9/11 Survivors Still Dealing With Health Issues

Every few weeks the media finds a new story or study claiming that there are ongoing health risks for 9/11 survivors who breathed in the air from Ground Zero in the aftermath of the collapses. No one knows quite for sure what was in the air when the towers collapsed as there were fires, and a whole host of pulverized building materials that could cause a whole range of long term injuries to those who breathed it in. But it certainly seems that the attacks have had some kind of long term affect on survivors:

A majority of survivors of the 2001 attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center suffered from respiratory ailments and depression, anxiety and other psychological problems up to three years later, federal health officials said Friday.

The people who escaped from collapsed or damaged buildings on Sept. 11, 2001, were several times as likely to suffer from breathing problems or psychological trauma if they were caught in the cloud of trade center dust and debris that covered lower Manhattan, researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.



"The trauma of being caught in the cloud itself, the whole experience had an impact on their ... psychological health later on," said Dr. Robert M. Brackbill, a CDC doctor working with the World Trade Center Health Registry, which has been tracking the health of more than 71,000 people who worked at ground zero or were in the area on Sept. 11.

Friday's study drew from preliminary interviews with 8,418 adults in the registry who escaped from the twin towers, the collapsed Seven World Trade Center and more than 30 buildings that suffered extensive damage on Sept. 11. More than 70 percent escaped from the twin towers.

The interviews took place more than two years after the attacks, between Sept. 5, 2003, and Nov. 20, 2004, and did not involve medical examinations. Follow-up surveys are planned this month.

"We are just beginning to learn about the health effects of the worst day in New York City's history," said Daniel Slippen, a survivor of the attacks and a member of the registry's community advisory board. "It is critical to know whether these physical and mental effects will continue, diminish or grow worse over time."

City officials in charge of the registry say it will likely take 20 years or more to determine whether 9/11 exposure led to increased cancer deaths or illnesses among survivors.

Local representatives have been seeking ongoing funding for research and health care for rescue workers who toiled directly in the site for weeks and months after the collapses to get a handle on what is going on.

Studying the issue is a prudent thing, but we cannot let the science and health care be politicized by those with an agenda. The care of the emergency workers and construction workers at the site, and all those workers who fled from the WTC complex after the collapse, and breathed in the clouds of dust deserve better than that.