Asbestos Facts and EPA Information

The Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution Act has been under scrutiny for some time.   This act would set up a fund to compensate only a fraction of the victims of asbestos-related diseases.  It excludes thousands suffering from asbestos-related illnesses after the terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001.  According to experts, workers would not qualify for compensation.  Also students, residents, or anyone who might have a history of smoking are not eligible.

As soon as the attacks took place, thousands were aware of the devastation.  Even the EPA and other government officials recognized that the asbestos covering the city was a threat in disguise.  Most of the documents that were released following the attacks were focused on the asbestos that was released into the air, omitting other harmful chemicals and materials.  .

Estimates of the actual amount of asbestos in the air after September 11th range from several hundred tons to five thousand tons.  Witnesses say that the asbestos that was found in homes, offices, and other facilities following the attacks was at dangerously high levels.  Reports say that most of the asbestos that insulated the World Trade Center towers came from Libby, Montana.  The Libby mines are a location that has a long history of asbestos exposure and asbestos-related illnesses. 

When the World Trade Center towers fell, the asbestos that once lined the buildings’ walls and infrastructure turned to a dust that easily became airborne.  Medical and scientific experts say that the process by which the asbestos was broken down made it even more harmful and more easily inhaled by humans.  Experts state that it is not the length of the fibers that matters, rather the ratio between width and length that determines the danger level.  The potential for disease is increased when the ratio of length to width is at least 3-1.  The EPA automatically assumed that the smaller the fibers, the less harmful they are.  However, this is not true.  Asbestos dust of this type has the ability to travel longer distances and is less detectable to the human eye.

In autopsies performed on the victims of 9/11-related asbestos illnesses, medical examiners noted that most of the fibers that were found within the bodies were extremely small.  Most particles were under five microns.  Since these recent discoveries, the numbers of complaints from workers and others near Ground Zero have been on the rise.  The EPA is reconsidering what they once said regarding the air safety.  Victims of exposure are demanding the truths surrounding the topic, including debate over the equipment used by the EPA to test the air-quality

Another issue of debate is the efficiency of the investigation performed by the EPA.  The ratio of fibers discovered by the EPA to the number discovered by an independent contractor was 1:9.  It is also noted that the EPA did not use electron microscopes to analyze the asbestos.  The microscopes used were equivalent to those used in an introductory chemistry class.  Electron microscopes were easily accessible.

Additionally, the EPA used a specific standard to help them establish the danger level of asbestos in the air.  This standard said that anything less than 1% if the dust constituted a safe level of asbestos.  It is believed that this standard is unacceptable and that no levels of asbestos are safe.  Doctors say that even one exposure can cause a person to develop an asbestos related disease, such as mesothelioma.

The 1% level that the EPA set was “absurd” according to experts.  Pure chrysotile asbestos contains at least 10 billion individual fibers in every gram.  That would be an amount equivalent to a quarter of a teaspoon.  If the 1% standard were used, it would measure intact materials that might have small pieces break off.  However, during the attacks on September 11, 100% of the asbestos was made into a fine powder, no longer intact.  This means that the 1% standard would not even apply to the asbestos that was released on September 11, 2001.

The EPA remains reluctant to talk about the levels of asbestos that were observed during the disasters of September 11th.  They claim that it is not their area of expertise and they do not serve as a public health agency.  If this is the case, why would the EPA make statements to the public concerning the safety of the air after the attacks?  Experts say that the EPA’s suggestions to citizens as to how to deal with asbestos dust in the home were unauthorized and very unsafe. 

After the World Trade Center towers were demolished, a cloud of dust rose over 1,000 feet in the air over Manhattan and stretched as far as Brooklyn and Staten Island.  Thousands of people in the immediate and surrounding areas were subject to the mass amounts of airborne materials and chemicals that were released into the air.  Since September 11th, many studies have been conducted regarding the harmful chemicals and substances that were dispersed into the air that day. 

Experts stated that if a man, standing six feet tall, holds his arm out and drops a handful of asbestos particles, they will take nearly eight hours to completely reach the ground.  This means that no one, especially small children, should be in the vicinity of stirred up asbestos for at least eight hours.  Despite this fact, the EPA still performed clean up operations without taking the proper precautions and without working within an appropriate time-frame.

Since September 11th, follow up operations have controversial and questionable.  It is not surprising that people are curious as to why they have contracted an asbestos related disease such as mesothelioma or asbestosis. 

More Information on the September 11 Attacks and the World Trade Center Buildings:

Main WTC Page

Asbestos and the World Trade Center

Asbestos Levels and the Government After the Attacks

Statistics