I've mentioned it before, but it bears repeating, this quote from Roane County Director of Emergency Management and Homeland Security, is cause for alarm. Read it and take it all in...
People want to know "are you making sure everybody is doing what they are supposed to over there?" And I tell them, I say, "I don't have to make sure." I say, "They're doing it on their own. OK? ...
People want to know "are you making sure everybody is doing what they are supposed to over there?" And I tell them, I say, "I don't have to make sure." I say, "They're doing it on their own. OK? ...
..."Well, I'm telling you what to believe. You believe what these people down here are telling you to believe because I'm seeing the data just like everybody else is. I don't understand it all, but they explain it to me, and I got faith in these people down here and what they do.
Faith? That's great, Howie. But let's take a look at what faith has done for people in the past....
The Environmental Protection Agency's internal watchdog says White House officials pressured the agency to prematurely assure the public that the air was safe to breathe a week after the World Trade Center collapse. --MSNBC
The agency's initial statements in the days following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks were not supported by proper air quality monitoring data and analysis, EPA's inspector general, Nikki L. Tinsley, says in a 155-page report released late Thursday.
"Competing considerations, such as national security concerns and the desire to reopen Wall Street, also played a role in EPA's air quality statements," the report said. --CBS News
There is no evidence that airborne asbestos in the World Trade Center area posed a long-term health risk, but no study of the effects on the general public has actually been completed. A Mount Sinai study of rescue and recovery workers found that 78 percent had suffered lung ailments. The report notes that the agency's official position was that the levels of asbestos in outdoor air were safe for healthy adults, but that it lacked evidence about the potential health effects of indoor air and the risks of other contaminants or the effects on more vulnerable New Yorkers, including children and the elderly.
Asked about why people are still suffering ill effects, Horinko (of EPA) said she can understand that rescue workers would still be affected but finds residents’ continued complaints to be “mystifying.”
Even though the the building collapses caused the highest particulate count in the city’s history, the tragic event violated no pollution standards. That’s because the air quality regulations were set up to measure particulate matter loadings over 24-hour periods rather than intense, short-term bursts.
That is cold comfort to many New Yorkers, particularly those still suffering health effects from exposure to the dust.
Some fear that “WTC cough,” sinus problems, headaches and other ailments that Todd and others continue to experience, were worsened by government officials more willing to return the city to normalcy and open the Stock Market than protect public health.
Faith? That's great, Howie. But let's take a look at what faith has done for people in the past....
The Environmental Protection Agency's internal watchdog says White House officials pressured the agency to prematurely assure the public that the air was safe to breathe a week after the World Trade Center collapse. --MSNBC
The agency's initial statements in the days following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks were not supported by proper air quality monitoring data and analysis, EPA's inspector general, Nikki L. Tinsley, says in a 155-page report released late Thursday.
"Competing considerations, such as national security concerns and the desire to reopen Wall Street, also played a role in EPA's air quality statements," the report said. --CBS News
There is no evidence that airborne asbestos in the World Trade Center area posed a long-term health risk, but no study of the effects on the general public has actually been completed. A Mount Sinai study of rescue and recovery workers found that 78 percent had suffered lung ailments. The report notes that the agency's official position was that the levels of asbestos in outdoor air were safe for healthy adults, but that it lacked evidence about the potential health effects of indoor air and the risks of other contaminants or the effects on more vulnerable New Yorkers, including children and the elderly.
Asked about why people are still suffering ill effects, Horinko (of EPA) said she can understand that rescue workers would still be affected but finds residents’ continued complaints to be “mystifying.”
Even though the the building collapses caused the highest particulate count in the city’s history, the tragic event violated no pollution standards. That’s because the air quality regulations were set up to measure particulate matter loadings over 24-hour periods rather than intense, short-term bursts.
That is cold comfort to many New Yorkers, particularly those still suffering health effects from exposure to the dust.
Some fear that “WTC cough,” sinus problems, headaches and other ailments that Todd and others continue to experience, were worsened by government officials more willing to return the city to normalcy and open the Stock Market than protect public health.
Doctors, too, worry the event could spur a rash of asbestosis, cancer and other long-term diseases in the future.
...even Mayor Rudolph Guiliani appeared to believe the EPA’s statement and went so far as to stand next to then-EPA administrator Christie Whitman and announce that the air was safe.
“When you have someone of the caliber of Mayor Guiliani saying it, they took that as gospel,” says Forras. --MSNBC
And then AGAIN regarding the aftermath of Katrina... (Sierra Club report)
A similar phenomenon of private tests finding contamination not disclosed by EPA has occurred in the Katrina disaster. While comparable EPA and private data usually have been consistent, private tests have highlighted shortfalls in the location and parameters of EPA testing. In early October 2005, the Louisiana Environmental Action Network and others released the results of sediment sampling supervised by chemist Dr. Wilma Subra, which found elevated levels of arsenic and a toxic petroleum constituent, benzo(a)pyrene. Dr. Subra warned, "Babies shouldn't go in, pregnant women shouldn't go in, elderly shouldn't go in." A round of tests by the Louisiana Bucket Brigade found benzo(a)pyrene at 33 times higher than EPA residential standard at a school in the New Orleans suburb of Chalmett. EPA's spokesman would not comment on that testing, but an EPA scientist said that the eight soil samples that EPA had taken at another Chalmett school "came back clean." The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) also did sediment testing in the New Orleans area. In late 2005, the Sierra Club released test data from Dr. Subra on high levels of dioxin and chromium in sediment samples near the DuPont plant in DeLisle, Mississippi. Importantly, Dr. Subra's testing also found that the dry sludge contained harmful bacteria that were still viable, raising concerns about the health risks of dust inhalation. EPA had not released any test results for bacteria in dry sludge.
...even Mayor Rudolph Guiliani appeared to believe the EPA’s statement and went so far as to stand next to then-EPA administrator Christie Whitman and announce that the air was safe.
“When you have someone of the caliber of Mayor Guiliani saying it, they took that as gospel,” says Forras. --MSNBC
And then AGAIN regarding the aftermath of Katrina... (Sierra Club report)
A similar phenomenon of private tests finding contamination not disclosed by EPA has occurred in the Katrina disaster. While comparable EPA and private data usually have been consistent, private tests have highlighted shortfalls in the location and parameters of EPA testing. In early October 2005, the Louisiana Environmental Action Network and others released the results of sediment sampling supervised by chemist Dr. Wilma Subra, which found elevated levels of arsenic and a toxic petroleum constituent, benzo(a)pyrene. Dr. Subra warned, "Babies shouldn't go in, pregnant women shouldn't go in, elderly shouldn't go in." A round of tests by the Louisiana Bucket Brigade found benzo(a)pyrene at 33 times higher than EPA residential standard at a school in the New Orleans suburb of Chalmett. EPA's spokesman would not comment on that testing, but an EPA scientist said that the eight soil samples that EPA had taken at another Chalmett school "came back clean." The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) also did sediment testing in the New Orleans area. In late 2005, the Sierra Club released test data from Dr. Subra on high levels of dioxin and chromium in sediment samples near the DuPont plant in DeLisle, Mississippi. Importantly, Dr. Subra's testing also found that the dry sludge contained harmful bacteria that were still viable, raising concerns about the health risks of dust inhalation. EPA had not released any test results for bacteria in dry sludge.
Premature assurances that everything's safe...
Insufficient air quality information...
Government officials publicly giving the a-ok...
People getting sick though officials are "mystified"...
Discrepancies in toxicity results...
Does any of this sound alarmingly familiar?
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