Dust at Ground Zero on

Dust at Ground Zero On September 11, 2001, a terrorist organization called Al-Qaeda hijacked four airlines. Two of these airlines crashed into the World Trade Center Towers in New York City, one into the wall of the Pentagon in Washington, DC, and the third crashed in rural Pennsylvania, largely due to the passengers and crew interceding. Over 3,000 people died in these attacks from the initial damage, the majority civilians including nationals from over 90 different countries (Bin Laden Claims, 2004).

Since there, there has been a great deal of concerns regarding the health effects caused by the 9/11 attacks in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, the so called Ground Zero area. Literally within a few seconds following the attacks, dust from the affected buildings filled the air as building materials, electronic equipment, and furniture burned are collapsed. Increasing numbers of New York residents and those who responded to the 9/11 event have been reporting systems of respiratory illnesses (Barry, 2006).

According to air pollution experts the dust from the collapsed towers was "wildly toxic," and the thousands of tons of toxic matter included more than 2,500 contaminants. Of those, 50% were non-fibrous material and construction debris, 40% glass or other fibers, 9.2% cellulose and .8% the toxic carcinogen asbestos. There were also detectable amounts of lead, mercury, dioxin, and PAH's from the fires that burned for over 90 days after the event (What Was found in the Dust? 2006).

The government's own Centers for Disease Control, Environmental Protection Agency, and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health agree that many of the substances (asbestos, silica, lead, hydrocarbons, etc.) are known to be carcinogens; and that other systems that were in the dust have been proven to trigger kidney, heart, liver and nervous system disorders.

This has led to a number of debilitating illnesses among aid and recovery workers, and over the past few years, many first responders are developing serious respiratory issues, with the effects extending outward from Ground Zero into various other boroughs of the city (Updated 9/11 Report, 2005). Severe symptoms from the dust, burning fuel, and ancillary items were primarily focused on respiratory issues. The World Trade Center Cough, occurred within days and up to 6 months after the incident, and was related to smoke exposure and level of toxicity.

Cancer was seen in at least 75 workers, specifically blood-cell cancers that have been confirmed as a result of toxins. There has been at least one pulmonary fibrosis death of a New York Police Department officer, and malignant mesothelioma is considered a current risk from those exposed to the environmental hazards. In fact, a 2010 study of 5,000 rescue workers by the Chief Medical Officer at the Office of Medical Affairs in New York City found that 100% of the respondents had some type of lung function impairment of at least 10%.

These symptoms presented themselves in the first year or so after the attack and there were little or no improvements after six years. At least 30-40% of the workers reported persistent symptoms, and 20% of the studied groups were on permanent respiratory disability (Grady, 2010). There are a number of legal suits involved in this incident, most focusing on the lack of protection for rescue workers.

There are a number of bills in Congress designed to provide health care to responders and survivors of the 9/11 attacks, and a 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund was signed into law on January 2, 2011, allocating $4.2 billion to create the World Trade Center Health Program (Barrett and Bask, 2010). Future incidents could be mitigated with greater safety measures, air quality technology, monitoring of the health of responders, and follow up care. In addition, because of the toxicity that persisted over five months, greater and.