WTC Workers Still Suffer from Lung Problems

September 6 , 2006 - The largest study of rescue workers at the World Trade Center site has found that 70% developed breathing problems while working there and many were still suffering years later, reports an article in the New York Times.

A group of doctors at NYC’s Mount Sinai Medical Center conducted the study, which reported that responders to the catastrophe breathed in “a caustic, pulverized dust” that penetrated deep into their lungs and sinus cavities. The dust contained "trillions upon trillions of microscopic shards of glass," as well as asbestos and other carcinogens, the study indicated.

Researchers say they hope their study will help create a link between illness and the work done at the World Trade Center site.  Responders, note the Mount Sinai team, have been asking the government for help with their illnesses, only to be called “liars” or “malingerers”.  They hope that their study will convince the government that there’s a very real connection here.

According to the article in the Times, researchers examined nearly 12,000 firefighters, police officers, construction, transit and utility workers during the 21-month period covered by the study; of those, 9,500 agreed to allow their results to be published. The study found that World Trade Center responders had double the rate of lung abnormalities expected in the U.S. population. The results, the study said, are particularly striking and disturbing, considering that the workers who served at the site were considered to be healthy prior to September 11, 2001.

The statistics show that among workers who had no breathing problems before Sept. 11, 2001, 61% developed symptoms while working on the site. The study also confirmed that those who arrived earlier, shortly after the attacks, had worse symptoms than those who joined the team days or weeks later. Sixty percent of workers still had symptoms by the time they were examined at Mount Sinai from July 2002 to April 2004.