Jonathan Leake, Science Editor, Sunday Times
THE terrorists who destroyed the World Trade Center could claim thousands more lives from the dust and toxins that were released when the buildings collapsed, researchers have warned.
A study of 12,000 people caught in the dust cloud or who helped in the clean-up has shown that about half suffered severe lung damage and other diseases.
A scientific paper based on the study coined the phrase “World Trade Center disease” to cover the range of sicknesses commonly found among the people it screened.
The US Congress will tomorrow announce a £60m health screening programme to continue the monitoring for another five years. About £18m of that will be spent studying the hundreds of firefighters who suffered high exposures.
Professor Robin Herbert, co-director of the World Trade Center worker and volunteer medical screening programme, said many would probably die early.
“What they breathed in was a highly toxic cocktail of alkaline cement dust, pulverised glass, asbestos and other chemicals,” she said. “They have suffered long-term acute irritation of their respiratory passages, which in many cases shows no signs of going away.”
Microscopic examination showed that many survivors had minute shards of glass and other irritant substances in their lungs. Herbert said a large number had spontaneously developed asthma, chronic sinusitis, shortness of breath and dry coughs. “We examined their nasal passages and many had the same deterioration as if they had been in a chemical attack. They had suffered massive exposure to toxins,” she said.
Herbert and her colleagues also conducted psychological tests which showed that about half the victims were also suffering mental illnesses such as post-traumatic stress disorder or depression.
The programme was set up in the months following the September 11, 2001, attacks because of concern about injuries and illnesses sustained by those working around ground zero.
Professor Jacqueline Moline, who carries out the medical screening programme, said earlier research showed many people were permanently disabled by the disaster.
“Cement dust is the main component of the dust and it is very alkaline, so it does a lot of damage,” she said. “Also, things like glass shards seem to stay in the lungs so the irritation may never stop.”
Reply With Quote
