September 6, 2006 | Posted By Diane Pfadenhauer | print this article

09/11 Illnesses Continue 5 Years Later

According to a recent study published by Mt. Sinai Medical Center, the toxic effects of the fall of the World Trade Center 5 years ago continue to be felt by workers who were there handling the recovery in the aftermath of the towers' collapse. 

"Roughly 70 percent of nearly 10,000 workers tested at Mount Sinai from 2002 to 2004 reported that they had new or substantially worsened respiratory problems while or after working at ground zero."

In addition:

    • One-third of the patients in the new study showed diminished lung capacity in tests designed to measure the amount of air a person can exhale.
    • Among nonsmokers, 28 percent were found to have some breathing impairment, more than double the rate for nonsmokers in the general population.
    • The study is among the first to show that many of the respiratory ailments — like sinusitis and asthma, and gastrointestinal problems related to them — initially reported by ground zero workers persisted or grew worse in the years after 9/11.
The federal government has appropriated $52 million to treat these workers which many view as not nearly enough.  Isn't it interesting that right after 09/11 we were all assured that the air was safe to breathe.  With this as one enormous workers' compensation case, I wonder what will happen years from now and when we'll start hearing about residents in the area succumbing to respiratory problems.