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S. HRG. 110–197 

LONG-TERM HEALTH IMPACTS FROM SEPTEMBER 

11: A REVIEW OF TREATMENT, DIAGNOSIS, 

AND MONITORING EFFORTS 

HEARING 

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, EDUCATION, 

LABOR, AND PENSIONS 

UNITED STATES SENATE 

ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS 

FIRST SESSION 

ON

EXAMINING A REVIEW OF TREATMENT, DIAGNOSIS, AND MONITORING 

EFFORTS, FOCUSING ON THE LONG-TERM HEALTH IMPACTS FROM 

SEPTEMBER 11 

MARCH 21, 2007 

Printed for the use of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

( 

Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/congress/senate 

COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, EDUCATION, LABOR, AND PENSIONS 

EDWARD M. KENNEDY, Massachusetts, Chairman 

CHRISTOPHER J. DODD, Connecticut 

TOM HARKIN, Iowa 

BARBARA A. MIKULSKI, Maryland 

JEFF BINGAMAN, New Mexico 

PATTY MURRAY, Washington 

JACK REED, Rhode Island 

HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON, New York 

BARACK OBAMA, Illinois 

BERNARD SANDERS (I), Vermont 

SHERROD BROWN, Ohio 

MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming, 

JUDD GREGG, New Hampshire 

LAMAR ALEXANDER, Tennessee 

RICHARD BURR, North Carolina 

JOHNNY ISAKSON, Georgia 

LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska 

ORRIN G. HATCH, Utah 

PAT ROBERTS, Kansas 

WAYNE ALLARD, Colorado 

TOM COBURN, M.D., Oklahoma 

J. MICHAEL MYERS, Staff Director and Chief Counsel 

KATHERINE BRUNETT MCGUIRE, Minority Staff Director 

(II) 

C O N T E N T S 

STATEMENTS 

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 21, 2007 

Page 

Kennedy, Hon. Edward M., Chairman, Committee on Health, Education, 

Labor, and Pensions, opening statement ........................................................... 1 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 2 

Enzi, Hon. Michael B., a U.S. Senator from the State of Wyoming, opening 

statement .............................................................................................................. 3 

Clinton, Hon. Hillary Rodham, a U.S. Senator from the State of New York ..... 5 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 6 

Schumer, Hon. Charles E., a U.S. Senator from the State of New York ............ 9 

Bloomberg, Hon. Michael R., Mayor, New York, NY; accompanied by Ed 

Skyler, Deputy Mayor, New York, NY ............................................................... 11 

Coburn, M.D., Hon. Tom, a U.S. Senator from the State of Oklahoma .............. 20 

Brown, Hon. Sherrod, a U.S. Senator from the State of Ohio ............................. 22 

Nadler, Hon. Jerry, a U.S. Representative from the State of New York ............ 24 

Herbert, Robin, M.D., Co-Director, The World Trade Center Worker and 

Volunteer Medical Screening Program, New York, NY .................................... 26 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 30 

Kelly, Kerry, M.D., Chief Medical Officer, New York Fire Department, New 

York, NY ............................................................................................................... 34 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 37 

Reibman, Joan, M.D., Director, Bellevue Hospital World Trade Center Environmental Health Center, New York, NY .......................................................... 64 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 67 

Melius, James, M.D., Ph.D., Chair, Advisory Board of the World Trade Center 

Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program, Albany, NY .............................. 70 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 72 

Stellman, Jeanne Mager, Ph.D., Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia 

University, New York, NY ................................................................................... 76 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 78 

Endean, Jeffrey L., Ph.D., Ground Zero Volunteer and Former Division Commander, Morris County New Jersey Sheriff ’s Office, Succasunna, NJ ........... 81 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 83 

(III) 

Page

IV 

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL 

Statements, articles, publications, letters, etc.: 

Alison S. Geyh, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Environmental Health Engineering, John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHSPH) ...... 94 

Eli J. Kleinman, M.D., Assistant Professor of Medicine and Attending 

Hematologist, Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Attending Physician of Mt. Sinai, New York City, NY ......................................................... 97 

Unions, Organizations, and Workers Supplemental Materials .................... 101 

Resident Supplemental Materials ................................................................... 134 

Mt. Sinai Supplement Material ....................................................................... 161 

Response by Robin Herbert, M.D. to questions of: 

Senator Kennedy ....................................................................................... 162 

Senator Enzi .............................................................................................. 163 

Senator Clinton ......................................................................................... 166 

Response by James Melius, M.D., Ph.D. to questions of: 

Senator Kennedy ....................................................................................... 167 

Senator Enzi .............................................................................................. 168 

Senator Clinton ......................................................................................... 170 

Questions of Senators Kennedy, Enzi, and Clinton to Hon. Michael R. 

