is fully involved with and informed of all the plans. ... Dr. John O. Agwunobi, the assistant secretary for health at the Department of Health and Human Services, made no commitments other than promising to convey the urgency of the matter to Michael O. Leavitt, the department’s secretary, according to several participants in the meeting, which was not open to the public. Dr. Agwunobi and Dr. John Howard, the director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, which prepared the estimate, are co-chairmen of a task force appointed by Mr. Leavitt to examine 9/11 health issues. Holly Babin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services, said yesterday that she was not familiar with the estimate and that several approaches were being considered. “The task force is to come up with a number of different options and models,” she wrote in an e-mail message, adding that it was looking at a variety of approaches and preparing cost estimates for each. ...(Letters to the Editor, Silver, Dec. 29, 2006-Jan.4, 2007)
  
• WTC hero wins health coverage ... Crippled 9/11 hero Vito Valenti's lungs were terminally scarred at Ground Zero, but the injury couldn't stop him from seeing justice finally done this week. For months, the volunteer who was among the first into the World Trade Center's toxic cloud has been relying on the generosity of strangers for vital medicine and oxygen he couldn't afford. On Wednesday, he heard a judge order his health costs covered - putting an end to the wearying legal battle.... Valenti, 42, from Elmont, L.I., inhaled the asbestos and chemical-laden dust at Ground Zero as he answered a call for help in the two days after 9/11. A hacking cough he developed eight months later was eventually diagnosed as pulmonary fibrosis - a scarring of the lungs so severe that without a transplant, he could expect to live for only five to six years. He had to quit his job as a union rep with District Council 37. With it went his health benefits. Technicalities in the workers' compensation system stopped him - like many suffering because of their bravery that day - from claiming coverage. The system, designed for everyday workplace injuries, had a two-year deadline for claims to be made. By the time Valenti's illness was evident, that deadline had passed. He has been forced to rely on donations from medical companies, doctors and members of the public moved to help. But on Wednesday, a judge ruled changes to the law made by Gov. Pataki in August after the Daily News highlighted Valenti's plight, and that of many like him, made him eligible. .... (NYDaily News, by Adam Nichols, Dec. 22, 2006)
• The Year At The World Trade Center Site: Health Concerns Plague 9/11 First Responders ... A staggering 70-percent of World Trade Center first responders are suffering from respiratory problems. In September, Mount Sinai Hospital released a groundbreaking study on the health of the firefighters, police officers, construction, and transit workers who responded to the terror attacks. "I have burnt lungs,” said WTC responder John Graham. “I have asthma, reactive airway disease, gastric reflux, post-traumatic stress and a host of other things." One of the more striking findings was that among those who had no health problems before September 11th, 2001, 61-percent developed symptoms after exposure. "There should no longer be any doubt about the health effects of the World Trade Center,” said Dr. Robin Herbert of Mount Sinai. “Our patients are sick and will need on-going health monitoring and treatment for the rest of their lives." Mayor Michael Bloomberg said it was too soon to draw that conclusion. Still, the city opened an environmental health center at Bellevue Hospital for those first responders and anyone who felt they were suffering from the effects of the dust they inhaled after the attacks. And the state government also did its part to contribute to the health of 9/11 first responders. Earlier, Governor George Pataki signed legislation giving full line of duty benefits to the family of any firefighter, police officer, or uniformed person who dies of a 9/11-related illness. ... But the fallout from the attacks continued, this time in court, as more than 8,000 workers were represented in a federal lawsuit that alleges the city failed to properly protect them from toxic dust and debris after the terror attacks. The plaintiffs include police officers, firefighters, and EMTs. “Yesterday I got a phone call from an electrician whose husband died of stomach cancer,” explained the plaintiffs’ attorney, David Worby. “And three days earlier we got another call from a relative of someone who died from throat and tongue cancer. Those people were given zero protection." ...(NY1, by Rebecca Spitz, Dec. 20, 2006)
  
• Money to Treat 9/11 Workers Will Run Out, Officials Say ... The roughly $40 million that was set aside by the federal government to treat rescue workers, volunteers and firefighters who became ill after helping with the 9/11 cleanup and recovery will run out in months, physicians and federal officials said yesterday. Members of Congress from New York and New Jersey secured $75 million a year ago to pay for health care expenses -- including $40 million for treatments like drugs and medical procedures -- for about 32,000 workers who reported ailments after working at ground zero. Distribution of the treatment money did not begin in earnest until October. Officials at the two major monitoring and treatment programs, one run by Mount Sinai Medical Center and the other by the Fire Department, said yesterday that at the current spending rate, the treatment money would run out by spring or summer. They told top federal health officials that unless more financing was provided, they would be forced to notify thousands of patients that their treatment could soon end.... (NYTimes, by Sewell Chan, Dec. 19, 2006)
• Registration To Begin for EPA's Next Cleaning ... Downtown residents who are worried about residual World Trade Center dust will get one last chance to have their homes tested and cleaned, the federal Environmental Protection Agency announced. The plan, almost identical to one that was announced by the agency to widespread criticism a year ago, will cover the area below Canal Street and west of Allen Street. A 60-day registration will begin in mid-January 2007. (For more information go to www.epa.gov/wtc/testandclean.) ... Last year, the EPA’s expert technical review panel had recommended that a “signature dust” be identified and used for sampling in a wide geographic area in order to determine if there is in fact still World Trade Center dust in homes and workplaces. The EPA rejected that idea after a peer review group said it was impossible to conclusively identify contaminants as having come from the World Trade Center collapse. At the urging of panel members, the EPA said, they have spent the past year reexamining the possibility of a signature dust and again concluded that it was not feasible. .... Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, a consistent critic of the EPA’s handling of the environmental impact from the towers’ collapse, said she will use her chairmanship of the Senate Subcommittee on Superfund and Environmental Health to pursue a more expansive testing plan. "The EPA has now acknowledged that additional testing is necessary, but the program announced today is totally inadequate,” she said in a Dec. 6 statement. ... (Tribeca Trib, by Etta Sanders, Dec. 18, 2006)
  
• Clinton demands federal funding for 9/11 health woes ... Senator Hillary Clinton is putting new pressure on the White House to address health concerns of ground zero workers. Senator Clinton says the program that monitors and treats 9/11 first responders and workers could run out of money by this summer. She wants President Bush to put more money into the program when he presents his next budget. "We are worried that the medical treatment that has begun, finally, after years of effort and many obstacles along the way will run out of money starting this summer," Clinton said, "so that the people who are finally being treated for the many symptoms of their chronic conditions due to 9/11 exposures will once again be left out in the cold." With Democrats controlling Congress, Senator Clinton says there will be hearings into how the administration has responded to 9/11 health concerns. (WABC, Dec. 28, 2006)
  
• Monday For 9/11 First responder Health Care Running Out ... Local lawmakers say the federal money used to pay the medical bills for September 11th first responders is running out. Legislators met with federal health officials today, who told them that government funding will run dry as early as this spring. The legislators are calling for the president to add short term funds to this year's budget to keep the program going. "I am very disappointed with the progress," said Senator Hillary Clinton. "I've been to numerous meetings like the one we just attended. I've heard all of the assurances from the administration time and time again. It is time for action." "We don't ask for anything above board," said sick first responder John Sferazo. "All we're asking for is just give us what you promised; that's all we want." Lawmakers have also introduced legislation that calls for $1.9 billion of long-term federal aid to address the on-going health concerns. (NY1, Dec. 18, 2006)
  
• After labor dispute, all workers back on job at WTC skyscraper ... Workers resumed removing the facade of a contaminated skyscraper near the World Trade Center site on Monday after a contract dispute that stopped the dismantling almost as soon as it began.Workers for the John Galt Co. left the former Deutsche Bank AG building at midday Dec. 11 after one full day of taking the glass and metal facade off the skyscraper's top floors. The building's main contractor, Bovis Lend Lease, said the company needed to negotiate ongoing contract issues with the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. rebuilding agency.... (NYMetro/AP, Dec. 18, 2006)
  
• Workers walk at Deutsche ... The delay-plagued removal of the former Deutsche Bank building at 130 Liberty St. hit yet another bizarre snag this week as a subcontractor pulled its workers off the site just days after deconstruction had begun. On Dec. 8, with final permits in place, workers began removing windows and exterior facades from the building in a process the Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center called a “prelude” to structural deconstruction. On Dec. 11, however, workers from the John Galt Co., hired by primary contractor Bovis Lend Lease to assist in the deconstruction, walked off the site. Though the Construction Center would not comment on the reasons for the walk-out, the New York Daily News reported Wednesday that Galt is asking for $30 million in additional funding to complete the job. Bob Harvey of the L.M.C.C.C. did say that the parties were currently negotiating and that Bovis, as lead contractor, was ultimately responsible for bringing its subcontractors back to the site. ... Based on the current schedule, the window and façade removal would continue until early January, when the floor-by-floor deconstruction of the building would begin. The deconstruction is slated for completion in December 2007. The cost estimate for the purchase of the building and demolition is $207 million. ... (Downtown Express, by Skye H. McFarlane, Dec. 15-21, 2006)
  
• OP-ED: A Fair Deal for 9/11's Injured ... FIVE years have passed since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, but the flood of litigation continues unabated in federal court in Manhattan. Some 6,000 people are suing New York City, the Port Authority and more than 100 private contractors for negligence in exposing workers to toxic dust and fumes after the collapse of the World Trade Center. Thousands of additional claims are expected in the next few months. Waiting in the wings are approximately 40,000 workers who cleaned up the site after Sept. 11, as well as residents of Lower Manhattan, observers of the cleanup effort and people who simply breathed the harmful air on their way to work — all potential litigants. Some will probably eventually suffer the same ailments that have led to the current lawsuits. The federal judge presiding over the lawsuits has urged settlement, warning that continuing the litigation is inefficient, expensive and risky to all parties. The mere existence of thousands of lawsuits fuels uncertainty and delays the payment of compensation to eligible victims. ... The federal Sept. 11 Victim Compensation Fund, which I oversaw, paid more than $7 billion in public compensation to the families of those who died in the World Trade Center attacks and to injured survivors. Of that, about $500 million went to more than 1,300 recovery workers and others suffering from the same respiratory injuries that now plague those in the courtroom. Since none of these 6,000 people who have filed lawsuits received diagnoses of 9/11-related injuries until after the fund’s filing deadline of Dec. 22, 2003, they were ineligible for compensation. So, reluctantly, they have turned to the courts. There is a better way: use the principles of the 9/11 fund as a blueprint to resolve the current litigation and get money into the hands of recovery workers and others quickly. More than $1 billion in public funds is currently available for distribution as part of the initial federal appropriation earmarked for New York City’s 9/11 recovery. If you add financial contributions from those contractors and others involved in the litigation, and supplement that with funds from various city charities, a total of at least $1.5 billion is available to settle the pending lawsuits — more than sufficient to pay all eligible claims, as well as lawyers’ fees and costs. Eligibility for compensation under the settlement would require proof that the victim was in the general proximity of the World Trade Center during the cleanup period. Each claimant would also supply medical documentation of an illness caused by exposure to harmful air at the site (the medical criteria would be negotiated as part of the settlement to avoid a rush of spurious claims). .... New York City and the other defendants would not admit they were at fault for these injuries; they would merely agree to use available funds to pay all documented claims. (It remains an open question whether the defendants are legally responsible for such injuries.) Up to half of this money should be set aside to pay for claims stemming from future diagnoses of injuries caused by breathing the toxic air. As with the 9/11 fund, the neediest victims, those without a financial safety net, should be the priority. Firefighters, police officers and other uniformed responders at the World Trade Center already receive benefits from pension and health insurance policies, and these amounts should be subtracted from any payments made as a result of the settlement. Funds received by eligible claimants would be used primarily for medical monitoring and other health-related services. And, just as the 9/11 fund should be viewed as a unique public policy response to an unprecedented national calamity, so, too, would this settlement be considered a one-time solution to all remaining physical injury claims occurring at the World Trade Center. It is unlikely that such a settlement would expose New York City and others to future demands for similar compensation. The defendants and the court could make clear that the settlement was achieved only because of the existence of available funds and the unparalleled nature of the attack. In any event, concern about future legal liability is no excuse for refusing to act now in compensating victims in distress. ... (NYTimes, by Kenneth R. Feinberg, Dec. 14, 2006)
  
