The Battle For Ground Zero, Part 136

Curbed notes the latest ongoing issues at Ground Zero and refuses to make the obvious comments about the changes to the fortified base of the Freedom Tower, which was reported by Steve Cuozzo.

It's long been feared that the cube-shaped pedestal might resemble a steel-armored "fortress." In fact, we're told by several who have seen the design that it will actually be clad in glass.

"Very interesting glass too - not flat planes, but rolled and sculpted," an insider says. "It won't look like the rest of the building. The protective barrier will be behind it."

Gothamist has a guest editorialist who thinks that we need leadership at Ground Zero.

Adam Brodsky wants to save the 9/11 museum from becoming an afterthought:

SKY-HIGH costs are forcing officials to consider trims for the 9/11 memorial. Fine. But as the wish-list gets pared, one component should remain: the 9/11 museum.
Gov. Pataki was right to boot the International Freedom Center from Ground Zero last year. That museum was to be open to all views, but run by folks with hard-left ties. Its presence might have perverted the site with inappropriate America-bashing.

But America needs a museum that will carry the true lessons of 9/11 to future generations.

And Ground Zero is an ideal place for it.

Meanwhile, a new study was released relating to the health effects of breathing the air at Ground Zero following the collapse of the towers. The study claims that breathing the air means that those rescuers lost 12 years of lung function.

Each of the responders underwent testing to determine lung and respiratory capacity before and after 9/11. The exam tallies forced expiratory volume (FEV) - or how much a person can exhale during a breath.

Typically, an adult loses 31 milliliters in FEV per year. But Ground Zero workers lost 372 milliliters - a rate of decline 12 times the normal annual rate.

"There was a drop in lung function equivalent to 12 years of aging," said co-author Dr. Gisela Banauch, a professor at Montefiore/Einstein College in The Bronx. "It's statistically a very significant loss."

"This study - together with other studies that have been published - makes a causal connection between WTC exposure and short- to intermediate-term respiratory disease very likely," Banauch told The Post of the findings, published in the American Journal of Respiratory Critical Care Medicine.

This doesn't necessarily mean that the effects are irreversible either. It means that we've got to continue studying the problem and making sure that these workers and rescuers are provided with sufficient health care to address these concerns.