Bloomberg ...................................................................................................... 171 

Questions of Senators Enzi and Clinton to Kerry Kelly, M.D. ..................... 172 

Questions of Senator Enzi to Joan Reibman, M.D. and Jeanne Stellman, 

Ph.D. .............................................................................................................. 173 

(1) 

LONG-TERM HEALTH IMPACTS FROM 

SEPTEMBER 11: A REVIEW OF TREATMENT, 

DIAGNOSIS, AND MONITORING EFFORTS 

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 21, 2007 

U.S. SENATE, 

COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, EDUCATION, LABOR, AND PENSIONS, 

Washington, DC. 

The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:05 a.m. in Room 

SH–216, Hart Senate Office Building, Hon. Edward Kennedy, 

chairman of the committee, presiding. 

Present: Senators Kennedy, Clinton, Brown, Enzi, and Coburn. 

Also present: Senator Schumer 

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR KENNEDY

The CHAIRMAN. We’ll come to order, if we would, please. We’ll 

come to order and thank all of our members here. I’m particularly 

appreciative of Senator Enzi, who is our Ranking Member here this 

morning and Senator Clinton, who has been the—as with Senator 

Schumer, tireless advocates for those that have been lost and those 

that have suffered under the egregious assaults and attack on New 

York and we’re incredibly appreciative and grateful for the presence of the Mayor, who will be presented by our friend and colleague, Senator Schumer, in just a moment. 

I commend the Ranking Member, my colleague and friend, Senator Enzi, for his contributions to this hearing. I also commend my 

colleague, Senator Clinton, for her commitment to seeing that this 

hearing would happen and I welcome our colleague, Senator Schumer, who will introduce the Mayor of New York in just a moment. 

We’re here today to consider the impacts of the events of 9/11 on 

the lives and health of the brave men and women who responded 

to the call for help that day as the heroes of 9/11: the police officers, the emergency medical technicians, the construction workers, 

the firefighters, the sanitation workers and numerous other professions. They were our clean up and our recovery effort, working at 

Ground Zero, at the Fresh Kills Landfill on Staten Island, month 

after month after month in the wake of 9/11. They are the school 

children who returned to their classrooms and the residents who 

returned to their apartments in Lower Manhattan in the days and 

weeks after the collapse of the towers. They are the New Yorkers, 

struggling to reclaim their lives after that horrendous attack. 

These rescue, recovery and clean-up workers were exposed to multiple toxins and pollutants from PCBs and dioxins to pulverized 

concrete and highly metallic, microscopic shards of glass. 

2 

They inhaled these substances into their lungs and ingested 

them into their gastrointestinal systems. Hundreds of thousands of 

them have developed illnesses as a result. Healthy young fathers 

and mothers found they could no longer play with their children. 

They developed the distinct dry World Trade Center cough, chronic 

nasal congestions and rashes. Some found lumps in their chests 

and were forced to retire permanently. 

Today, we’ll hear from experts who led the efforts to build a realistic health infrastructure for this unprecedented emergency. So I 

welcome our panelists who join us from the State of New York. 

Mayor Bloomberg recently completed a detailed report on the steps 

the city and Federal Government should take to deal with the continuing health threats of 9/11 and we want to welcome Mayor 

Bloomberg. First I’ll ask Senator Enzi if he’d be good enough to say 

a word. 

[The prepared statement of Senator Kennedy follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF SENATOR KENNEDY

I commend the Ranking Member and my colleague and friend, 

Senator Enzi, for his contributions to this hearing. I also commend 

my colleague, Senator Clinton, for her commitment to seeing that 

this hearing would happen. And I welcome our colleague, Senator 

Schumer, who will introduce the Mayor of New York City today. 

