In the ensuing years many of the afflicted workers have received little to no help from the government according to lawmakers and workers. The former head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Christie Todd Whitman, “stressed in the days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that the air in lower Manhattan was safe, although she also said workers at the World Trade Center site needed to use protective breathing gear.”
Whitman is now being sued in regards to her public assurances. Whitman defends herself against these accusations in a statement:
We agreed then, and I reiterate now, that the air on the site was not clean — the consequence of millions of tons of burned debris from the most horrific attack in our nation's history. We were emphatic that workers needed to wear respirators, a message I repeated frequently. But I did not have the jurisdiction to force workers to wear them — that was up to their superiors.
Regardless of who is to blame in this awful mess the fact remains that patients are still showing up at New York Hospitals with 9/11-related illnesses. A study was done by Mount Sinai Medical Center to monitor afflicted workers and results showed “nearly 7 out of 10 ground zero responders suffered lung problems.”
A commitment needs to be made to all the grown zero workers long-term health needs. This is a top priority more important than an absurd “war” being fought thousands of miles away. Resources, money and strategies need to be secured for those workers and volunteers that are now suffering.