• Talks end on bank demolition ... The obstacle-prone effort to demolish the damaged former Deutsche Bank tower at Ground Zero remained stalled yesterday as negotiations over a contract dispute were cut off. The teardown effort, deemed critical to rebuilding the former World Trade Center site, came to a virtual standstill Monday when most of the demolition and cleanup crew working for subcontractor John Galt Co. walked off the job. "Right now there are no negotiations," said Kori-Anne Taylor, a spokeswoman for the state Lower Manhattan Development Corp., the agency overseeing the project. Sources told the Daily News that Galt and the prime contractor on the job, Bovis Lend-Lease, want to increase their contract from $33 million to $63 million. ... (Daily News, by Greg B. Smith, Dec. 14, 2006)
  
• 13,000 Have Finished Follow-Up to WTC Health Registry ... The city health department says 13,000 people have finished a follow-up survey for the World Trade Center health registry, but officials are hoping even more people will come forward. A total of 71,000 people are enrolled in the program, which tracks the mental and physical health of different groups affected by the attacks. The registry will continue to compile information for the next few months before the findings are released to the public. Officials have stressed that information on specific survivors will be kept confidential. To find out more about the study, or to add your updated information call (866) 692-9827 or log onto WTCHealthRegistry.org. (NY1, Dec. 14, 2006)
  
• Feinberg Recommends 2nd Fund For 9/11 Toxin Victims ... The man who helped dole out federal money to September 11, 2001 victims' families said Thursday he has a similar plan to give out money for people who were exposed to toxins after the attacks. In an op-ed to the New York Times, former Victims Compensation Fund Special Master Kenneth Feinberg says a second fund is needed to save the courts from tens of thousands of lawsuits. Feinberg suggests a second victims’ account might settle lawsuits and pay victims more quickly. He says much of the money could come from $1 billion in public funds already set aside for New York's recovery. Most of the current plaintiffs were not eligible for payouts from the first fund because they were not diagnosed with health problems by the 2003 deadline. (NY1, Dec. 14, 2006)
  
• More than 13,000 World Trade Center Health Registry Enrollees have completed their follow-up survery in the past three weeks ... (NYCDOHMH News Release, Dec. 14, 2006)
• Crews Resume Demolition Work On Deutsche Bank Building ... A company hired to tear down the contaminated Deutsche Bank building returned to work on the site today after walking off the job Monday. The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation calls the job action by subcontractor John Galt Company, a "minor work stoppage." The agency says it was in contract negotiations with contractor Bovis Lend Lease when Galt workers walked off the job. Demolition on the 40 story tower began last Thursday. (NY1, 12/13/06)
  
• Bank tower work's halted in pay dispute ...The company hired to demolish the former Deutsche Bank tower at Ground Zero walked off the job this week after demanding its $33 million contract be nearly doubled, the Daily News has learned. The job shutdown by subcontractor John Galt Co., which began Monday and continued yesterday, is yet another hitch in the long-delayed removal of the tower. Officials fear the move could have a domino effect and slow rebuilding at the site. Galt is claiming it greatly underestimated the cost of the job, according to three sources familiar with the matter. The 40-story tower at 130 Liberty St. was badly damaged on 9/11 and is contaminated with toxic dust. In the past two weeks, Galt and the job's prime contractor, Bovis Lend Lease, have been trying to get millions more to tear down the building by fall of next year as scheduled, the sources said. Yesterday, for the first time, the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. acknowledged it was discussing amending the contract but declined to discuss dollar figures. The sources said Bovis, acting on behalf of Galt, has asked for $30 million more than the $33million contract for the demolition work. The LMDC already spent $90 million to buy the ruined building from Deutsche Bank in 2004. In response to an inquiry by The News, the LMDC called the walkoff a "work stoppage" that was "impairing progress at the 130 Liberty site which is essential to the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site." ... (NYDaily News, by Paul D. COlford and Greg B. Smith, Dec. 13, 2006)
  
• Many WTC Workers Stop Work Over Dispute ... Most of the workers cleaning and taking down a vacant damaged skyscraper near the World Trade Center site walked off the job this week in a contract dispute, one day after the long-awaited dismantling of the building began, officials overseeing the project said.Some of the John Galt Co. employees left work at the former Deutsche Bank AG building at noon on Monday, said Kori-Ann Taylor, spokeswoman for the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., the rebuilding agency that owns the building. "We are not continuing negotiations until all the workers are back on the job," said Taylor. The workers had been cleaning toxic materials from the 41-story building's lower floors and helping to remove the metal and glass facade on the top floors. ... But Mary Costello, a spokeswoman for Bovis Lend Lease LMB Inc., said Wednesday that the Bovis team managing the job remained at the building and said 15 to 20 Galt workers have remained at the building since Monday. "The job has not been shut down," Costello said. Costello said the company wants "to resolve open issues concerning claims for additional compensation for extra work." Taylor wasn't sure how much work was accomplished on Wednesday but said about 200 people are normally on the job. A John Galt Co. executive didn't return a telephone message seeking comment Wednesday. (Newsday/AP, Dec. 13, 2006)
  
• 85 Percent of Highway Diesel Fuel Meets EPA Standards ...  New, cleaner diesel fuel is producing cleaner air, according to preliminary surveys and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  Surveys of retail stations since mid-October show that about 85 percent of highway diesel fuel meets Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel (ULSD) standards, exceeding the 80 percent regulatory mandate. 100 percent of highway diesel fuel must meet the ULSD standards by 2010. ... EPA is working with the Clean Diesel Fuel Alliance to help provide additional public information and raise awareness of the importance of proper labeling. For more information on the Alliance go to:  http://www.clean-diesel.org/
  More information on EPA's clean diesel programs: 
  http://www.epa.gov/otaq/highway-diesel/regs/420f06064.htm#overview
  (EPA News Release, 12/08/06)
  
• Work to start on facade at former Deutsche Bank ... Workers are set to begin removing metal and glass from the outside of the former Deutsche Bank tower next to Ground Zero today, officials said. Buildings Department officials approved permits earlier this week allowing removal of the facade on the top floors of the 40-story tower. The state still does not have permission to begin demolition of the interior steel structure and cement floors. The facade of the tower was ripped open when the south tower collapsed Sept. 11, filling the interior with toxic dust, which has complicated the building's demolition. ... (NY Daily News, by Greg B. Smith, Dec. 8, 2006)
  
• Former Deutsche Bank Building Finally Coming Down ... Demolition finally began Friday on the Deutsche Bank building, which was severely damaged when the Twin Towers came down on September 11th, 2001. The 41-story tower has been vacant since that day. Workers have started removing the windows and metal column covers that make up the facade of the building's top four floors. After that, the steel and concrete skeleton of those floors will come down. ... The Environmental Protection Agency is monitoring the site to make sure no harmful dust is released. Demolition prep work was stopped several months ago when human remains were found on the roof. A search eventually turned up more than 700 bone fragments. That search is still moving forward on the lower floors. (NY1, Dec. 8, 2006)
  
• Deutsche Bank Demolition To Begin ... Workers will start dismantling the facade of the former Deutsche Bank building today as a prelude to its demolition, which is to begin in January, the Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center said yesterday. The building stands opposite ground zero at 130 Liberty Street, and was badly damaged and contaminated on Sept. 11, 2001. The command center said workers would dismantle aluminum column covers and windows at the top of the building, moving down from the 39th floor to the 35th. They will cut up the material and wrap it in plastic for removal from the site. (NYTimes, by David Dunlap, Dec. 8, 2006)
  