We’re here today to consider the impact of the events of 9/11 on 

the lives and health of the brave men and women who responded 

to the call for help that day as the heroes of 9/11—the police officers, the emergency medical technicians, the construction workers, 

the firefighters, the sanitation workers, and numerous other professions. They were our cleanup and recovery effort, working at 

Ground Zero, at the Fresh Kills Landfill on Staten Island, month 

after month in the wake of 9/11. They are the school children who 

returned to their classrooms and the residents who returned to 

their apartments in Lower Manhattan in the days and weeks after 

the collapse of the towers—New Yorkers, struggling to reclaim 

their lives after that horrendous attack. 

These rescue, recovery and cleanup workers were exposed to 

multiple toxins and pollutants, from PCBs and dioxins to pulverized concrete and highly metallic microscopic shards of glass. They 

inhaled these substances into their lungs and gastrointestinal systems. 

Hundreds of thousands of them have developed illnesses as a result. Healthy young fathers and mothers found they could no 

longer play with their children. They developed the distinct dry 

World Trade Center cough, chronic nasal congestion and rashes. 

Some found lumps in their chests and were forced to retire permanently. 

Today, we’ll hear from experts who led the effort to build a realistic health infrastructure for this unprecedented emergency. I welcome our panelists, who join us from the State of New York. Mayor 

Bloomberg recently completed a detailed report on the steps that 

the city and the Federal Government should take to deal with the 

continuing health threats of 9/11. Welcome, Mayor Bloomberg. 

Also here today are the distinguished leaders at various centers 

of medical excellence in 9/11 health. Dr. Robin Herbert joins us 

3 

from Mount Sinai Medical Center, which has been at the forefront 

of treating first responders and workers, over 60 percent of whom 

can’t even pay for their healthcare. Dr. Reibman comes to us from 

Bellevue Hospital, which continues to provide services for anyone 

who may have been exposed to dust and toxins from 9/11. The New 

York City Fire Department has also had a major role in demonstrating a clear link between recovery and clean-up work and illness, and Dr. Kerry Kelly joins us on its behalf. 

Dr. Melius, from the World Trade Center Medical Monitoring 

and Treatment Program, can speak to the lack of health care coverage available for responders. 

Finally, Mr. Jeff Endean, from New Jersey, will share with us 

his own personal experience both during and following the September 11 attack, with the New York Authority Police Department. 

The Nation is still healing from the wounds of that day. It has 

touched every State in the Union, often physically because of the 

tens of thousands of volunteers who spent weeks or months on the 

cleanup and recovery efforts at Ground Zero-related areas. Hundreds of volunteers and responders from Massachusetts bravely 

contributed to that effort, and every one of my colleagues has constituents from their own State who have enrolled in the World 

Trade Center Health Registry. 

Congress has begun to fund these efforts, but more has to be 

done. We need to provide support for the necessary diagnosis, monitoring and treatment of the long-term health impacts of 9/11. Senator Clinton’s and Senator Schumer’s bill would authorize $1.9 billion in Federal funds to address these health issues, and I urge my 

colleagues to support it. 

As we will hear from our witnesses, the health impacts of 9/11 

continue to be tragic. But the data we obtain through monitoring, 

diagnosis and treatment will advance our knowledge in epidemiology and improve all aspects of our health care. I urge my colleagues to consider this testimony with open hearts and open 

minds. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR ENZI

Senator ENZI. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate you holding this hearing today. I thank Senator Clinton for her tireless effort which has resulted in numerous people traveling to New York 

City to look at the situation, talk to people, and get a better understanding of what’s happening and what should happen. 

On September 11, 2001, we all watched in horror at the destruction of the World Trade Center. We saw the worst of humanity that 

horrible day and in the hours and days and months that followed 

the attack. We also saw the depth of compassion, particularly of 

the people of New York but also of those from across America, 

showing compassion to each other. I was deeply moved by the courage and character of the emergency responders, recovery workers 

and volunteers from New York and around the country. 

