LIherald.com – July 16, 2015
After the World Trade Center collapsed in a fireball on Sept. 11, 2001, a cloud of toxic dust enveloped Lower Manhattan. That dust contained a witches’ brew of cancer-causing agents, including jet fuel, cement dust, asbestos, silica, microscopic glass shards, heavy metals and pulverized construction materials, according to the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In the terrible days and weeks after the attacks, thousands of firefighters, police officers and construction workers, from not only New York but around the country, sifted through the soot-laden remains of the Twin Towers. In the initial frantic rush to clear debris in the hope of finding someone, anyone, alive, many responders forwent respirators, giving little to no thought to the airborne dangers around them.
Since then, some 60 cancers related to 9/11dust have been identified, and more than 3,600 people have been diagnosed with 9/11-related illnesses, according to the New York State AFL-CIO and the office of U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. An estimated 900 New York City firefighters and 550 police officers are struggling with those illnesses, and 70 firefighters and 60 police officers have died.
Thirty thousand first responders and construction workers suffered at least one injury while working at ground zero. Another 60,000 are being monitored for signs of illness.
They deserve all the medical attention and long-term care that a grateful nation can provide. They served their country admirably. New York City was, in many ways, a war zone in the aftermath of the attacks. Our first responders and construction workers came to the rescue. They demonstrated resolve and courage –– American grit. They restored normalcy to a city on edge. They are our heroes.
Strangely, however, there are those in Congress who balk at the notion of providing lifetime health benefits for those 9/11 workers. Where will the money come from? they wonder.
The answer is simple: It matters not where you find the money –– you find it. One way or another, you fund the medical care of those who selflessly sacrificed to repair the catastrophic damage that terrorists left at ground zero –– and in our collective psyche. If we are to claim that America is a nation of values, that’s just what we do, no questions asked.
In 2010, Congress passed the $4.3 billion James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, much to the chagrin of the budget hawks. The act was named for an NYPD officer who died of a 9/11-related respiratory disease. It created the WTC Health Program, which treats 9/11 workers, and the Sept. 11 Victim Compensation Fund.
To ensure passage of the bill, its sponsors built in sunset dates for the legislation. The health program is due to expire in October, and the compensation fund in 2016. That paltry time frame is an insult to the men and women who served at ground zero.
Gillibrand, Sen. Charles Schumer and U.S. Reps. Peter King and Carolyn Maloney are fighting to reauthorize the Zadroga legislation, but this time, if passed, it would remain in effect for 25 years, through 2041.
We urge readers to write to their congressional representatives to show support for reauthorization of the Zadroga bill. If the legislation were to fail –– and make no mistake, there are lawmakers who oppose it –– 9/11 workers would lose their health benefits, the compensation fund would dry up, and there would no longer be any health monitoring program.
On Sept. 18, 2001, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christie Todd Whitman, the former New Jersey governor, made a fateful pronouncement: She declared the air at ground zero safe to breathe. The air might contain asbestos and lead, Whitman said, but in negligible amounts, a declaration that a 2003 EPA inspector general’s report called unfounded.
Hundreds, even thousands, of workers, however, took Whitman at her word and didn’t wear respirators as they dug through the pile –– many for weeks and months.
Now the federal government must do all it can to repair the damage that it, in part, wrought.
The least that any of us who benefited from 9/11 workers’ benevolence can do is write a letter or two — or 10 — to Congress. For more, go to the Citizens for the Extension of the James Zadroga Act website, at http://bit.ly/1CtJS0u.
Where to write U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand 478 Russell Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510
U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer 322 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510
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