:: rawblogXport ::

:: Tuesday, September 14, 2004 ::

Ground Zero Workers File Billion-Dollar Health Lawsuit By E.J. Mundell, HealthCentral.com
Toxicologist William R. Sawyer, working on behalf of the plaintiffs, conducted assessments of contaminant levels in numerous WTC rescue and clean-up workers.

He described Ground Zero in the weeks after the attacks as 'a giant toxic waste site containing all of the necessary ingredients that, when heated, or 'pyrolized,' made a smoldering, 100-foot-plus pile of toxic material which generated unprecedented concentrations of carcinogens.'

Contained in this 'toxic waste pile,' according to Sawyer and Worby, were:

* 200,000 pounds of lead from the estimated 50,000 personal computers in thousands of World Trade Center offices
* mercury contained in the towers' more than half a million fluorescent lights
* dioxin from oil and fuel
* 2,000 tons of asbestos
* benzene from more than 91,000 liters of burned jet fuel
* cadmium, PCBs, and up to 2 million pounds of toxins known as polycystic aromatic hydrocarbons.

All of these contaminants have strong links to pulmonary, skin or immune system ailments, as well as cancer, Sawyer said. He predicted that long-term cancer rates among clean-up workers could rise to five to seven times the norm during the coming decades.

posted 7:14 AM :: reference link :: 0 comments ::

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