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9/11 Health Woes

Five years later, the tragedy of 9/11 is long from over for thousands of rescue workers who are only now beginning to feel the effects of what they’ve been through.

Not the emotional impact. That, of course, may be with them forever. But so, too, may be the physical effects of having breathed in toxic dust while pulling bodies from the rubble. Many of those who were there that day and the weeks that followed are now turning up with lung problems, respiratory disease and gastro-intestinal bleeding problems doctors believe are related to exposures from the dust at Ground Zero.

But the problem is made worse by the lack of clinical guidelines for testing and treating these workers – especially those who have moved out of state. The New York City Department of Health has taken the lead on drafting protocols, which will be released by the federal government so that doctors nationwide know what symptoms to look for and what to do when they find them. But five years after 9/11, nobody seems to know when the protocols will be released.

Outside of New York, a nationwide network of health clinics offers medical screenings to 9/11 workers. The Association of Environmental and Occupational Health Clinics run this network, which provides services in 34 states. But even they don’t feel as if they can help effectively without testing guidelines to go by.

Rescue workers at Ground Zero were exposed to asbestos, benzene, dioxin, and other hazardous substances. Studies show those who were exposed during the destruction of the Towers and immediately afterward suffered the worst, but those who were there in the weeks that followed are also turning up ill.

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To read more about the health-related problems of 9/11 survivors and rescue workers, click here.

To read more about this and other environmental health issues, go to: www.environmentalhealthnews.org, www.ourstolenfuture.org, or www.healthandenvironment.org