• From new infamy must come honor... Dorothy Hall, 70, a Red Cross volunteer from Burns, Tenn., worked for six weeks at Ground Zero and now suffers from interstitial lung disease - the same type of ailment that killed Trade Center responders Detective James Zadroga, Officer James Godbee, Firefighter Stephen Johnson and AT&T Wireless technician Mark DeBiase. Nancy Hachmeister, 50, a search-and-rescue dog handler from Bountiful, Utah, spent 10 days with her German shepherd Ivey scouring The Pile for signs of life and human remains. Ever since, Hachmeister has been plagued by sinus infections and a persistent cough, sometimes hacking so violently that she vomits. Ivey died last year of cancer at the age of 9. Hachmeister wants Washington, including Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt, a former Utah governor, to dedicate research dollars toward 9/11-related diseases. "He needs to know there is a definite problem, and not just for the New Yorkers who were there," Hachmeister said. "They need to be aware and do what they can as far as putting money into research to figure out what's going on here." The focus on Leavitt is spot-on. It has been three months since the secretary - caught in the glare of the fifth anniversary of the terror attack - assigned his "A-team" to formulate what, if anything, his agency would do for the forgotten victims of 9/11. Since then, Leavitt and his aides have relapsed into the torpor that has become a hallmark of their record.Slow to recognize that debilitating asthmas, potentially fatal lung-scarring diseases, chronic coughs and other respiratory illnesses are prevalent among Trade Center responders, they have provided only piecemeal aid - and only under determined prodding by Sen. Hillary Clinton and Reps. Carolyn Maloney and Vito Fossella. It was only in October that HHS finally delivered federal funding to actually provide care to stricken rescue and recovery workers - $40 million that will allow specialists at the Fire Department and Mount Sinai Medical Center's World Trade Center clinics to treat, rather than simply screen and monitor, the ill. The money was, of course, appreciated, but at present rates of spending it will likely run out next summer. ... (NYDaily News:  Editorial, Dec. 7, 2006)
• Cleanup of 9/11 Dust to Resume, EPA Says, Despite Widespread Criticism ... More than five years after contaminated dust from the World Trade Center seeped into apartments and offices throughout Lower Manhattan, the federal Environmental Protection Agency announced plans yesterday to start a final indoor cleanup program next month, despite widespread criticism that the program is seriously flawed. ... The new program is almost identical to one that was rejected in November 2005 as inadequate by the agency’s advisory panel of experts as well as by community groups, labor unions and the city’s Congressional delegation. The City Council passed a resolution condemning that program, calling it “technically and scientifically flawed.” Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, who in 2004 forced the environmental agency to test indoor spaces for contamination, called the program announced yesterday “totally inadequate.” In a statement, she said she would use her chairmanship of the Senate Subcommittee on Superfund and Environmental Health in the new Congress to press for a more comprehensive testing and cleaning program.In early 2005, the agency considered creating a far broader program that would have used statistically based mapping to learn the extent of the contamination, following it outside Manhattan if needed. Under that program, if any dust could be conclusively linked to the trade center collapse, entire buildings, not individual apartments or offices, were to be vacuumed and wiped down to prevent recontamination from spaces that had not been cleaned. The agency abandoned that program late last year when it could not devise a reliable way to identify trade center dust. It substituted a pared down program that would only test individual apartments in Lower Manhattan and clean only those where contamination was found. However, when community residents objected to the program as insufficient, the agency agreed to continue looking for a method of identifying dust from the twin towers. ... Catherine McVay Hughes, a downtown resident who was community liaison on the agency’s advisory panel, said she was disturbed that the agency had not notified residents of this latest version before announcing it. She said it was still so limited that it was unlikely to accomplish Mr. Steinberg’s goal of providing “peace of mind to people who live and work in Lower Manhattan.” “Because the plan continues to be inadequate, I can’t imagine that there will be much of a response,” she said. ... It is not clear how many apartments and commercial spaces can be cleaned under the new program. Mr. Steinberg said only $7 million was left from a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant to pay for the new cleanup. A previous effort in 2002 and 2003 that cleaned or tested 4,200 of more than 23,000 apartments in Lower Manhattan cost $30 million. Mr. Steinberg said testing for the four contaminants would cost about $3 a square foot, or $3,000 for an average apartment, while cleaning that same space will add an additional $1 per square foot.But officials said they expected the testing to show that most apartments do not need to be cleaned. ... (NYTimes, by Anthony DePalma, December 7, 2007)
  
• EPA slammed over 'final' 9/11 dust testing ... A new $7 million federal plan to test for World Trade Center dust in lower Manhattan was roundly criticized Wednesday as too little too late. ... (AM NY/Newsday, by Grahma Rayman, Dec. 7, 2006)
  
• New air tests at WTC: Feds will probe for toxins but politicians slam plan ... The EPA's decision to go forward, three years after the agency finished testing and cleaning 4,167 downtown apartments, was part of a long-running debate over how extensive its next effort should be. "The program announced today is totally inadequate," Sen. Hillary Clinton said. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-Manhattan), whose district includes the World Trade Center area, said the EPA should randomly select several hundred apartments in concentric circles out from the WTC site and inspect them thoroughly. "There might be reason to clean buildings three blocks in one direction and 3 miles in another," he said. "It is immoral for the federal government to be complicit in the poisoning of thousands of people." ... (NYDaily News, by Paul De. Colford, Dec. 7, 2006)
  
• Nadler Blasts EPA Sham WTC Testing & Cleanup Program: Calls plan a "slap in the face" to the people of Lower Manhattan Vows a Democratic Congress will "hold EPA accountable" ... According to the EPA’s official announcement, the plan was based on the assumption that the "vast majority of residential and commercial spaces in Lower Manhattan have been repeatedly cleaned" and that the potential for exposure related to dust "is low." But in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, the EPA told people to clean up WTC dust on their own with a wet mop or hire their own cleaning crews. No interior space has ever been cleaned by the Federal government in a manner consistent with federal environmental laws, and many buildings outside the arbitrary geographic boundary set by EPA may be contaminated. .... (News Release, Dec. 6, 2006)
  
• EPA begins final WTC health dust testing in 2007 ... The Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday it will launch its final Sept. 11 contamination cleanup program next month, more than five years after the attacks and following years of criticism the agency still has not done enough. The $7 million cleanup will test indoor spaces below Canal Street, west of Allen and Pike streets, and will allow residents and building owners to have the air and dust in their living spaces tested for four contaminants linked to debris from the collapse of the World Trade Center towers. The four contaminants are asbestos, man-made fibers like fiberglass, lead, and polycyclic armoatic hydrocarbons. The testing program's two-month registration period will begin in January, officials said. "It is time to begin this final phase in EPA's response to the terrorist attacks of September 11," the agency's regional administrator, Alan Steinberg, said in a statement. "The vast majority of occupied residential and commercial spaces in lower Manhattan have been repeatedly cleaned, and we believe the potential for exposure related to dust that may remain from the collapse of the World Trade Center building is low," said EPA official Dr. George Gray. The announcement comes a day after the incoming head of the Senate Environment Committee, Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said she would push for full health coverage for ground zero workers sickened by their time at the disaster site. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Rep. Jerrold Nadler, both Democrats, have led a chorus of New York lawmakers complaining that the EPA did not live up to its responsibilities to protect public health in the hours, days, and months after Sept. 11. The issue has also spawned an ongoing federal lawsuit against the EPA and then-administrator Christie Todd Whitman. Nadler angrily dismissed the testing plan announced Wednesday. "It's the same crap, the same phony cleanup, like the phony cleanup they did back in 2002," fumed Nadler, whose district includes the ground zero site. He has long argued that the testing area in lower Manhattan is arbitrary and doesn't reflect how far the dust traveled. "We now have a Democratic majority in the Congress, and we will be holding hearings about this," Nadler said. Clinton has called the EPA's new testing plan "incredibly frustrating and disappointing" because it does not expand the area tested. She charges that the agency "is essentially throwing up its hands and washing them of this problem." The lawmakers' fight with the administration on 9/11 health matters began after the EPA asserted within days of the terrorist attacks that the dust from 1.8 million tons of World Trade Center debris posed no public health threat.An inspector general's investigation concluded those assurances were issued after the agency was pressured by White House officials. (AP, by Devlin Barrett, 12/6/06)
  
• EPA Begins Final Lower manhattan Testing Program ... Lower Mnhattan Indoor Test and Clean Program Plan ... (EPA Press Release, 12/06/06)
  
• EPA To Begin New $7 Million Cleanup On Buildings Around WTC ... While many sites around the World Trade Center have been previously tested for toxins, the Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday that it is once again offering its services. Beginning in the spring, the EPA will begin a new $7 million cleanup program open to buildings south of Canal Street and West of Allen and Pike Streets. They will be testing indoor spaces for the presence of toxins. Scientists have said the dust around the Trade Center site was full of toxins, which may have spread to nearby areas. The EPA says any buildings found with contaminated air will be cleaned up. But, Congressman Jerold Nadler said Wednesday that the EPA's plan to clean around the site is a "slap in the face" to the people of Lower Manhattan. "The new plan does not reflect the recommendations of the EPA Inspector General issued in August 2003, or the "World Trade Center Expert Technical Review Panel" established by the EPA specifically to develop a scientifically sound plan for indoor contamination," said Nadler. Senator Hillary Clinton also responded to the EPA's decision. "The program announced Wednesday is totally inadequate," said Clinton in a written statement. Registration for testing will begin in January. For more information, visit www.EPA.gov/ WTC. (NY1, 12/06/06)
  
• Statement of Senator Clinton on the Environmental Protection Agency's Announcement on 9/11 Contamination Clean-Up Program ... Washington, DC - Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton today released the following statement on the Environmental Protection Agency's announcement to launch its final 9/11 contamination clean-up program next month. "The EPA has now acknowledged that additional testing is necessary, but the program announced today is totally inadequate. I plan to use my chairmanship of the Subcommittee on Superfund and Environmental Health to continue to press for a more expansive test and clean program in the new Congress." (News Release, Dec. 6, 2006)
• EPA announces dust sampling plan in NYC ... A testing and cleanup plan was originally developed and released by the EPA's World Trade Center Expert Technical Review Panel in November of 2005, but was delayed for a year due to the need to address public and panel member concerns over its utility. "The original plan has been modified," said Dr. George Gray, assistant administrator for the EPA's Office of Research and Development. The modifications include now testing for four contaminants of particular concern: lead, asbestos, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and vitreous fibers, such as fiberglass. This modified plan also allows those residents who had their homes tested in the 2002-2003 program to be retested and cleaned if they choose, said Gray. ... (Disaster News Netweork, by Health Moyer, 12/06/06)
• EPA to Begin Final WTC Health Dust Testing in 2007 ... Nadler angrily dismissed the testing plan announced Wednesday. "It's the same crap, the same phony cleanup, like the phony cleanup they did back in 2002," fumed Nadler, whose district includes the ground zero site. He has long argued that the testing area in lower Manhattan is arbitrary and doesn't reflect how far the dust traveled. "We now have a Democratic majority in the Congress, and we will be holding hearings about this," Nadler said (WNBC, Dec. 6, 2006)
  
• EPA announces new WTC testing program ... "It is time to begin this final phase in EPA's response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11," said Alan Steinberg, EPA regional administrator. "We hope that the program will provide peace of mind to people who live and work in lower Manhattan." EPA scientists said the vast majority of occupied residential and commercial spaces in lower Manhattan have been repeatedly cleaned and it's believed the potential for exposure related to dust remaining from the collapse of the World Trade Center buildings is low. ... (UPI, 12/06/06)
  
• NY Pans Another EPA 9-11 Plan ... It seems the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has done it again, offering yet another false assurance to New Yorkers about fallout from the 9/11 terrorist attacks. At least, that's how many people who live and work in downtown Manhattan have come to view the agency's latest announcement. This afternoon, the EPA unveiled what it is calling the "final phase" in its response to the 9/11 environmental fallout—a new plan to test for toxic dust from the World Trade Center disaster. The plan isn't exactly new, however. Indeed, it mirrors a proposal the EPA had first announced in November 2005, one that residents, office workers, and activists had panned as inadequate. ... (Village Voice, by Kristen Lombardi, Dec. 6, 2006)
  
• Incoming Senate chair pledges care for WTC workers ... the government should provide health care for sick 9/11 workers, the incoming head of the Senate's environment committee said Tuesday, vigorously endorsing presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton's plan for a long-term ground zero care program. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., told The Associated Press that sick ground zero workers deserve long-term care. "We are taking care of the families who lost loved ones and nobody complains about that," Boxer told the AP. "Why wouldn't we take care of the people who are surviving and coughing and sick - and dying, I might add - as a result of their work? To me it's clear. I don't have any hesitation about what our obligation is." Boxer will become chairwoman of the Environment and Public Works Committee next month, when the Democrats assume their 51-seat majority of the Senate. Her declaration is a big boost to sick workers and also to New York lawmakers, including Clinton and Sen. Charles Schumer, who have cajoled the Republican Congress and the Bush administration for years to do more for those who toiled on the toxic debris pile. (AP, by Devlin Barrett, Dec. 5, 2006)
  
