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March 10, 2004

911 Disabled up to 1000 Firefighters

New reports indicate that far more firefighters and other rescue personnell were disabled by breathing toxic dust from the 911 area. Some estimates put the numbers at up to 1000 firefighters, plus many other rescue workers suffering similar disabilities.

Michael Barasch said his firm alone represents 200 firefighters still waiting to go before the medical review board and hundreds more with asthma and other pulmonary problems who are seeking money from the federal special victims fund.
“The toxic dust is going to be the real silent killer,” Barasch told amNewYork. “In the long run, I feel it will kill more rescue workers in the next 20 years than died on 9/11.

As this Paul Krugman piece last fall detailed, the Bush administration systematically lied to New Yorkers, especially the rescue and cleaning workers in the area, about the long term health dangers of Ground Zero:

the most shocking revelation from the new report is that under White House direction, the E.P.A. suppressed warnings about indoor pollution. Scattered evidence suggests that as a result, hundreds of cleaning workers and thousands of residents may be suffering chronic health problems.

Why was crucial information withheld from the public? The report mentions "the desire to reopen Wall Street and national security concerns."

So for the sake of Wall Street profits, rescue workers were encouraged to continue braving the deadly toxics. Many of them probably would have anyways because of their selflessness, but that just shows the difference that Wall Street depends on lies and cash, not patriotism, to keep its operations running.

Posted by Nathan at March 10, 2004 07:48 PM