New Studies out projecting LC from 9/11 WTC in NYC

[Melinda]

Dear all--

I am going to try and find the articles to post--but there has been a flury of print/radio/and TV media attn. recently given to the fact that many recovery workers at The World Trade Center (particularly firefifgters--almost 1 in 4, they say) are now having health (mostly respiratory) problems. They are projecting a HUGE jump in the number of NYC area LC cancers over the next 5-15 years due to the "dust" that everybody inhaled (some, by the bucketfull).

I volunteered at the site every weekend for 8 1/2 months, so I personally know a large number of individuals who have had/are beginning to have trouble (some, so much so, they have been or are being put before the disability review boards because their lung capacity has been so dramatically diminished).

Ever before my MIL's dx--I was BEGGING the people I met down there (esp. the firefighters, policemen, iron welders, and construction workers who were a) either down there on the 11th and/or spent months on the "Pile" or in the "Pit" to get X-rays--but these guys don't like doctors.

Depending on how the wind blew--you would be covered in "dust" for MONTHS if you were down there (and no matter which way the wind blew, you could always smell it, taste it, and your nose and throat were covered with it upon leaving the site. Clothes, obviously, too.) I was never "digging"--but I can tell you from taking food and clothing to them on site in those early days that those poor souls who were "searching" must have inhaled POUNDS of the stuff. They were covered from foot to toe each and every day.

The fire department is being pretty good about making their workers get screened--but the others...

Anyway--I just wanted you all to know that as a result of some of the follow-up testing here in NYC, LC has been--and will contiue to be, periodically--"In the News".

A sad reality here in The Big Apple.

Melinda