- "Tricks and treachery are the practice of
fools, that don't have brains enough to be honest." -- Benjamin Franklin
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- Two key figures have resigned from the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) in the last month. Both officials, the chief investigator
for the EPA's Ombudsman Office and the Ombudsman himself, stated in their
resignation letters that the EPA has covered up the existence of deadly
pollution in the area of the destroyed World Trade Center towers in New
York.
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- While this issue is debated, emergency workers who were
sent to the scene and residents of Lower Manhattan are developing serious,
and in some cases, life threatening health problems.
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- We don't even hear much about the area around the World
Trade Center towers - or Ground Zero as it was dubbed by the news media
- on the TV news or in the newspapers any longer. From the point of view
of the corporate controlled mainstream media, the story is old. But for
some firefighters and other personnel who worked or are still working at
the scene, the trauma of the terrorist attacks has now become very personal
as their own health is threatened.
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- At a New York public hearing in February, Hugh Kaufman,
then chief investigator for the EPA's Ombudsman Office, told a group of
scientists, residents, and small business owners that he believed the EPA
was deliberately not testing the air quality in the World Trade Center
area properly and covering up the reasons why.
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- "I believe EPA did not do that because they knew
it would come up not safe and so they are involved in providing knowingly
false information to the public about safety," Kaufman said at the
hearing.
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- While the EPA continues to claim that the air around
the site is safe, scores of rescue workers, cleanup crews, and residents
are reporting respiratory problems. Many believe something in the air from
the collapse of the towers is making them sick.
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- U.S. Congressman Jerrold Nadler, whose district includes
the site, said at a public meeting he called at the Federal Courthouse
in Lower Manhattan, "It's remarkable. Either they have something to
hide or they don't give a damn."
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- In November, 2001, EPA Administrator Christie Whitman
issued an order to dissolve the ombudsman's position, an office created
to give the public a forum for complaints about the agency 's actions.
The Congressional order that established the office expired last fall,
and she decided not to ask for renewal. In light of what we are now learning
of the effects of the Bush administration on the EPA, it is no surprise
that the public oversight function would be eliminated.
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- Many workers from FEMA, New York Fire Fighters and Urban
Search and Rescue teams wore no protective masks.
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- The risks have been greatly magnified for many residents,
rescue workers, and cleanup crews, because many did not wear any breathing
protection sufficient to protect their lungs at ground zero and in the
surrounding community. In fact, many day laborers, including large numbers
of immigrants who spoke little or no English, were hired to clean up buildings
covered with toxic dust.
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- We won't hear about their ailments on the TV evening
news.
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- Not widely reported in the news media is the fact that
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) gathered data
early on about the pollution levels at the site. The Airborne Visible/Infrared
Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS), a scientific instrument designed to view
the site in many different wavelengths, was flown on an aircraft by the
Jet Propulsion Laboratory and NASA over the World Trade Center area on
September 16, 18, 22, and 23, 2001.
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- A two person crew from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
collected samples of dusts and debris from more than 35 localities within
a distance of one kilometer from the World Trade Center site on the evenings
of September 17 and 18, 2001. While not by any means a complete study,
the data showed elevated levels of asbestos and many other pollutants,
including the heavy metals, aluminum, chromium, antimony, molybdenum, and
barium.
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- Government officials have tried to downplay the asbestos
threat by claiming that mostly chrysotile asbestos, a form of the mineral
considered to be less carcinogenic than other forms, was found. The USGS
document describing the results of their tests points out that such a claim,
"has not been universally accepted by the scientific community."
But it is convenient politically.
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- What studies done to date will not show are the localized
toxic clouds of multiple substances that have been formed as millions of
pounds of chemical compounds from the debris combine in unexpected ways.
Many rescue and cleanup workers feel they have become ill from these invisible
toxic clouds. A reader of my weekly commentaries contacted me about her
friend and colleague, a rescue worker from a fire department in another
state who was ordered to the World Trade Center right after the disaster.