• Federal Probe of City 41B 9/11 Fund ... The federal Department of Homeland Security has launched an investigation into the city's $1 billion World Trade Center insurance company, which has spent more than $50 million fighting claims by ailing 9/11 responders. The probe will look into charges by Rep. Jerrold Nadler, spurred by reports in The Post, that the company has violated congressional intent and misspent federal money to dispute more than 6,400 claims. "I can confirm we are looking into the issues raised by Rep. Nadler," said Tamara Faulkner, a spokeswoman for the department's inspector general, Richard Skinner.Faulkner said a team of inspectors with subpoena power will scrutinize the WTC Captive Insurance Co, which manages $1 billion Congress approved to pay claims against the city and its contractors from the WTC cleanup. A report is expected in six to eight months. The company, governed by five Bloomberg administration officials, would not comment last week, but has argued it has a "duty to defend" against the claims. Records obtained by The Post show the company has spent more than $50 million on overhead, consultants and fees as of Sept. 30, including $32.9 million on law firms. ... (NYPost, by Susan Edelman, Dec. 3, 2006)
  
• State Lawmakers Ask President for 9/11 Health Care Funding ... Senator Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer, and Edward Kennedy wrote a letter to President George W. Bush Friday, to make sure those suffering 9/11 related health problems get adequate funding in the president's 2008 budget proposal. Studies show that 70 percent of World Trade Center responders have new or worsened respiratory problems caused by their work at the site. The letter also requests money from the Department of Health to cover a funding gap until federal legislation is passed. (NY1, Dec. 2, 2006)
  
• Mayor's aides get more tme on WTC health plan ... Mayor Bloomberg has granted top city officials a 60-day extension to craft recommendations regarding how the city can better help ailing Ground Zero workers. Bloomberg asked two deputy mayors, Ed Skyler and Linda Gibbs, in September to review the resources available to workers who say they became sick after toiling amid the burning rubble of the World Trade Center. Bloomberg instructed Skyler and Gibbs to recommend strategies to ensure the workers can get assistance on an ongoing basis. "Due to the enormous amount of fact-finding that needs to be done before recommendations can be made, the deputy mayors have asked for and received a 60-day extension," Bloomberg spokesman Stu Loeser said. (Daily News, by Michael Saul, Dec. 2, 2006)
  
• Doctor responds to kids' health post-9/11 story ... I thought I had made it clear that I strongly believe that there will surely be health repurcussions for children in the downtown area secondary to the dust and debris created by the 9/11 tragedy. I am not as comfortable as Dr. Michael Cohen in stating that since we have not seen a dramatic increase in asthma or respitory illness that there will not be in the near future. It is unfortunate that the message given out by your newspaper's article, "Doc's: Kids' Post 9/11 Health is Good" was mostly aimed at inappropriately placating parental fears. This is really upsetting. Until studies are done, we do not know about the health issues we will ave to address. .... (Tribeca Trib: Letter to the Editor by Lisa Kaufman, M.D., December 2006)
  

NOVEMBER

• Fiterman Will Symbolize the Rebirth of Ground Zero and of the BMCC Campus ... Fiterman Hall, the 15-story building badly damaged in the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center, is set to be transformed into a state-of-the-art vertical campus, under the direction of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners Architects. ... Funding for the remediation, deconstruction and rebuilding of the new structure is coming from the state and city, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, the September 11 Fund and a property insurance settlement. The project budget from the city and state is $202 million. ... (City Universtiy of New York e-news, Nov. 29, 2006)
• Death by Dust: The frightening link between the 9-11 toxic cloud and cancer ... 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. Ernie Vallabuona is one of them. .... It would take a month to reach a definitive diagnosis of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphoid tissue. Evidently, Vallebuona had developed a golf-ball-sized mass in his abdomen that had grown so fast and so quick that pieces of it were dying and depositing into his blood, causing gout-like symptoms. ... Seventy-five clients suffer from lymphoma, leukemia, multiple myeloma, and other blood cell cancers; most are men, aged 30 to 60, who appeared in perfect health just five years ago. .... But six prominent specialists on cancer and the link to toxins—on the faculty of the nation's top medical schools and public health institutions—all come to the same conclusions when told these statistics. They are Richard Clapp and David Ozonoff, professors of environmental health at Boston University School of Public Health; Michael Thun, director of epidemiological research at the American Cancer Society; Francine Laden, assistant professor of environmental epidemiology at Harvard School of Public Health; Jonathan Samet, chairman of the epidemiology department at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; and Charles Hesdorffer, associate professor of oncology at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. These doctors and epidemiologists agree that the incidence of cancer among this subset of workers sounds shockingly high, that they cannot and should not be dismissed as coincidence, and that the toxic dust cloud that hung over downtown Manhattan, and particularly the Pile, likely caused or promoted the diseases. Some even went so far as to say that the blood cancer cases, especially, indicate what could become a wave of cancer cases stemming from 9-11 over the next decades. .... It's also possible that the carcinogens in the Trade Center dust accelerated cancers already dormant or developing in the recovery workers, epidemiologists say. According to Richard Clapp, who directed the Massachusetts Cancer Registry from 1980 to 1989, toxins can not only instigate the genes that cause cancerous cells to divide, but also hasten their dividing. That means that a person with an undetected cancer will develop it faster and in a more virulent manner. He calls this the "promotional effect" and says some toxins associated with 9-11 have been known to speed up lymphomas and leukemias. "The promotional effect could have happened already," he says. .... (Village Voice, by Kristen Lombardi, Nov. 28, 2006)
• Firefighters Are More Prone To Develop Cancer; Drs. Cite Exposure To Toxins Under Extreme Heat ... A new health analysis conducted by doctors at the University of Cincinnati found that on-the-job exposure to soot and toxins creates an increased risk for certain types of cancer among firefighters. The analysis used data from 32 health studies conducted among firefighters over the past 50 years, and then quantitatively assessed the probable, possible and unlikely risk of 21 cancers among that work force. Prime Risks: According to its results, firefighters are significantly more likely than the regular population to develop multiple myelomas, and are at elevated risk for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, prostate and testicular cancers. Firefighters face "possible" increased risk for many other types of cancers, including melanoma and other skin malignancies, cancer of the brain, rectum, stomach, oral pharynx and colon. Dr. Grace LeMasters and Dr. James Lockey published their findings in this month's Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. The results weren't a shock, they said, since it was known that firefighters were routinely exposed to potentially cancer-causing agents. But they were surprised in some cases by the rates of increased risk for particular malignancies. Can't Keep Soot Out ... "I think we have underappreciated the exposures that may occur through the skin. We know when there is a hot environment, the skin dilates, becoming more porous," said Dr. LeMasters. "I talked to many firefighters who said even though they were wearing all their protective clothing, they still were covered with soot at the end of a fire." Dr. Lockey commented that an elevated rate of cancer occurrence among a group of extremely fit people is a medical anomaly, but "when you factor in the acute exposures that firefighters suffer long-term, over 25 to 30 years, it's not at all surprising." The substances identified as the most potentially harmful to firefighters included particulates, gases, mists and fumes of an organic and/or inorganic nature. They are also routinely exposed to heavy metals, carcinogenic chemicals, volatile gases, minerals like asbestos and other toxic matter, and building debris that can contain pulverized cement, glass, fiberglass, silica, soot and combustion products. ... (The Chief-Leader, by Ginger Adams Otis, Nov. 24, 2006)
  
• Tighter pollution restrictions for many construction projects ... Starting Feb. 12, 2007, all heavy-duty (8,500 pounds or more) diesel vehicles owned, operated, leased or contracted by any New York State agency or public authority will be required to gas up with ultra low sulfur diesel. The low sulfur fuel emits considerably fewer nitrogen oxides — the nasty tailpipe pollutants that can cause both asthma and acid rain — than standard diesel. The new statute, which officially became a law on Aug. 16 (Gov. Pataki signed it publicly on Nov. 2), will also require most heavy-duty state vehicles to install advanced exhaust filters by 2010. For Lower Manhattan, that means any project under the purview of the Port Authority, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the Battery Park City Authority, the Hudson River Park Trust or the state Department of Transportation, would be subject to the revamped regulations. The upcoming Route 9A Project along West St. will likely be one of the first projects to enter contract using the new rules. As with any legislation, however, the law has its loopholes. The law will not apply to contracts signed before the Feb. 12 effective date. City and private projects also fall outside the scope of the law. Additionally, affected projects that deem the low sulfur fuel too expensive or too hard to find will have the option to ask the state to waive the regulations on a case-by-case basis. Because of voluntary commitments from developer Larry Silverstein and the Port Authority, vehicles on the World Trade Center site already use the cleaner fuel. Community leaders have long been pushing for other heavy-duty vehicles in the area, particularly the W.T.C. site’s “moving vehicles” (the trucks that bring equipment to and from the development), to go low sulfur as well. Silverstein has already committed to using the low sulfur diesel for his off-site vehicles, but the Port and M.T.A. have not. The law does not affect the W.T.C. work underway but is likely to apply to the Port’s plans to build a tower and an underground vehicle security center at the former Deutsche Bank building site at 130 Liberty St. Catherine McVay Hughes, who chairs Community Board 1’s World Trade Center Committee and has spearheaded the local fight for cleaner fuel, said that the new legislation was a positive development but that it was not comprehensive enough. “It’s a great step, but I wish it was more inclusive,” Hughes said. “The law leaves gaps in the private sector and I can’t wait until those gaps are closed.” Law or no law, C.B. 1 and neighborhood environmental groups will continue urging Lower Manhattan developers of all types to switch to ultra low sulfur diesel of their own accord. (Downtown Express, by Skye H. McFarlane, Nov. 17-23, 2006)
  
