- NEW YORK (Reuters)
- Nearly half of the more than 1,000 screened rescue workers who responded
to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks suffer from new or exacerbated respiratory,
mental, and other health problems, according to a government report released
Thursday.
-
- The report, from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC), is the second released in two days to find that firefighters,
police officers, and volunteers show persistent effects from environmental
toxins and psychological stress.
-
- On Wednesday, a similar study from the Government Accountability
Office, the investigative arm of Congress, noted that many rescue workers
suffer wheezing, shortness of breath, sinusitis, asthma, and a syndrome
called "WTC cough."
-
- The latest health study, conducted at Mount Sinai School
of Medicine, showed that nearly half of the 1,138 people screened had problems
that either began or worsened after being exposed to the dust, airborne
toxins, and pollutants unleashed by the collapsed buildings.
-
- "These preliminary findings of the WTC Screening
Program demonstrate that large numbers of workers and volunteers suffered
persistent, substantial effects on their respiratory and psychological
health as a result of their efforts," said Dr. Stephen Levin, co-director
of the World Trade Center Worker and Volunteer Medical Screening Program.
-
- Of those screened, 51 percent suffered mental health
problems and their risk of post-traumatic stress disorder was four times
the rate of the disorder in the general male population, the report said.
-
- The analysis is part of a broader study of about 12,000
people being evaluated at Mount Sinai.
-
- The CDC also released results of the first phase of an
investigation, conducted with the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia
University, into the evacuation process at the World Trade Center.
-
- The report looked at the factors influencing decisions
people made as to whether to leave the twin towers once the attacks had
begun. Some were delayed due to concern about getting permission from their
bosses while others stayed to shut down computers and collect personal
items.
-
- Structural damage to the building, such as debris on
stairs or partially collapsed interior walls, blocked exits, the report
said, and heavy congestion on certain stairways caused some to back up
to seek an alternative route down. In addition, there was a lack of back-up
public address systems or other communications systems.
-
- A separate report published on Wednesday in the journal
Environmental Health Perspectives found that pregnant women who were close
to the World Trade Center at the time of the attack were more likely to
give birth to lower-weight babies.
-
- The CDC said that only 21 percent of the workers and
volunteers participating in the screening program had appropriate respiratory
protection between Sept. 11 and Sept. 14, 2001, the days when the impact
of dust, diesel exhaust, pulverized cement, glass fibers, and asbestos
was considered the greatest.
-
- The CDC plans to continue medical screening for five
years.
-
-
- http://www.enn.com/news/2004-09-10/s_27108.asp
|