When Americans cried out for help, those heroes did not pause 

to ask if it would be safe. They rushed to their neighbors and many 

paid a terrible price, some forfeiting their own health. We will consider the long-term health problems of these brave citizens from all 

over the country and particularly New York who answered the call. 

4 

As many will remember, the destruction of the World Trade Center created a huge toxic dust cloud. That cloud consisted of pulverized sheetrock, metals, plastics as well as many other toxic materials. Emergency responders and recovery workers breathed in the 

dust as they searched for survivors and cleaned up the destruction. 

In addition, many people living or working in Lower Manhattan 

also were exposed to that dust and on the day that the Senate went 

up to New York to take a look immediately after what happened, 

several of us were in this room holding a hearing to try and keep 

the stock market afloat. Fortunately those people were doing a tremendous job and it did save the stock market. But the next week 

I went up to New York and while my wife and I were looking at 

Ground Zero, it looked like the people on top of the heap of rubble 

were about an inch tall. But while we were watching, they hit one 

of those pockets of yellow gas. I have no idea what kind of gas it 

was. I’m sure they had no idea what kind of gas it was—a scary 

situation. 

Now, some people exposed to the dust have developed pulmonary 

illnesses with asthma-like symptoms, sinus problems and painful 

heartburn. For example, the Fire Department of New York currently provides treatment to a thousand firefighters for 9/11-related 

pulmonary conditions. 

I’m committed to working with Senator Clinton, Chairman Kennedy, Mayor Bloomberg and others to craft the best long-term solution for the health care of these 9/11 heroes. Our work is already 

underway. 

When I was chairman, I instructed my staff along with the staff 

from the offices of Senators Clinton, Kennedy, Coburn, Murray, 

Voinovich, and Schumer to visit New York City last October to 

begin gathering facts from the Fire Department, many other city 

departments, the Red Cross, Bellevue Hospital, Mount Sinai Hospital, New York citizens and others. We subsequently sought guidance from labor groups and technical experts. I expect this collaboration to continue across the aisle and among all key stakeholders. 

A good solution must rest solidly on the facts. 

I salute Mayor Bloomberg’s World Trade Center Health Panel, 

which has made significant progress in compiling the facts related 

to the health effects of 9/11. It’s a good starting point but more 

work still needs to be done. First we need to learn even more about 

the affected population and about the health effects of long-term 

exposure to the toxic 9/11 dust, including illnesses that may materialize later. I’m interested in hearing from our scientific expert 

witnesses regarding which illnesses are likely to affect which people, now and in the future. 

Second, we also need to make sure our efforts dovetail with Federal, State, city, employer, union and other benefit programs already in place. Several of our witnesses today will discuss how 

workers’ compensation, health insurance, disability and related 

benefit programs have served or failed to serve 9/11 victims. We 

should leverage any well-crafted benefit delivery system already in 

place. It would be foolish not to harness all available resources. 

Finally, Mr. Chairman, we must review the facts of the funding 

requested here. Our witnesses will describe a complex healthcare 

challenge with a lot of moving parts. Let’s not put the cart before 

5 

the horse. I understand there are immediate short-term needs and 

we’ll certainly discuss that. But to find a responsible long-term solution, we’ll need to work together to assess long-term needs. We 

owe our heroes of 9/11 a long-term, fiscally responsible solution. 

Again, I thank you, Senator Kennedy and Senator Clinton, for 

your cooperation and willingness to delve into the facts of this situation. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much. If Senator Clinton would 

say a word. 

STATEMENT OF SENATOR CLINTON

Senator CLINTON. Thank you very much, Chairman Kennedy and 

Senator Enzi. I appreciate greatly both of you convening this hearing. Senator Enzi started this work when he was chairman of this 

committee back in the fall and I’m very grateful to him. He and 

his staff have approached this with seriousness, a purpose, an open 

mind and a commitment and thank you very much and to your 

staff as well, Senator Enzi. 

And of course, Chairman Kennedy, there isn’t anybody in the 

Congress, probably in the country that has done more to help people who are in need than he has and I’m confident with his leadership, we will make progress on these problems we will explore 

today at this hearing. 