• Extended Interview: Researcher Discusses Health of 9/11 First responders ... TOM BEARDEN: Mt. Sinai has just completed a major study of the people who responded to the World Trade Center. What did you find? PHILIP LANDRIGAN: Well, we reported on about 9,200 workers: firefighters, police, construction workers, other responders at the World Trade Center site. The major finding that we recorded was that approximately 60 percent of these people had developed new respiratory symptoms since starting work at Ground Zero. TOM BEARDEN: Sixty percent is significant? PHILIP LANDRIGAN: Sixty percent is very significant and it's much higher than we would expect in the general American population. And our assessment of the severity of the situation was heightened by the finding that in roughly two-thirds of these people the signs and symptoms were so persistent two or three years later. TOM BEARDEN: What kind of problems did you find? PHILIP LANDRIGAN: Well, first of all we found upper respiratory problems. Very ... nasty, very acute sinusitis in a lot of these folks. And then also lower respiratory problems -- cough, wheeze. And then objectively going beyond just symptoms, we actually did what are called pulmonary function tests where people are asked to blow hard and fast into a tube and measure how much air they move in a given period of time. And we found lots of evidence in that test for pulmonary restriction, which is to say shrinkage in the volume of the lungs. And in one particular test the frequency for evidence of restriction was five times what we would expect in the general population of the U.S. TOM BEARDEN: We spoke with two police detectives -- one who has cancer, has leukemia, and the other who has lost 50 percent of his kidney function. Is it possible to attribute those sorts of problems to Ground Zero? PHILIP LANDRIGAN: Up until now we've been focusing on two things -- respiratory problems and mental health problems. Because it was clear to all of us that those were the two categories of disease that were going to be most important in the first five years after the attacks. Now that we've gotten past the five-year point and we're moving into the period of time when you would begin to expect to see diseases that have a long [incubation] period, we're actually engaged in a process right now to develop criteria for which other diseases such as cancer, such as chronic lung disease, such as kidney disease, such as other diseases like he included on that list. ... We think that the likely cause ... of all the respiratory problems lies in the chemical nature of the dust. The major component of the World Trade Center dust was pulverized concrete. Cement. Which was very, very alkaline. Had a pH of 10 or 11, which means that the alkalinity of this material is equivalent to that of Drano. And moreover it was in finely particulate form, so that when people inhaled this stuff it actually had the capacity to adhere to the lining of the trachea, the bronchi, and even -- because it was small -- moved on into the depths of these people's lungs. And we think that's why the material was so incredibly toxic per unit weight. Then, of course, in addition to the pulverized cement, there were billions and billions of microscopic shards of glass from all the blown out windows and various chemical contaminants. ... (PBS, Nov. 21, 2006)
  
• Dust, Debris at World Trade Center Site May Have Made Workers Sick ... (PBS, Nov. 21, 2006)
  
• Congressmen Renew Calls for More Money to Help Sick 9/11 Workers... Members of Congress are again calling for more money to help those who fell ill after working at or near the World Trade Center site. New York Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney and Congressman Vito Fossella were among those leading the calls Tuesday. More than $50 million was released by the federal government last month to treat those suffering from 9/11 related illnesses. But leaders say more money is needed. They say the effects of toxic dust at the trade center site will persist for decades. ... (NY1, Nov. 21, 2006)
  
• Silent Toll: Health Resources ... The World Trade Center Health Care Program at Bellevue Medical Center  is designed to help those suffering from problems that may be linked to chemicals and hazardous materials in the air. following the attacks.  They are the unknown victims, victims of the silent toll from 9/11. ... For more information on Bellevue's center: call 212-562-1705.  Click here for the New York City Health Department's guidelines about possible post-9/11 exposure.  Blog about this important issue in our community section. E-mail story ideas to silenttoll@fox5ny.com. ... (Fox 5, 21 Nov. 2006)
  
• No to Planned Guidelines on 9/11-Related Autopsies ... The federal government has abandoned efforts to create standardized autopsy guidelines to help determine whether deaths of people who worked at ground zero during recovery operations in 2001 and 2002 can be conclusively connected to the hazardous smoke and dust they breathed there. The guidelines were supposed to be sent to doctors nationwide to avoid the kind of confusion that resulted earlier this year after a New Jersey coroner concluded that the death of James Zadroga, a New York City police detective, had been caused by exposure to the hazardous air at ground zero, the first such official finding for anyone who worked at the site. ... The proposed federal guidelines would have laid out methods for taking and analyzing tissue samples from workers in the New York area and across the country. The draft document also established a process for reaching a conclusion about the cause of death. Autopsy reports often are presented as evidence in civil suits seeking to establish liability. But medical experts outside the federal government asked to review the proposal expressed concern that guidelines could be seen as an attempt to assess liability for diseases linked to the dust rather than an effort to find answers that could lead to improved diagnosis and treatment. They said the proposed autopsy procedures would not provide conclusive results and could be subject to inappropriate use in the thousands of lawsuits filed against the city and its contractors by injured workers. ... In place of the proposed autopsy protocols, the federal government intends to have the New York State Departmentcupational Safety and Healthf the long-term health effects of exposure to the contaminants in the air at ground zero. ... (NYTimes, by Anthony DePalma, Nov. 18, 2006)
• Queens College Helps WTC Workers ... The Center for the Biology of Natural Systems at Queens College announced a major expansion of its medical monitoring program for emergency responders and recovery workers at the World Trade Center disaster site. The program, the Queens World Trade Center Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program, will now offer diagnostic evaluation and treatment of World Trade Center-related health conditions at its clinical facility at 163-03 Horace Harding Expy. in Flushing. It has already provided health monitoring examinations for more than 1,000 former WTC workers since 2004. The college’s expanded program is made possible by a $1.1 million award from the National Institute For Occupational Safety and Health of the Department of Health and Human Service – one of a series of NIOSH grants totaling $40 million for this purpose. Other recipients include the Fire Department of New York, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and other medical institutions in the New York/New Jersey area. ... (Queens Tribune, Nov. 18, 2006)
  
• The World Trade Center Aftermath and Its Effects on Health: Understanding and Learning Through Human-Exposure Science ... Although still in its infancy, human-exposure science is a key to understanding environmental and health consequences of disastrous events such as the 9/11 terroist attacks... In the case of the attack on the WTC, duration of contact and health issues were complex. They still need more global understanding if the U.S. intends to establish a credible path forward for addressing exposures from such events in the future. Negative acute health outcomes have already been documented for responders, and concerns have been raised about their long-term health outcomes. These findings have prevented WTC-exposed populations from achieving closure, thereby prolonging the recovery (3). If the nation is to minimize the potential for this happening in a future disaster, it must evaluate past inadequacies; establish credible, realistic exposure–response evaluations for the future; and develop effective prevention strategies, including when and where avoidance or respirator use is mandatory for the local community as well as responders. ... The opportunity to characterize the gaseous component after the WTC collapse was lost during the first few hours. The magnitude of the fire and its composition most likely changed in character over this short time. The initial exposures to the complex mixture that irritated the lungs of rescue workers and firefighters would have been high. The question remains: where does the U.S. stand in the development of protocols for real-time, portable personal samplers to reduce this gap in exposure information? In the months after 9/11, dust that settled either indoors or outdoors became the concern. However, the only health-based clearance values available for settled dust were for lead, dioxin, and PAHs, and these were only minor constituents of the deposited dust. The highly alkaline cement and vitreous fibers that composed the vast majority of the mass had no health-based clearance values. Such guidelines need to be established for indoor and outdoor surfaces for multiple substances. The NRC Subcommittee on Acute Exposure Guideline Levels (AEGLs), Committee on Toxicology, has developed AEGLs based on a list of extremely hazardous substances. The 4 volumes that have been released include level 1, 2, and 3 AEGLs, which cover acute community exposures of 10 min to 8 h for ~30 chemicals (41). Guidelines should also be developed for alkaline dusts, or WTC-type dusts, especially the supercoarse particles. ... (Envrionmental Science & Technology, Lio, Pellizzari & Prezant, Nov. 15, 2006; Vol. 40, Iss. 22, pp6876-6885)
• Smaller babies born in 9/11 climate of fear ... THE shock of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in America led to a drop in the weight of babies born in western Europe, according to a study published this week. Researchers discovered that babies born between three and six months later were on average nearly 50 grams (1.7 ounces) lighter than they should have been. They say that the stress and anxiety caused by the attacks led directly to more underweight babies. The study, published in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research, is the latest in a body of work that seeks to quantify the precise effects distant events can have by creating a climate of fear. Instant communications means people thousands of miles away may experience similar symptoms to those actually present. ... Previous research conducted in New York showed that women who were in the World Trade Center on the day of the attacks or near it within the following three weeks had babies that were on average 120g (4.2oz) lighter. Doctors have attributed the difference to stress and the large quantities of dust and debris in the air at the time. The terrorist attacks also led to an unusually high level of stillbirths of male foetuses, a phenomenon noted elsewhere during natural disasters and wartime. ... Babies in the womb on September 11 were 48g (1.7oz) lighter than those in the later group. The scientists believe the difference was caused by high levels of cortisol in the mother, a hormone associated with stress and anxiety. The hormone, which helps break down and burn off fats, can transfer from the mother to the foetus, resulting in weight loss. Stress can also result in loss of appetite and cause the blood vessels to constrict, reducing the flow of blood to the baby and potentially stunting growth. ... (The Sunday Times, by Roger Dobson and Steven Swinford, November 12, 2006)
  
• Ghosts of 9/11 shadow pit: Dust-clogged bldgs. are frozen in time ... Both Fiterman and Deutsche Bank are strictly off-limits to the public. The state, which owns both, has denied journalists entry because the dust inside is considered toxic. ... Inside a thick layer of dust created by the collapse of the twin towers covers floors, walls and furniture. That dust - a mix of asbestos, cadmium, benzene and other toxins - is the reason both buildings have been left frozen in time for years. ... Five years later, Fiterman remains unfit for human habitation. A fight over who would pay for demolition and a replacement building has delayed the cleanup. Next week, the city medical examiner plans a walk-through, with a full-press search for human remains commencing in the spring. The Dormitory Authority will then begin tearing it down. "It's considered a contaminated space," Lewis said, noting that nothing comes in or out of the building that "has not been contaminated." ... The state - which bought the Deutsche Bank tower in 2004 - has begun the difficult process of cleaning and taking down the dust-choked building without releasing dust into the neighborhood. The process - slowed by the discovery of more than 700 human bone fragments on the building's roof - is expected to continue into next fall. ... (NYDaily News, by Greg B. Smith, Nov. 12, 2006)
  
• Gathering of heroes & help at last ... But hundreds of Ground Zero heroes got a helping hand yesterday at a conference that provided one-stop shopping for medical and legal services. The gathering - a block from Ground Zero at the headquarters of DC 37, the city's biggest union - also empowers ailing workers because they realize they are not alone in their suffering, said Dr. Stephen Levin of Mount Sinai Medical Center, which has been monitoring and treating thousands of first responders. ... Among them is Andy Scallo, 45, a heavy equipment operator who worked for three months on the smoldering pile. Scallo now suffers from multiple sclerosis and may soon have to quit his job, he said. ... (NYDaily News, by Paul H.B. Shin, Nov. 12, 2006)
• Firefighters Risk Health Problems Years Later ... New research shows how firefighters also face a higher risk of ten different cancers. Researchers analyzed data on 110,000 firefighters from 32 different studies. They found that compared to workers in other jobs, firefighters are twice as likely to develop testicular cancer, and have significantly higher rates of multiple myeloma, Non-Hodgkins lymphoma, and prostate cancer. The researchers believe there is a direct correlation between the chemical exposures firefighters face on the job and their increased cancer risk. Burning buildings can mean toxic metals, chemicals and gases, along with cancer causing compounds like benzene, chloroform, and formaldehyde. Not to mention diesel engine exhaust from idling diesel fire trucks. ... The lead researcher told CBS 5 her findings raise a red flag. Firefighters need better protective gear. The gear used today is designed to protect against acute dangers -- heat and carbon monoxide poisoning. It is not designed to protect against the residues that get on the skin, and many say they are covered in soot - even the groin area - after fighting fires.The study is called Cancer Risk Among Firefighters: A Review and Meta-analysis of 32 Studies by Grace K. LeMasters, PhD, et al. It is located in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental MedicineVolume 48, Number 11, November 2006. (CBS 5, Kim Mulvihill, M.D., Nov. 12, 2006)
  
