{"id":24689,"date":"2011-09-10T18:56:00","date_gmt":"2011-09-10T22:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planetsave.com\/?p=24689"},"modified":"2011-09-10T18:56:00","modified_gmt":"2011-09-10T22:56:00","slug":"the-lasting-health-effects-of-the-911-attack-and-others-things-overlooked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planetsave.com\/articles\/the-lasting-health-effects-of-the-911-attack-and-others-things-overlooked\/","title":{"rendered":"The Lasting Health Effects of the 9\/11 Attack and Others Things Overlooked"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Dust<\/a><\/p>\n

September 11, 2001 is a day that will always live in Americans minds. 2, 996 people died in the attacks on that horrific day, including an estimated 500 foreign nationals from 91 Nations. (More numbers related to 9\/11)<\/a><\/p>\n

Although the loss of so many people was publicized to no end (rightfully so), the subject that still seems to slip through the cracks is the number of people who have gotten sick after simply trying to help those in need at Ground Zero.<\/p>\n

9\/11 Health Effects<\/h3>\n

The dust from the collapsed towers was “wildly toxic”, according to air pollution expert and University of California Davis Professor Emeritus Thomas Cahill. The thousands of tons of toxic debris resulting from the collapse of the Twin Towers consisted of more than 2,500 contaminants, more specifically: 50% non-fibrous material and construction debris; 40% glass and other fibers; 9.2% cellulose; and 0.8% of the extremely toxic carcinogen asbestos, as well as detectable amounts of \u00a0lead and mercury. There were also unprecedented levels of dioxin and PAHs from the fires which burned for three months. Many of the dispersed substances (asbestos, crystalline silica, lead, cadmium, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) are carcinogenic; other substances can trigger kidney, heart, liver, and nervous system deterioration.<\/p>\n

For five months after the initial attack, dust from the pulverized buildings continued to fill the air of the World Trade Center site.<\/p>\n

To date, 75 recovery workers at ground zero have been diagnosed with blood cell cancers that a half-dozen top doctors and epidemiologists have confirmed as having been likely caused by that exposure.<\/p>\n

A study of 5000 rescue workers published in April 2010 by Dr. David J. Prezant, the chief medical officer for the Office of Medical Affairs at the New York City Fire Department, found that all the workers studied had impaired lung functions with an average impairment of 10 percent. The study found the impairments presented itself in the first year of after the attack with little or no improvements in the ensuing six years. 30 to 40 percent of workers were reporting persistent symptoms and 1000 of the group studied were on \u201cpermanent respiratory disability.\u201d Dr. Prezant noted the medications that are being given to ease symptoms but are not a cure. Dr. Byron Thomashow, medical director of the Center for Chest Disease and Respiratory Failure at New York\u2013Presbyterian\/Columbia hospital, said that “The drop-off in lung function initially is really quite significant and doesn\u2019t get better. That\u2019s not what we\u2019ve generally come to expect in people with fire and smoke exposure. They usually recover.”<\/p>\n

9,500 Rescue and recovery workers were tested and examined at Mount Sinai Medical Center between 2002 and 2004. These are the number of different ailments found to have been caused by their work at the World Trade Center site:<\/p>\n