WTC-RELATED LINKS :

Faithful Response: (free, confidential, faith-based support)
http://www.faithfulresponse.org/

Unsung Heroes Helping Heroes
http://www.local361.com/heroes.htm

World Trade Center Worker and Volunteer Medical Screening Program: http://www.wtcexams.org

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5335a1.htm

WTC Registry: http://www.nycosh.org/environment_wtc/registry_factsheet.html

9/11 Environmental Action:
http://www.911ea.org

WTC Related Press: http://www.911ea.org/WTC_Related_Press.htm

THE WORLD TRADE CENTER WORKER AND VOLUNTEER MEDICAL SCREENING PROGRAM

In September, 2006, the Mount Sinai Medical Center released findings from the World Trade Center Worker and Volunteer Medical Screening Program, the largest multi-center clinical program providing medical screening examinations for the workers and volunteers who worked at Ground Zero and other sites following the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11. The study examined close to 12,000 responders during the 21-month period covered by the study; 9,500 of whom agreed to allow their results to be used in their report. The following is a brief summary of their findings:

Almost 70 percent of World Trade Center responders had a new or worsened respiratory symptom that developed during or after their time working at
the WTC
Among the responders who were asymptomatic before 9/11, 61 percent developed respiratory symptoms while working at the WTC
Close to 60 percent still had a new or worsened respiratory symptom at the time of their examination
One third had abnormal pulmonary function tests, much higher than expected
Severe respiratory conditions including pneumonia were significantly more common in the six months after 9/11 than in six months prior

According to a February, 2007 NYC Mayoral Report, more than 120,000 responders, workers and volunteers participated in the WTC rescue and recovery efforts.

This total includes approximately:
34,000 NYPD
16,000 FDNY
7,000 other NYC workers
65,000 volunteers from in and out of New York State

By January of 2007, more than 19,000 responders had been screened by the WTC Medical Monitoring Program at Mt. Sinai.

The FDNY had also screened 16,000 firefighters and EMS workers.

Sample findings have shown that more than two-thirds of those screened have persistent respiratory or gastro-intestinal ailments.

At least half showed symptoms of psychological distress.

Early in 2007, New York State launched a study of the growing number of deaths associated with 9/11-related illnesses such as cancer, respiratory disease and heart failure.

Further info at:

http://www.wtcexams.org

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5335a1.htm

9/11 Recovery Facts

• Workers sifted through 1.8 million tons of material at the Fresh Kills Landfill for approximately 10 months, during which they recovered:

• 4,257 human remains
• 54,000 personal items
• 4,000 photographs
• 1,358 personal and departmental vehicles
• Thousands of tons of steel

• Noxious dust, toxic fumes and smoke inhaled contained potentially dangerous toxins that can cause severe damage and disease years or even decades later.

• Responders who were downtown when the towers collapsed, breathed in a highly alkaline cement dust known to produce chemical burns to respiratory membranes.

• Workers were exposed to an unprecedented toxic cocktail, including such carcinogens as asbestos, lead, chromium, mercury, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), organochlorine pesticides and polychlorinated furans and dioxins.

• Reported WTC-related illnesses include chronic sinus and lung disease such as sinusitis, asthma and sarcoidosis; gastrointestinal reflux; heart conditions; cancers of the throat, esophagus, lung, kidney, brain, pancreas and thyroid; and, AML – a rare leukemia caused by exposures to benzene found in jet fuel.

• In July 2004, a union survey found that over 400 NYPD detectives reported some sort of WTC-related illness and/or an increase in post-traumatic stress syndrome. At that time, there was a noted spike in suicides.