• 9/11 responders seek options for care ... Without congressional action, federal funds for the treatment of 9/11 first responders will run out in July. Funds to monitor the ill workers are expected to last less than two
  years. ... Two bills are pending before Congress: The Remember 9/11 Health Act and the James Zadroga Act. The first would provide $1.9 billion over five years for monitoring and research, and would provide Medicare benefits for patients. The James Zadroga Act - named for the New York City police officer who was the first 9/11 responder whose death was directly attributed to Ground Zero toxins - would reopen the September 11th Victims Compensation Fund. Yesterday's event was organized by the World Trade Center Medical Monitoring Program based at The Mount Sinai Medical Center, which published findings in September showing that 60 percent of Ground Zero workers still suffer health effects, including reduced breathing capacity, pulmonary fibrosis and asbestosis. ... (Newsday, by T.W. Farnam, Nov. 12, 2006)
  
• Hopes for 2007 Fiterman demo ... There was much venting Monday night when the Borough of Manhattan Community College held the first of what it said will be a series of public meetings on the deconstruction of Fiterman Hall. While community members expressed concerns over safety and the openness of the public process, B.M.C.C. representatives vowed to learn from and correct the mistakes made in earlier World Trade Center cleanup efforts. When all was said and done, many in the room agreed that the meeting had been a move in the right direction. “I thought it was a really good first step. I’m really glad we were able to have this,” said Catherine McVay Hughes, chairperson of Community Board 1’s World Trade Center Redevelopment Committee. “Obviously, there are some issues that B.M.C.C. and CUNY [City University of New York] will have to look at carefully, but we look forward to hearing from them soon.” ... On Monday, the college made its deconstruction plans public so that community members can comment on them before they are submitted to a host of World Trade Center regulatory agencies, a group headed up by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The documents, as well as future updates on the project can be found at www.lowermanhattan.info and questions and comments can be directed to fitermanhallinfo@bmcc.cuny.edu. The college hopes to submit its final plans in mid-December. Once plans are approved, the cleaning and deconstruction process is expected to take 10 to 12 months and cost $16,313,000. ... Benn Lewis, the vice president of Airtek Evironmental and chief consultant on the project, headed up Monday night’s presentation. He said that the college and its contractors, PAL Environmental Safety Corporation, are working under the assumption that the entirety of Fiterman Hall is contaminated with toxins from the World Trade Center collapse. Therefore, the current plan calls for the deconstruction of the hall to occur in several stages. First, the post-911 scaffolding and netting would be replaced. The building exterior would be retested for contaminants and re-cleaned where necessary. The interior of the building would be sealed off, then cleaned and emptied in three-floor segments. The roof would be left for last, giving the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner time to search for possible human remains. Last, the building would be taken apart and trucked away. ... Anderson said that B.M.C.C. would give the community more advance notice of future meetings and make sure that faculty, staff and students are informed, probably through an email listserv. ... However, some of the most contentious details at the site—including the method for searching for human remains, the protocols for emergency responders, and the specifics of air monitoring—will not be determined by Airtek’s plan, but rather by regulatory agencies, particularly the Medical Examiner, the N.Y.P.D. and the E.P.A. For this reason, some community members called for agency representatives to be present at future public meetings. Del Valle said he would work with the Community Board to try to make that happen. ... No dates have been set for future public meetings, but students, staff and environmental activists alike seemed eager to read the college’s plans and continue the dialogue. ... (Downtown Express, by Skye H. McFarlane, November 3-9, 2006)
  
• New consdtruction equipment helps clean didrty jobs ... At sites from Ground Zero to a Chicago expressway to a California airport, the notoriously dirty construction industry is starting to clean up its act. Instead of belching black smoke, the bucket loaders, cranes and other diesel-powered behemoths at these construction projects are part of a new generation of relatively clean heavy equipment meant to mitigate the environmental effects of often-controversial building projects. By using pollution-scrubbing exhaust filters and cleaner-burning fuel, officials in charge of getting such massive projects approved are finding it easier to win community support. In some places, local leaders are insisting on their use as a condition of backing noisy projects that can disrupt traffic, kick up dirt and foul the air. ... (The Wall Street Journal, by Alex Frangos, Nov. 8, 2006)
• NIOSH HEALTH HAZARD EVALUATION REPORT: HETA #2002-0090; 2002-0096; 2002-0101-3028, Buildings in the Vicinity of the World Trade Center, New York City, New York ... (November 2006)
• JUDGE: NYC Liable Up to $1 Billion for WTC Lawsuits ... A federal judge Friday said he believes New York City's limit on health claims liability stops at  $1 billion. Judge Alvin Hellerstein said thousands of emergency workers expected to claim they were harmed by World Trade Center dust after the September 11th attack may have to share up to $1 billion. Hellerstein indicated he may make a formal finding that the liability has a limit soon and appoint a special master to speed claims. More than 6,000 lawsuits have been filed by emergency workers. Hellerstein expects as many as 11,000 workers total will file lawsuits. The judge said he did not believe the workers can recover additional money from 150 private contractors who worked at the site because the city is ultimately responsible for the work conditions. Hellerstein told more than 100 lawyers in his courtroom that the cap on damages will lessen legal fees and speed payouts to those who need them.  The judge last month ruled that the city, its contractors and the Port Authority are only partly immune from health claim lawsuits.   (1010wins, Nov. 3, 2006)
  
• Nun Dies of Respiratory Disease After Serving At Ground Zero ... A nun who spent six months working at the World Trade Center site has died, while a district judge said Saturday there maybe a limit on liability compensation. While the official cause of death has not yet been determined, Sister Cynthia Mahoney believed her lungs were damaged from the six months she spent working as a chaplain and EMT downtown. The 54-year-old nun died Wednesday at her home in South Carolina. In interviews, she said she developed asthma, along with respiratory, digestive and lung problems from working at the site. At her request, her autopsy results will be included in a class action lawsuit filed by first responders. Meanwhile, a judge said Friday he thinks the city might be limited to $1 billion in liability to workers injured at the World Trade Center site. U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein said that workers who fell sick from dust at the site may have to share up to $1 billion from the city. Hellerstein indicated that he may soon make a formal finding that the liability has a limit, and that he might appoint a special master to speed claims so workers can get money they need to cover medical costs. The judge also said he did not believe workers can recover money from private contractors who worked at the site, since the city was ultimately responsible for the work conditions. More than 6,000 lawsuits have been filed by workers suffering from respiratory ailments sustained from dust and toxins at the trade center site, and thousands more are expected to file suits. (NY1, Nov. 3, 2006)
  
• GROUND ZERO'S 'ANGEL' NUN DIES AUTOPSY WILL EYE 9/11 DUST ... An Episcopal nun who spent five months blessing remains at the World Trade Center died this week and has been granted her dying wish - to be autopsied to prove her lung disease was caused by toxins she inhaled. Sister Cindy Mahoney, 54 - who became known as the "Angel of Ground Zero" - arranged for the autopsy from her deathbed months ago, hoping to help the cause of 9/11 rescue and recovery workers seeking financial aid and medical care. "This can't happen over and over and over again," she told David Worby, a lawyer for 8,000 recovery workers in a videotaped statement in August ... The autopsy was performed by Dr. Janice Ross, a pathologist in South Carolina, where she moved in 2002. The findings will be reviewed by Dr. Michael Baden, the city's former chief medical examiner. They are waiting for lab results from tissue samples, which are expected in the next two weeks. The autopsy could prove that WTC dust was deadly - because Mahoney had been a healthy, active, non-smoker. "She came to 9/11 with clean lungs," Worby said. ... Worby said 81 of the workers he represents in a class-action suit against the city have died, but none was autopsied.... Mahoney suffered chronic obstructive lung disease, asthma, and other respiratory and gastrointestinal diseases common to Ground Zero workers, Worby and relatives said.... (NYPost, by Susan Edelman, Nov. 3, 2006)
  
• Deutsche delays continue ... The 40-story, former Deutsche Bank tower at 130 Liberty St. will stay 40 stories tall for a few more weeks. Damaged on 9/11, the building has long been scheduled for a floor-by-floor demolition to make way for the new World Trade Center’s Tower 5 and an underground bus garage and truck ramps. The demo process has been delayed for years by insurance disputes, environmental questions, the discovery of human remains on the building’s roof and concerns about worker safety. Finally set to commence in late October, the demolition has now been pushed back another three to four weeks, according to a spokesperson at the Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center, who would only discuss the delay on the condition of anonymity. The source said that this latest delay was not caused by the discovery of more remains near the World Trade Center. Rather, the need to clean and dismantle heavy machinery on the 38th and 39th floors has set the project back. (Downtown Express, Oct. 27 - Nov. 2, 2006)
  
• Docs: Kids' Post-9/11 Health is Good .... Lower Manhattan parents, especially, wonder what all the bad news means for their children. The answer, for now at least, may be much more encouraging than the headlines suggest. .... Perhaps no one sees more Downtown kids than Dr. Michel Cohen at Tribeca Pediatrics on Harrison Street in Tribeca. Cohen started his popular practice in the neighborhood 12 years ago. His conclusion, five years after the disaster, is that so far there have been no adverse affects in his many young patients. .... Dr. Bonita Franklin opened her first pediatric office in Tribeca in 1988 and moved to her current Reade Street office in 1995. Shortly after the attacks she did see patients with coughs and other symptoms, but those soon subsided. “I’ve seen no increase in respiratory problems in that group that went beyond that first month or two,” she said. ... Dr. Steven J. Simonte, an asthma and allergy specialist, who opened an office on Duane Street last year, said he has not seen a higher rate of respiratory problems in lower Manhattan children. But recent reports in the medical literature showing an increase in the respiratory symptoms reported by Downtown residents, “are concerning as to the long term health effects,” he said. ... Simonte agrees that more study of the children exposed to the dust is needed over time. Exposure to environmental irritants and pollutants typically make asthma symptoms worse, he said, and the developing lungs of children may be particularly susceptible. “In my professional opinion it would seem to make sense that that they would have a greater risk,” he said. “The jury is still out.” ... (Tribeca Trib, by Etta Sanders, Nov. 1, 2006)
• Governor Signs Legislation to Reduce Harmful Emissons from Heavy-Duty Diesel Vehicles .... Governor George E. Pataki today announced that he has signed legislation that will require the use of ultra low sulfur diesel fuel and emissions control technologies in heavy-duty diesel vehicles owned, operated or leased by the State. This new law will help to improve air quality and protect the health of New Yorkers. ... Assemblyman Pete Grannis said, “Nearly 90 percent of New Yorkers live in areas that fail to meet federal health standards for ozone and nearly 65 percent live in areas out of attainment for the fine particle federal health standard. This law, when applied to all state heavy duty diesel vehicles, as well as those owned by private contractors employed by the state, will significantly reduce these pollutants ... Under this new law, on- and off-road heavy-duty diesel vehicles – those weighing 8,500 pounds or more – that are owned, operated, or leased by a State agency or public authority will be required to be powered by ultra low sulfur diesel fuel. In addition, many of these vehicles also will be required to use the Best Available Retrofit Technology (BART) to reduce the emissions of pollutants. The use of ultra low sulfur fuel will be required once this new law becomes effective on February 12, 2007. BART will be phased-in beginning in 2008, and all vehicles subject to this provision will be required to utilize this technology by December 31, 2010. .... (News Release, November 1, 2006)
  

