Damaged Lungs Found for 70% Of WTC Crews;
Mayor Questions Link But Bolsters City Aid Efforts

By GINGER ADAMS OTIS

Seven out of 10 workers who responded to the World Trade Center site five years ago suffered some sort of lung problem related to their work there, according to a report released Sept. 5 by Mount Sinai Hospital.

The Chief-Leader/Pat Arnow 'A NATIONAL OBLIGATION TO HELP': Even as he announced belated plans to improve the treatment and monitoring of workers involved in the recovery efforts at the World Trade Center site, Mayor Bloomberg called for Federal economic aid in the matter, saying that since the terrorist attack was aimed at America rather than New York, helping those who responded is 'a responsibility all Americans share.' Looking on from left are Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly, Deputy Health Commissioner Lorna Thorpe, Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta and Deputy Mayor Linda Gibbs.

The findings represent the largest and most inclusive study of the health effects of 9/11 rescue and volunteer workers since the Sept. 11 attacks.

Alarming Findings

Mount Sinai doctors said 70 percent of those surveyed for the study had new or worsened lung conditions.

Among participants who had no breathing problems prior to 9/11, 61 percent developed difficulties after exposure to lower Manhattan's toxic dust.

A third of the 9,000 who were surveyed tested positive for abnormal lung function - a rate of abnormality that's double that of the general population.

Mount Sinai doctors said the five-year study, based on findings from medical exams conducted between July 2002 and April 2004, presented conclusive proof of a link between recovery work at the World Trade Center site, especially for those there during the initial days, and long-term respiratory problems.

"There should no longer be any doubt about the health effects of the World Trade Center. Our patients are sick," said Dr. Robin Herbert, co-director of Mount Sinai's World Trade Center Worker and Volunteer Medical Screening Program. "They will need ongoing care for the rest of their lives."

Mayor: Link No Certainty

Shortly after the Mount Sinai study was released, Mayor Bloomberg unveiled the city's comprehensive plan to provide better monitoring, treatment and tracking of sick 9/11 respondents.

But he questioned Dr. Herbert's assertion that a definitive link between Ground Zero and later health problems among workers had been established.

"I don't believe that you can say specifically a particular problem came from this particular effect," the Mayor said, adding that he hadn't read the report yet.

Dr. Herbert said 40 percent of those who turned to Mount Sinai for medical screening lacked health insurance.

The monitoring program excluded firefighters, because the Fire Department runs its own 9/11-related program, but many other public employees took part in the Mount Sinai study, including Police Officers and Detectives, transit workers and others who helped out at the morgue and the Fresh Kills landfill.

Eighty-seven percent of the participants screened were male, and 66 percent were white, with more than 90 percent living in the tri-state area. Fifty-four percent were from the city and 15 percent from Long Island. Eighty-six percent were union members.

The Chief-Leader/Michel Friang Dr. ROBIN HERBERT: 'Will need life-long care.'

Nearly half the study's participants arrived at the World Trade Center site on 9/11. Forty-nine percent reported being engulfed in the building-collapse dust. Mount Sinai and FDNY studies have showed workers exposed to toxins in the first hours of the Twin Towers' collapse suffered the worst health effects.

At his City Hall news conference, the Mayor announced that the city would build and staff a $16 million World Trade Center Environmental Health Center at Bellevue Hospital.

It will provide health care to anyone "exposed to dust and fumes" from 9/11, he said.

Increased Monitoring

The Mayor's three-part plan also calls for the Department of Health to increase its World Trade Center unit employees from seven to 20, and to expand its monitoring and tracking programs for sick 9/11 workers.

Deputy Mayors Edward Skyler and Linda Gibbs were charged with reviewing the performances of city agencies handling 9/11-related issues and studying how effectively city, state and Federal money is being allocated for health programs. The Mayor said he expected a report from them in three months.

The new initiatives are primarily for those who don't have coverage through existing programs, so city employees with health coverage won't be eligible. Those without health insurance, including undocumented immigrants, are encouraged to enroll in the programs.

When asked why five years passed before the city developed a plan to help workers in need, the Mayor said it took time to build up the necessary foundation of medical information.

Not Obvious Maladies

"You've got to understand that these kind of health problems that we are talking about here [aren't] that a piece of debris falls on you and you are injured," he said. "This is something that over a long period of time develops and you're never really sure what connections are between what the cause and effect are."

He added that many of the new initiatives were expanded versions of programs already in place.

"A lot of these programs were started back when, and I think it's just an appropriate time to step back and take a look and see what else we can do," he said. "A lot of the data is just starting to come in, in terms of what damage or symptoms that people have."

The Mayor reiterated his wish that the Federal Government shoulder more of the fiscal responsibility in caring for Ground Zero workers.

Most Shut Out

He called on Washington to reopen the Victims Compensation Fund that was closed in 2004 after disbursing some $7 billion, mostly to 9/11 families. Some money went to individuals who experienced health problems prior to the cutoff date, but those whose symptoms emerged later were denied assistance. Stating that the attack on the World Trade Center was "an attack on America," Mayor Bloomberg said providing health care to those who responded is "a responsibility all Americans share."

He added that while the Victims Compensation Fund closed two years ago, it was a "basic matter of basic fairness" that it be reopened.

A mayoral spokesman denied that the new plans represented a shift in attitude by the Mayor, who had been steadfast in opposing legislation signed by Governor Pataki that granted 9/11 workers with specific illnesses a presumptive disability, and an expansion of that bill that added death benefits for the families of public employees who succumb to 9/11-related diseases.

Extended Filing

Another bill signed by Governor Pataki last month mandated that all Workers' Compensation claims filed by public employees struggling with 9/11-related illnesses be treated as occupational hazards, not on-the-job accidents.

The latter carry a two-year statute of limitations from the date of the accident, while occupational hazard claims have a two-year limit from the first medically acknowledged onset of symptoms.

The legislation was in response to complaints from various city workers and their unions that some public employees who fell ill after 2003 were being denied Workers' Compensation by the Law Department because they filed too late.

A spokesman for the Mayor said that while the city sent letters of opposition to legislative changes that expanded 9/11 benefits because Albany was creating "unfunded mandates" for the city to bear, the Mayor had not opposed Governor Pataki's change to Workers' Compensation filing procedures.