Gerson Wants Funds for Health Follow-Up

By Etta Sanders and Barry Owens
JULY 3, 2006

City Councilman Alan Gerson asked the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation last month to fund a $5 million pulmonary and environmental health center to diagnose and track ailments related to the destruction of the World Trade Center.

Backed by Downtown residents and health professionals at City Hall on June 22, Gerson said the proposed center would focus on research and diagnosis of what he said are a growing number of health problems suffered by workers and residents exposed to dust and smoke from the Sept. 11 attacks. “These are people who lived and breathed under the 9/11 plume,” he said.

It is not known how widespread the health problems are, or whether they can be attributed with certainty to the attacks. But doctors from New York Downtown Hospital said they regularly have seen patients with persistent complaints of asthma, coughs and shortness of breath since Sept. 11, 2001.

“The reasons are hard to sort out,” said Dr. Lester Blair, acting chief of medicine at New York Downtown Hospital. ”We may never know. That’s the tragedy.”
Dr. Robert Glennon, a pulmonary specialist at the hospital, said that based on the patients he had seen, “I definitely think there is a connection.”

Dr. Mark Wilkenfeld, an occupational and environmental health expert at Columbia University, said he gets calls weekly from residents who say they or their children have developed respiratory problems or other ailments. He cited pulmonary, sinus, stomach and skin problems resulting from environmental exposure.

Some residents who have experienced worsening health since Sept. 11 say that while there may not yet be proof of a direct link to the trade center’s collapse, they have little doubt. Mariama James said at the City Hall press conference that she spends more than $300 a month for medications for the problems her three children have developed. “I truly believe this is the result of that unfortunate incident,” she said.

William Albert, a 36-year resident of Southbridge Towers, agreed. “I’ve been coughing more. I never coughed before. There was definitely something up after 9/11.”

The World Trade Center Health Registry, administered by the city’s Department of Health, is the largest effort to obtain information about the effects of the smoke from fires that burned at Ground Zero for months, and the dust that was laden with asbestos, heavy metals and other toxins.

The registry, which began enrolling members in 2003, has a database of 71,347 members, about 20 percent of the more than 300,000 people that were south of Canal Street on Sept. 11, 2001. Initial findings from the survey reveal that about 67 percent of adult participants reported new or worsened respiratory problems between the terrorist attacks and the time of their interview. Their reported symptoms included sinus problems, shortness of breath, throat irritation and persistent cough.

In a presentation to Community Board 1 on June 14, Dr. Mark Farfel, director of the registry, said that survivors of the collapsed buildings reported “substantial” physical and mental health problems even three years after Sept. 11.

“What we don’t know is if these symptoms have persisted over the last two years since the interview,” Farfel said, highlighting the need for the registry to continue interviewing people in coming years.

Participants will be asked follow-up questions this month, in part to determine the condition of residents’ homes, the effectiveness of apartment cleanings after the attacks, and the use of masks by rescue and recovery workers.
The registry’s purpose is to provide material for medical experts and researchers to examine, but interviewers do not provide medical screening, assistance or referrals.

“We’re not an examination program,” Farfel said. “The registry is a tool for policy implementation and change.”

But critics said that by not offering medical screening, the registry does not do enough.

“The health registry is a survey,” said Columbia’s Wilkenfeld. “Not one single resident has been evaluated by the registry. What we’re calling for is for people to be seen.”

Gerson said that Stefan Pryor, president of the LMDC, had said he would study the proposal to fund a health center. An LMDC spokesman said he could not comment on pending proposals, but noted that in the past, “other federal money” has funded health programs related to Sept. 11.