NE W YORK, N.Y., Feb. 27 (UPI) -- Firefighters working in the smoke and dust at the World Trade Center without respirators knew they were being exposed to toxins that could make them ill but they continued to look for survivors and bodies, the firefighter's union said Wednesday.
"We knew we needed respirators, we asked for them all the time, but they never gave us explanation why they were delayed," Thomas Manley, the health and safety liaison for the Uniformed Firefighters Association, told United Press International.
"All they said was that 'the respirators were coming,' we knew the dust masks were useless, but we had a job to do."
The Fire Department of New York did not respond to UPI's calls, but in December the department said every firefighter, who worked at the World Trade Center, was examined by a physician. In December, the fire department said 1,600 firefighters of the 6,500 firefighters examined so far had respiratory problems, including the so-called "WTC cough."
The U.S. Geological Survey found the dust created by the collapse of the World Trade Center had a pH of 12 -- as alkaline as drain cleaner. According to the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health, a non-profit, union-based health and safety organization in Manhattan, "highly alkaline dust when in contact with moist tissue in the body -- the throat, mouth, nasal passages, skin and eyes -- becomes corrosive and can cause burns."
Airborne particulate matter from the Detection and Evaluation of Long-range Transport of Aerosols (DELTA) Group at the University of California at Davis indicate that parts of Lower Manhattan in the months after Sept. 11 were contaminated with a variety of toxic substances, including metals at the highest levels ever recorded in air in the United States.
U.C. Davis researchers also found that most of the contaminated respirable particulate matter was smaller than 2.5 microns, a size that can present serious health risks but is neither regulated nor monitored by the Environmental Protection Agency.
In addition, the EPA collected 143 bulk (dust) samples throughout Lower Manhattan in the first several days after Sept. 11. Seventy-six percent had detectable levels of asbestos, of which 34 percent contained greater than 1 percent asbestos by weight, the regulatory definition of asbestos-containing material.
"Some firefighters have gotten better since September, but there are some new cases too," Manley said. "I don't know how many firefighters will seek early retirement because of medical reasons following the World Trade Center, but it'll be a few hundred -- we used to have pension workshops two months or every month and now we're having two a month."
The firefighters' union is seeking a lifetime health registry to monitor the health of its members and those retired.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y, proposed a Long-Term Comprehensive Health Registry, Referral and Monitoring System of Ground Zero Workers and those who live and work in Lower Manhattan earlier this month.
"We have lobbied members of Congress and it seems hopeful that the registry will happen, I hope it will happen," Manley said. "We haven't seen a dollar figure put on the registry, but we don't want the same situation that occurred after the telephone company fire where we had people dying of cancer years later."
According to Clinton's office, the funding would help establish a long-term comprehensive health system to ensure that all workers who worked at Ground Zero are registered -- both first-responders such as firefighters, police officers, and emergency medical personnel and construction workers who are working on the removal of debris.
"This registry will serve as a basis to track and monitor the health of workers, ensure that workers are referred to appropriate medical services, provide continuing education to medical personnel regarding the health of Ground Zero workers, and examine any potential long-term health impacts of working at Ground Zero over a 20 to 30 year time period," Clinton said. "In addition, this comprehensive health system will monitor a cross section of residents, children, office workers, and other vulnerable populations to track their health over time."
Meanwhile, Manley has been trying to get city fire trucks that responded to the World Trade Center and that were engulfed in the dust cloud when the Twin Towers collapsed, cleaned because some have tested positive for asbestos.
"We've been trying to get the fire trucks decontaminated because some have tested positive for asbestos, so we've wanted them decontaminated and tested again," Manley said. "We got about $10,000 and had three or four trucks cleaned but we have to find some more money -- much of all this comes down to a money issue."
In addition to the medical problem plaguing New York City firefighters, it was revealed Wednesday that about 2,000 firefighters have sought counseling since Sept. 11 from the department's counseling service unit. The counseling unit had 11 counselors and clinicians, before Sept. 11 but it has since quintupled in size.
"More than 300 firefighters have been put on medical leave or light duty because of nightmares, anger, depression and anxiety and other psychological symptoms," said Manley. "Two thousand have sought counseling? I'm surprised there aren't more -- we aren't known for seeking psychological counseling.
"There are three city locations where firefighters and members of emergency services who responded to the World Trade Center can seek counseling and all a person has to do is pick up the phone, if they need help dealing with the events of Sept. 11," he said.
The FDNY lost 343 members on Sept. 11, and many saw people jumping from the windows of the Twin Towers and for several months sifted through the World Trade Center debris looking for bodies and body parts.
(Reported by Alex Cukan)
