Bombs in the Towers 9/11 Problems Mount

The number of people with medical problems linked to the 9/11
attacks on New York has risen to at least 15,000. The figure, put
together for the BBC, counts those receiving treatment for problems
related to breathing in dust.

Many of the victims say the government offered false reassurances
that the Manhattan air was safe and are now pursuing a class-action
lawsuit.

On Tuesday, a coroner said the death of a policeman who developed a
respiratory disease was "directly linked" to 9/11.
James Zadroga - who worked at Ground Zero - died in January. The New
Jersey coroner's ruling was the first of its kind.

Jeff Endean used to be the macho leader of a police Swat firearms
team. Now, he has trouble breathing and survives on the cocktail of
drugs he takes every day.

Kelly Colangelo, an IT specialist, used to have good health but now
endures a range of problems including allergies and sinus pain.

"It worried me that I've been damaging my health just being in my
home," she told the BBC News website. "It also worries me that I see
the health impact on the [the emergency crews at the scene]. We were
also exposed and I wonder if in 10-15 years from now, am I going to
be another victim?"

Both are victims of what used to be called "World Trade Center
cough", an innocuous sounding condition that many thought would pass
once the dust that rose from the attacks of 9/11 had blown away.

But the medical problems have not merely intensified; the list of
victims has grown alarmingly at the same time.

The apparent cause? The long line of contaminants carried by the
dust into the lungs of many of those at, or near, the scene on that
fateful day.

One list of sufferers has been compiled at the Mount Sinai Medical
Center. Its World Trade Center Screening Programme has 16,000 people
on its books, of whom about half - 8,000 - require treatment.

A further 7,000 firefighters are recorded as having a wide range of
medical problems, producing a total of 15,000. But the overall
numbers affected could easily be far higher.

As the US government's newly appointed "health czar" John Howard
confirmed to the BBC, there were between 30,000 and 50,000 people at
or near Ground Zero who might have been exposed to the hazardous dust
and no one really knows how many are suffering problems now.

Consisting of billions of microscopic particles, the dust was
especially toxic because of its contents.

A grim list includes lead from 50,000 computers, asbestos from the
twin towers' structures and dangerously high levels of alkalinity
from the concrete.

Many of the people now suffering were sent to Ground Zero to help
search for survivors. Others volunteered. Still more just happened to
be living or working in the area.

The latter feel particularly aggrieved, even betrayed.

In the days following the attacks, the head of the US Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) declared that monitoring operations had
proved the "air was safe to breathe". And with that reassurance, the
authorities reopened the globally important financial hub of Wall
Street.

At the time it was seen as a critical morale-booster to a wounded
nation.

Yet now the federal courts have allowed a class-action lawsuit to be
filed against those very authorities.

Last month, a judge described the EPA's reassurances as "misleading"
and "shocking the conscience". The legal process could last years.

Source: BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4904188.stm