911 Toxic Dust Fatalities
In a study at Mount Sinai, 19,000 of the 40,000 workers at the site were examined. In the first 9000 people tested, over 70% have developed potentially permanent respiratory problems. There have been at least 8,000 lawsuits alleging toxic exposure as a cause of illness and death.
Alan Fein, a NYU professor of medicine who has researched the issue says the health risk from the dust is likely: "It's pretty certain." But Joseph Graziano of Columbia University's public health school is not as confident in the result saying: "We cannot say with certainty whether dust is responsible for deaths but it be proved over time."
The federally funded World Trade Center Consortium Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program spokesperson Robin Herbert, M.D. has examined almost half of the 40,000 workers and reports: “ …the nature of these exposures is unprecedented. There is no book we can turn to, to help us know what the health effects will be."
- People are dying from the Toxic Dust
New York City’s chief medical examiner linked a death to exposure to WTC dust immediately after 9/11 according to a report released some five years later.
Take the case of Felicia Dunn-Jones who worked at the New York Trade Towers as a civil rights attorney for the Department of Education. On that day, Dunn-Jones and her colleagues were enveloped by a toxic dust cloud containing asbestos, dioxin, benzene, and several other noxious pollutants.
Although the group she was with ran for cover, Dunn-Jones became sick right away with a persistent cough that would not go away. On February 10, 2002 Dunn-Jones succumbed to her illness and died.
Not until 2007 did the New York City medical examiner’s office conclude that her death was the result of breathing in the toxic air. The Dunn-Jones family was compensated for her death in 2004 with $2.6 million from a federal victims’ compensation fund.
Charles Hirsch, chief medical examiner for New York City released a statement saying: "Accumulating evidence indicates that in some persons exposure to WTC dust has caused sarcoidosis or an inflammatory reaction indistinguishable from sarcoidosis. It is likely, with certainty beyond a reasonable doubt, that exposure to WTC dust…was contributory to [Dunn-Jones’] death."
Sarcoidosis is a debilitating illness which causes lesions on the lungs and is often seen in miners.
The medical examiner’s statement is significant because it is the first case in New York that has been blamed directly on toxic exposure from the World Trade Center dust. In New Jersey last year, a medical examiner concluded that the death of a police detective, James Zadroga, had been directly related to his exposure of toxic dust at the WTC site. These two cases are the only deaths so far verified as related to the dust.
In the Dunn-Jones’ case, her death has now been ruled a homicide. Her name has been added to the list of 2,750 victims of the 9/11 attacks. Joe Jones, the deceased’s husband said: "It’ll be an honor. We feel she always deserved to be on that list."
James Zadroga had spent more than 500 hours at ground zero. His father, Joseph told reporters that his son also died from sarcoidosis. He told reporters: "I think that anybody [who] passes as a result of 9/11 should be listed on the wall. They’re going to be adding to that wall for the next 20 years."
- Son Loses Father from 9/11 Dust and Vows to Help Others
In another case in 2007, Ceasar Borja visited his father in the intensive-care unit of New York City's Mount Sinai Medical Center. Borja wanted to share the good news with his father: "I told him I was going to the State of the Union Address in Washington, D.C., and I would make him proud."
The day after the hospital visit Borja received the news that his 52 year old father had died from the effects of the dust that diseased his lungs as he worked in the cleanup crew at the site. Borja lamented: "I could hardly stand up. I felt like I had no bones in my legs. But I wanted to stay to make my family proud." Hours later, as the invited guest of Hillary Clinton he watched the President's speech from a Senate gallery seat. Clinton called Ceasar "the light of his family's heart."
Cesar Borja was a retired New York City police officer who was diagnosed with a fatal lung disease after working as ground crew at the disaster site. His son, Caesar, is now fighting for his father’s rights and those of thousands of others who claim they were sickened by the poisonous dust that spewed into the air when 1.6 tons of debris hit the ground.
Cesar’s family emigrated to the U.S. from the Philippines in 1976 and Caesar maintains the dust was the cause of their father's lung disease. Cesar worked at the site for 6 months, 12 to 16 hours every day. His first task was on the team that recovered bodies and later he worked in security. Around the summer of 2002 he came down with a persistent cough. "He said, 'Maybe I got this from 9/11,'" said Eva, 47, his widow. "At the time I thought it was nothing. I thought he would get rid of it."
Even with prescription medications for allergies and asthma, the coughing kept getting worse. Eva and the kids Ceasar, his brother Evan, 16, and sister Nhia, 12 were extremely worried. Caesar a journalism student at Manhattan's Hunter College remembers saying: “That's not normal.” Cesar had quit smoking ten years ago and in September 2006 he read about Mount Sinai's Ground Zero program. It was there he received his diagnosis, pulmonary fibrosis. The disease prevents the lungs from processing oxygen and Cesar’s decline worsened quickly. On January 23, 2007 he died as a result of infectious pneumonia, a complication of pulmonary fibrosis.
Ceasar sees his mission now to continue to bring recognition and financial compensation for Ground Zero workers. President Bush met with the Borja family following the death of their father and then extended funding of the World Trade Center medical monitoring and treatment program. Caesar says:"I was fighting for my father but now that he's passed away, I'll fight for everyone else."
