Many Ground Zero workers still ill

NEW YORK, March 29 (UPI) -- Many people who worked at New York's Sept. 11 attack site, now called Ground Zero, reportedly still are ill, but the government won't pay for their care.

The New York Daily News said Monday the charge comes from a leading physician and two federal lawmakers.

Of 700 workers in treatment at Mount Sinai Medical Center, three-quarters still suffer from upper-respiratory problems brought on by work at the World Trade Center site, said Dr. Robin Herbert, co-director of the hospital's Center for Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

More than 40 percent suffer post-traumatic stress.

"The rates of symptoms we're seeing do not seem to be decreasing much," Herbert said. "The health problems we're seeing are serious and persistent."

The federal government would pay for their treatment under legislation to be introduced by Reps., Carolyn Maloney, D-Manhattan, and Christopher Shays, R-Conn.

"The lack of federal coordination, delays in funding, and total absence of aid for treatment shows a shameful neglect of Sept. 11 health issues in Washington," Maloney said. "We hope to change that with this legislation."