OCTOBER

• Deutsche delays continue ... The 40-story, former Deutsche Bank tower at 130 Liberty St. will stay 40 stories tall for a few more weeks. Damaged on 9/11, the building has long been scheduled for a floor-by-floor demolition to make way for the new World Trade Center’s Tower 5 and an underground bus garage and truck ramps. The demo process has been delayed for years by insurance disputes, environmental questions, the discovery of human remains on the building’s roof and concerns about worker safety. Finally set to commence in late October, the demolition has now been pushed back another three to four weeks, according to a spokesperson at the Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center, who would only discuss the delay on the condition of anonymity. The source said that this latest delay was not caused by the discovery of more remains near the World Trade Center. Rather, the need to clean and dismantle heavy machinery on the 38th and 39th floors has set the project back. ... (Downtown Express, Oct. 27- Nov. 2, 2006)
  
• A Public Fiterman Hall Update ... (Borough of Manhattan Community College, October 31, 2006)
  
• Public Hears Fiterman Hall Deconstruction Update ... (LowerManhattan.info, Oct., 31, 2006)
  
• Post -9/11 Cleanup To Begin At Fiterman Hall ... Cleanup work is scheduled to begin in November on a building that has not been cleaned thoroughly since the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.... At a public hearing Monday night, the City University of New York -- the owner of Fiterman Hall, which is part of the Borough of Manhattan Community College campus -- detailed its plan to clean and then demolish the office-style building, previously used for classrooms and offices. Unlike the Deutsche Bank building, project leaders said Fiterman Hall will be inspected and cleaned first and then brought down. Although details for the recovery of remains were scarce, CUNY said much of the process is headed by the medical examiner's office... Another serious issue at the hearing was air quality and worker safety. Project leaders said they understand the concerns and that they would address them. ... (WNBC, Oct. 30-31, 2006)
  
• Mike vows full search: Concedes some areas were overlooked in previous efforts to find WTC remains ... Residents and local environmental and worker-safety groups have demanded "a full, open public process" as cleanup and, ultimately, demolition of Fiterman begins in the coming weeks. Officials revealed that the city medical examiner is expected to begin searching for human remains in Fiterman Hall by mid-November. ... (NY Daily News, by Michael Saul and Greg B. Smith, October 31, 2006)
  
• Focus on Ailments: Conference on Assisting Trade Center Personnel ... The World Trade Center Medical Monitoring Program will hold a free all-day conference for World Trade Center emergency and service responders who are enrolled in the WTC Medical Monitoring Program on Saturday, Nov. 11. "9/11: Living With The Aftermath," will run from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the first-floor auditorium of District Council 37 headquarters at 125 Barclay St. Details Treatment Sites With more than 400 emergency rescue and recovery, service restoration and clean-up workers and volunteers expected to attend, the event will provide valuable information on World Trade Center medical and mental health-related exposures and available treatment and benefit programs for those in need. Responders currently enrolled in the Federally-funded WTC Medical Monitoring Program are invited to attend. Pre-registration is required and may be made by calling 212-241-7830, or by visiting the program Web site at www.wtcexams.org . Eligible WTC worker and volunteer responders not yet enrolled in any Federal program are urged to take this opportunity to enroll in existing free confidential medical screening and monitoring efforts and mention the conference by calling the Federal program's toll-free hotline at 888-702-0630. Programs currently being offered for WTC-responders in the New York metro area and nationwide offer free and no-out-of-pocket-cost medical services such as comprehensive medical screening and monitoring examinations, coordinated under the auspices of the Mount Sinai Center for Occupational & Environmental Medicine, as well as medical and mental health treatment services. To date such programs have provided free medical screening exams to some 32,000 WTC responders of an estimated population of over 40,000 responders potentially affected by exposures. (The Chief-Leader, by Ginger Adams Otis, Oct. 31, 2006)
  
• WTC Update: Bloomberg Gets Report, Orders Comprehensive Search, Construction to Continue ... In the wake of the shocking discovery of more remains from the tragic destruction of the World Trade Center, New York City's Mayor Michael Bloomberg accepted the recommendations in a report from design and construction commissioner David J. Burney and Lower Manhattan construction command center executive director Charles J. Maikish that the current search be continued and expanded. But redevelopment will continue. "This work will continue to be coordinated with the Port Authority and no construction delays are anticipated as a result," according to a statement released Friday by the city. Some have urged a halt and more extensive search of the site. The mayor has stated that redevelopment will continue while the search goes on. "Last week's discovery caused every New Yorker pain, especially those who lost someone close to them during the 9/11 attacks,” Mayor Bloomberg said. "I hope that the actions we are taking will assure everyone that we are doing everything in our power to find their friends, colleagues and loved ones." Although the report found that most of the site was searched free of human remains, it targeted the haul road--where the latest human remains were found--and several other sites that may have also been rushed over during the initial efforts. These include the 140 Liberty Street parcel, the former site of the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and more searches of "selected subterranean structures in neighboring streets," such as Con Edison, Verizon, and DEP manholes. At the Mayor's request, these searches will "exceed the report's recommendations," according to a release from the City, "because all the material from these locations will be removed and sifted. Protocols for future construction on the site will include having the City's Medical Examiner on site to observe all future construction in areas that have not been excavated since 9/11. ... (CPNonline, by Tom Dworetzky, Oct. 30, 2006)
  
• Concerns over demolition of building near ground zero: Some say Fiterman Hall may contain human remains ... There are serious concerns about the demolition of a building near ground zero. Some 9/11 families believe more human remains may be in the building, after hundreds were discovered in the last week and a half. The building is located right across from 7 World Trade on West Broadway between Barclay and Murray Streets. Fiterman Hall is owned by Manhattan Community College and they say they have a plan to deal with the toxins and to look for human remains. However, people down here don't have much faith in that plan. ... Fiterman Hall is on the periphery of ground zero but it was blanketed by the same toxic dust that most observers believe has caused so many health problems in Lower Manhattan and it was damaged with 7 World Trade Center collapsed. Everyone agrees that the building needs to be demolished, but not everyone agrees how. Jenna Orkin, community activist: "This is a highly astronomically contaminated building ... they've been exposed already by 9/11, they were lied to, they were reassured and patronized ... seems to be happening all over again." You can add to the toxicity the fact that no one has ever searched the building really for human remains. 9/11 family members say current plans for that search are inadequate. ... (abclocal, Oct. 30, 2006)
  
• A Study Links Trucks’ Exhaust to Bronx Schoolchildren’s Asthma ... A group of schoolchildren carried the monitors everywhere they went. The instruments, attached to the backpacks of children with asthma, allowed researchers at New York University to measure the pollution the children were exposed to, morning to night.The South Bronx is home to miles of expressways, more than a dozen waste-transfer stations, a sewage-treatment plant and truck traffic from some of the busiest wholesale produce, meat and fish markets in the world. It is also home to some of the highest asthma hospitalization rates for children in the city. The N.Y.U. study found that the students were exposed to high levels of air pollutants in their neighborhoods and that children in the South Bronx were twice as likely to attend a school near a highway as were children in other parts of the city. ... The findings paint a bleak picture of the air quality in one of the poorest sections of the city and have focused renewed attention from community groups and elected officials on curbing pollution from truck exhaust. .... Airborne particles like dust, soot and smoke that are less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter are small enough to lodge themselves deep in the lungs. Studies have linked pollution of this sort to respiratory problems, decreased lung function, nonfatal heart attacks and aggravated asthma, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency. E.P.A. officials said these fine particles, a significant portion of which are produced by diesel engine emissions, lead to 15,000 premature deaths a year nationwide. ... “I think it’s an indicator that these kids are being exposed to very high fine-particle concentrations on a fairly regular basis,” said George Thurston, associate professor of environmental medicine at the N.Y.U. School of Medicine, who was one of the study’s principal researchers. ... (NYTimes, by Manny Fenandex, Oct. 29, 2006)
• DOCS RIP NEW AUTOPSY RULES ... Two star forensic pathologists have ripped the proposed guidelines on how to autopsy Ground Zero workers - saying the rules could hinder families from learning if the toxic aftermath of 9/11 killed their loved ones. Dr. Michael Baden, the city's former chief medical examiner, also fears that some will see the plan as "politically motivated." Baden calls the rules "unnecessary, redundant and unwise" in a letter to the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health. And Cyril Wecht, who performed the autopsy on Anna Nicole Smith's 20-year-old son, wrote NIOSH that the requirements may be too costly and cumbersome. The guidelines set strict rules on whether a death can be blamed on the poisonous smoke and dust, requiring epidemiological studies and saying "it will be years before definitive studies can be performed." .... (NYPost, by Susan Edelman, Oct. 29, 2006)
• More allegations from EPA whistleblower ... Jenkins' latest sixty-page document, addressed to the acting Inspector General of the EPA, is in large part a compilation of her previous allegations, but also claims to offer new evidence that criminal fraud is to blame. In the latest report, Jenkins contends that by failing to report that some of the particulates in the air constituted a severe health hazard--and by suppressing the results of tests for the presence of other toxic chemicals--the EPA misled the public about the dire health consequences of remaining near ground zero or participating in the clean-up effort in the days following the attack. ... (RawStory, by Brian Beutler, Oct. 26, 2006)
• Enzyme tied to WTC ills: May explain cough, study sez ... Doctors unveiled a tantalizing glimpse yesterday into why some firefighters may suffer from the "World Trade Center cough" while others who endured the toxic dust and fumes at Ground Zero are relatively healthy. Firefighters whose lung capacity deteriorated faster in the wake of 9/11 were more likely to be deficient in a key natural enzyme that protects against lung damage, according to a study of 90 of the 12,000 Bravest who responded to the attacks at Ground Zero. But Dr. David Prezant, the study's lead researcher and the FDNY's co-chief medical officer, cautioned against drawing too broad a conclusion from the report. "This is very, very preliminary information that cannot in any shape or form be translated into a diagnosis or treatment initiative," Prezant told the Daily News from Salt Lake City, where he presented his findings at a gathering of the American College of Chest Physicians. ... Using a blood test normally used to screen people at risk of early-onset emphysema, Prezant found that 11 of the 90 firefighters had low levels of an enzyme called alpha-1 antitrypsin, or A1AT. Of the 11, four had a significant deficiency of A1AT while seven had a moderate deficiency, the blood tests showed.But none had the most severe kind of genetic deficiency. All have the WTC cough. "What this enzyme does is it protects the lungs from damage," said Dr. Mark Rosen, a pulmonologist at North Shore-Long Island Jewish Medical Center and president of American College of Chest Physicians. "It prevents the destruction of lung tissue by a variety of mechanisms," he said. About 150,000 Americans have a severe shortage of A1AT, but many are undiagnosed. "Many more have a partial deficiency, and most of those people are not diagnosed for their whole lives because most of those people don't get sick" unless they are exposed to toxins such as cigarette smoke, Rosen said. Prezant stressed that trying to determine whether a particular disease - whether it's WTC cough or breast cancer - is due to genetic or environmental factors is a science that's still in its infancy. "It's not going to be one genetic trait" that is responsible for WTC cough, Prezant said. .... (NYDaily News, by Paul H.B. Shin, October 25, 2006)
  