She became progressively sicker soon after this work and has been shuttled
from doctor to doctor.
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- A bone marrow aspiration revealed a huge level of toxic
mercury in her system that could only have gotten there from an intense
outside exposure. The only place she could have gotten such an exposure
was at the World Trade Center.
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- Increased pressure inside her skull has developed, and
she is having severe headaches, nausea, and nosebleeds. Her friend reported
to me that, "She has a horrible rash all over her body. She has horrible
cramps in her legs and back. Her lung capacity is greatly diminished and
she has had major changes in her vision, and was told she is going blind.
The government doctor who was sent to treat her told her to take a six
month leave of absence and get her life in order because in six months
she would no longer be able to perform her duties as a firefighter."
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- The supervisor of this 12 year veteran rescue worker
told her "all of this medical testing is fine, as long as it does
not get in the way of you doing your job." With the EPA downplaying
any toxic effects, she is getting little sympathy from agencies and insurance
companies.
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- In EPA Ombudsman Robert Martin's Earth Day resignation
letter, he accused EPA Administrator Whitman of withholding data about
the toxic air at the World Trade Center for personal gain. He discovered
that Whitman is married to a man who served for years as an officer of
Citigroup and who now manages about $800 million of the firm's investments.
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- Martin said he later discovered that Citigroup owns Traveler's
Insurance, the insurance company of many buildings in World Trade Center
area. He feels that because Whitman issued a statement assuring people
that everything was fine, Traveler's saved a lot of money by not having
to pay claims.
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- These accusations are now being investigated by the U.S.
Justice Department.
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- While studies and investigations continue, people suffer
from an environmental catastrophe. I challenge a group of attorneys to
come forward, find the rescue and cleanup workers who have been poisoned
by working at the World Trade Center site, and force the government to
accept responsibility for their health care.
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- We will never end terrorism in the world if we can't
eradicate injustice and greed from our own government agencies, political
leaders, and industries.
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- RESOURCES
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- 1. See the complete USGS report on NASA's flight over
the World Trade Center at:
http://greenwood.cr.usgs.gov/pub/open-file-reports /ofr-01-0429/
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- 2. See a collection of links related to health effects
from the World Trade Center cleanup by the New York Committee on Occupational
Health & Safety at:
http://www.qc.edu/CBNS/WTChealthinfo.html
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- 3. Read the full story about the EPA ombudsman's resignation
at:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/67576_ombud sman24.shtml
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- 4. Find out who your Congressional representatives are
and e-mail them. Demand that they reveal the true nature of the danger
at the World Trade Center site and compensate all injured workers, emergency
personnel, and residents." If you know your Zip code, you can find
them at:
http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/ziptoit.html
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- 5. See a fact sheet on pollutants at the World Trade
Center site from the NY Committee on Occupational Health & Safety at:
http://www.nycosh.org/wtc-catastrophe-factsheet.pd f
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- 6. Visit the website of the New York Environmental Law
and Justice Project. They want the area to be declared a Superfund site.
See their activities at:
http://www.nyenvirolaw.org/WTC/WTC-index.htm
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- 7. See a "USA Today" story about the anxiety
over toxic substances at the WTC site at:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2002/02/07/usa t-wtc-acov.htm
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- 8. Visit a collection of news reports on this issue on
Immune Web, a website for people who suffer from environmental diseases,
at:
http://www.immuneweb.org/911/news/
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- 9. Read a critique of the EPA studies by "Worker's
World" at:
http://www.workers.org/ww/2002/pollute0307.php
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- {Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D. is a writer and teacher
in Seattle and the author of "Healing Our World, A Journey from the
Darkness Into the Light," available at: http://www.xlibris.com/HealingOurWorld.html.
Please send your thoughts, comments, and visions to him at: jackie@healingourworld.com
and visit his website at: http://www.healingourworld.com}
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- http://www.ens-news.com/ens/apr2002/2002L-04-26g.html
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