Plus One

The 9/11 terrorist attacks are still claiming victims; a New Jersey cornoner ruled that a police detective who spent weeks sifting through the pile at Ground Zero died of causes directly related to exposure to the air at Ground Zero.

As I noted earlier tonite:
UPDATE:
A New Jersey coroner has ruled that the death of a 34 year old James Zadroga was directly related to his recovery work at Ground Zero.

The death of a 34-year-old police detective who developed respiratory disease after working at ground zero is ``directly related'' to Sept. 11, 2001, a New Jersey coroner said in the first known ruling positively linking a death to cleanup work at the World Trade Center site.

James Zadroga's family and union released his autopsy results Tuesday, saying they were proof of the first death of a city police officer related to recovery work after the terrorist attacks.

``It is felt with a reasonable degree of medical certainty that the cause of death in this case was directly related to the 9/11 incident,'' wrote Gerard Breton, a pathologist at the Ocean County (N.J.) medical examiner's office in the Feb. 28 autopsy.

Zadroga died on Jan. 6 of respiratory failure and had inflammation in his lung tissue due to ``a history of exposure to toxic fumes and dust,'' Breton wrote.

The detective spent 470 hours after the attacks sifting through the twin towers' smoldering ruins, wearing a paper mask for protection. His breathing became labored within weeks, he developed a cough and he had to use an oxygen tank to breathe. He retired on disability in November 2004.