• Medical Views of 9/11's Dust Show Big Gaps ... In 2004, Kenneth R. Feinberg, special master of the federal Sept. 11 Victim Compensation Fund, awarded $2.6 million to the family of a downtown office worker who died from a rare lung disease five months after fleeing from the dust cloud released when the twin towers fell. That decision made the worker, Felicia Dunn-Jones, a 42-year-old lawyer, the first official fatality of the dust, and one of only two deaths to be formally linked to the toxic air at ground zero. The New York City medical examiner’s office, however, has refused to put her on its official list of 9/11 victims, saying that by its standards there was insufficient medical evidence to link her death to the dust. Mrs. Dunn-Jones’s case shows how difficult it can be to prove a causal connection with any scientific certainty — and how even government agencies can disagree. With thousands of people now seeking compensation and treatment for dust exposure, the debate about the relationship between the toxic particles and disease will be a central issue in the flood of Sept. 11-related lawsuits. Health experts are starting to document the connections, but any firm conclusion is still years away. ... For the next few months, life returned to normal, until Mrs. Dunn-Jones developed a cough. In January 2002, the cough grew worse. On Feb. 10, she suddenly stopped breathing and died. Mr. Jones, 54, an assistant manager at a Brooklyn pharmacy, was stunned. Then, when he received the official death certificate months later, he was shocked to see an unfamiliar word — sarcoidosis. ... sarcoidosis, which produces microscopic lumps called granulomas, on vital organs, is often associated with exposure to environmental hazards. ... Dr. Prezant, who declined to be interviewed for this article, was one of two experts who testified at a hearing conducted by Mr. Feinberg. In the first four years after 9/11, he found 20 cases of sarcoidosis in the Fire Department, a rate of 80 per 100,000 in the first year (with treatment, all are now stable), compared with a national rate of fewer than 6 per 100,000, according to the American Thoracic Society. The other expert was Dr. Alan M. Fein, a clinical professor of medicine at the New York University School of Medicine. He, too, was skeptical at first, but he said he changed his mind after reviewing Mrs. Dunn-Jones’s medical record, including the autopsy report. “I’m comfortable saying her death was caused by exposure to the dust,” Dr. Fein said in an interview. ... (NYTimes, by Anthony DePalma, October 24, 2006)
• Genetic Disorder Linked to Rapid Lung Function Decline in Some World Trade Center Rescue Workers Finger-Stick Test in Development for Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency Could Provide Immediate Screening Results ... (American College of Chest Physicians, Oct. 23, 2006)
  
• Ground Zero Worker Lung Damage Affected by Protein, Study Says ... World Trade Center rescue workers with lower levels of a certain protein suffered worse lung damage than their peers following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, according to a study. Researchers from New York's Montefiore Medical Center following 90 World Trade Center rescue workers through 2005 found 11 with moderate to severe deficiencies of the protein, a genetic disorder called alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency. They were more prone to lung and liver damage than those with normal levels, the study said. Before the attacks, workers with the protein deficiency showed no heightened lung decline. Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, estimated to affect 150,000 North Americans, inhibits the lung and liver's ability to control natural healing. That hinders the body from reversing inflammation in organs exposed to environmental irritants, said the study's co-authors, Dr. Gisela Banauch and Dr. David Prezant. ``The more we learn about genetics, the more we understand there are genetic links to environmental interaction that can lead to disease,'' Prezant, who is also the deputy chief medical officer to the New York City Fire Department, said in a telephone interview from Salt Lake City. He said the study, which he said produced preliminary data, is an ``attempt to work at mechanisms'' that with further study may ``help people understand the risk of their exposure.'' Being able to screen people with the deficiency may help minimize lung damage, the study said. An estimated 5 percent of people in North America with alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency have been diagnosed. The authors said a so-called finger-stick test measuring proteins from one drop of blood taken from a patient is promising. ... (Bloomberg, by Todd Zeranski, Oct. 23, 2006)
  
• More 9/11 pain unearthed ... The recent find of a "mother lode" of bones beneath a service road next to West St. gives hope to families who never recovered any remains, but also calls into question just how thorough the government-supervised search for human remains at Ground Zero was. The search began the day after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on the World Trade Center and continued through mid-October 2002. Multiple agencies were involved, although the Fire Department handled most of the task. After the first week, the FDNY began using GPS devices to record where remains were found, enabling it to track where had been searched and what needed to be searched. The scope of the task was overwhelming. There were 2,749 dead, and more than 20,000 human remains were ultimately recovered. To date, 1,150 of those killed have not been identified. And it's now apparent that remains were somehow missed. This first became clear with the former Deutsche Bank at 130 Liberty St., a 40-story skyscraper ripped open by the collapsing south tower that was declared searched and clean in 2002. ... FDNY spokesman James Long said for 10 days that June, two search teams went through 130 Liberty from the roof to the ground. "We didn't dismantle; we didn't sift through. We didn't look in air ducts, that kind of thing," he said. "Nothing was discovered. We never went back in there." More than three years later, in September last year, construction crews found bones on the roof. A thorough search then discovered more than 700 bone fragments on the roof. A state official recently predicted no more human remains would be found there, but a source familiar with its ongoing deconstruction says two spots - the fifth-floor mechanical room and the lobby - are expected to yield more. ... However, Con Ed spokesman Mike Clendenin said there's no indication the utility was ever asked to search the vaults underneath the manholes. Verizon officials said they were looking into whether their manhole vaults were searched. Meanwhile, two other buildings - Fiterman Hall on the north side of The Pit and 130 Cedar St. on the south side - have never been thoroughly searched for human remains, records show. Both received a visual inspection from the Fire Department, but remain off-limits five years later because they still contain toxic dust from the collapse of the towers. Both buildings are bizarre testaments to the disaster, frozen in time, their facades ripped by the collapsing towers, their interiors clogged with Trade Center dust. Fiterman, which is owned by the state Dormitory Authority, has been off-limits because of a fight over how much insurance firms would pay for the cleanup. "We have no knowledge of anyone ever searching the interior of Fiterman Hall for human remains," said Claudia Hutton, spokeswoman for the Dormitory Authority. She said a search involving the city medical examiner is expected to begin in the spring before the state begins taking the building down. ... Then there's 130 Cedar St. The collapsing south tower chopped a huge hole in the top of the building, showering its roof and interior with debris. The building was given a visual search by the Fire Department shortly after the attacks, then revisited by a team supervised by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. On its Albany St. side, FEMA spray-painted in orange an "X" with the word "plane" because parts of a plane were found inside. The eerie sign remains. An official familiar with the search of 130 Cedar St. said the building was clogged with debris during the Sept. 16, 2001, search. But when the city and federal regulators entered the building in August, much of the debris was gone, leaving only the toxic dust. ... A shroud covers the building from top to bottom. The owner, Cedar & Washington Assoc., LLC, recently met with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to draft a plan to demolish part of the building. ... (NYDaily News, by Greg B. Smith, Oct. 22, 2006)
  
• Ground Zero K-9's AOK: vet ... Scientists studying the health of search dogs at Ground Zero are baffled by their findings - while thousands of responders have fallen ill, dogs who prowled the toxic World Trade Center site have emerged unscarred. While many Ground Zero dogs have died - some of rare cancers - researchers say many others have lived beyond the average life span for dogs and are not getting any sicker than average.There are no signs of major illness in the animals, declared Cynthia Otto, a veterinarian at the University of Pennsylvania, where researchers studied 97 dogs starting five years ago. "They didn't have any airway protection," she said. "They didn't have any skin protection. They were sort of in the worst of it."Owners of the dogs dispute the findings, however, saying there is a definite link between the toxic air and their pets' health. ... As of last month, the veterinarian said, 30% of the dogs deployed after Sept. 11 had died, compared with 22% of those in a comparison group of dogs who were not pressed into service. The difference was not considered statistically significant, she said. ... (NYDaily News, by Owen Mortiz, Oct. 21, 2006)
• Scientists: Dogs Not Injured by WTC Work ... They dug in the toxic World Trade Center dust for survivors, and later for the dead. Their feet were burned by white-hot debris. But unlike thousands of others who toiled at ground zero after Sept. 11, these rescue workers aren't sick. Scientists have spent years studying the health of search-and-rescue dogs that nosed through the debris at ground zero, and to their surprise, they have found no sign of major illness in the animals. They are trying to figure out why this is so. "They didn't have any airway protection, they didn't have any skin protection. They were sort of in the worst of it," said Cynthia Otto, a veterinarian at the University of Pennsylvania, where researchers launched a study of 97 dogs five years ago. Although many ground zero dogs have died - some of rare cancers - researchers say many have lived beyond the average life span for dogs and are not getting any sicker than average. Owners of the dogs dispute the findings, saying there is a definite link between the toxic air and their pets' health. Otto has tracked dogs that spent an average of 10 days after the 2001 terrorist attacks at either the trade center site, the landfill in New York where most of the debris was taken, or the heavily damaged Pentagon. As of last month, she said, 30 percent of the dogs deployed after Sept. 11 had died, compared with 22 percent of those in a comparison group of dogs who were not pressed into service. The difference was not considered statistically significant, Otto said. ... A separate study, to be published soon by a doctor at New York's Animal Medical Center, focused on about two dozen New York police dogs, and comes to similar conclusions. The results have baffled doctors.... The dogs' owners and scientists have many theories why dogs aren't showing the same level of illness as people. Their noses are longer, possibly serving as a filter to protect their lungs from toxic dust and other debris, they say. The dogs were at the site an average of several days, while many people who report lung disease and cancer spent months cleaning up after the attacks. The research isn't persuasive to many owners of dogs that died after working at the trade center site. ... Joaquin Guerrero, a police officer in Saginaw, Mich., took two dogs, Felony and Rookie, to ground zero for 10 days after the attacks. While Felony remains healthy, Rookie died at age 9 in 2004 of cancer of the mouth. Guerrero believes his death was caused by exposure to ground zero. ... Scott Shie