I also want to recognize and thank my colleague and friend, Congressman Jerry Nadler who represents Lower Manhattan. Congressman Nadler has been a very vigorous and sometimes lonely 

voice, talking about the long-term implications of what people experienced because of the horrific attacks of 9/11. 

I’d like to thank Mayor Bloomberg, who has taken on this issue 

with a great deal of concern and put his staff on it and convened 

experts. This report that the Mayor has issued addressing the 

health impacts of 9/11 is a great roadmap, both leading us from 

what the problems are to some potential solutions. 

We’re going to hear from a range of witnesses. I’ll have more to 

say about them as they testify today but each of them comes with 

experience and expertise that will be very beneficial to us as we try 

to craft a solution. 

And finally, Mr. Chairman, I’d like to recognize the people who 

are suffering health problems and those who represent them. We 

have a tremendous team here from New York. Obviously the people 

who are on the front lines suffering are the ones who are the most 

compelling because of what they’ve gone through, people such as 

Stephen Hess, an emergency medical technician who used to easily 

be able to bench press 250 pounds but now has trouble lifting his 

grandson; Marvin Bethea, a paramedic who managed not only to 

escape being buried in a pile of debris but continued to work, day 

after day, until 2004 when he could no longer, who has suffered 

both respiratory and mental health effects and a stroke that is attributed to the stresses he experienced; Craig Hall, who lives in 

Downtown Manhattan with his family. When he and his family returned to their apartment after 9/11, they began experiencing eye 

irritation, nosebleeds, persistent coughs, sinus problems, allergies 

and reduced lung capacities. The concerns he has for the future 

6 

health of his children and the ailments that he and his neighbors 

are suffering brings him here today. 

We also have some of the Union officials who have been fighting 

for more assistance and without them and their leadership and 

also as Senator Enzi pointed out, without a lot of the union pension 

funds and health benefit funding available, a lot of the people we’re 

worried about would have had no care whatsoever. I want to recognize Dennis Hughes, the President of the New York State AFL/ 

CIO; Steven Cassidy, President of the New York City Uniformed 

Firefighters Association; Ed Malloy, President of the Building and 

Construction Trades, Dick Iannuzzi, President of the New York 

State United Teachers and representatives from the Uniformed 

Fire Officers Association, Ask Me, the Police Unions and others. 

Now we will have in this audience, people—every one of whom 

could testify. Obviously that is not possible but they are here to 

bear witness and when they have a chance to speak to the press 

or in other forums that we’ve held in New York, their testimony 

is riveting, compelling and heartbreaking. People, like retired Detective Mike Valentine, who was caught in the dust and debris and 

when he came out from the collapse of the towers, began experiencing severe health effects. In July 2005, doctors discovered not 

only the 9/11-related asthma but a tumor in his chest, a second 

tumor in his gall bladder, changes to his lungs that are often a precursor of mesothelioma, all of which his doctors believe are linked 

to his exposures and we cannot forget those who have already died. 

Individuals like Detective James Zadroga, whose death at age 34 

was directly caused by his exposure to toxic fumes and dust at 

Ground Zero. 

So Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member Enzi, there are thousands of stories because there are tens of thousands of people who 

have been affected—the first responders, the other workers, the 

volunteers, the residents and we are determined to do whatever we 

can, both in the short term, to make sure that the Fire Department 

and Mount Sinai have the funding they need to continue the treatment they have started and then the longer term, to give us a program that we can say fully meets the needs of those who are suffering. 

So Mr. Chairman, I’ll ask unanimous consent to put my whole 

statement in the record, but I appreciate very much your holding 

this hearing. 

[The prepared statement of Senator Clinton follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF SENATOR CLINTON

Thank you, Senator Kennedy and Senator Enzi, for convening 

this hearing and your commitment to working with me to address 

these issues. 

I’d like to thank all of the witnesses who have agreed to testify 

before us today—Mayor Michael Bloomberg, whose recently released report—titled ‘‘Addressing the Health Impacts of 9/11’’—provides us with important recommendations for future action; 

Doctors Robin Herbert, Kerry Kelly, and Joan Reibman representing the Centers of Excellence which are helping so many to 

access critically important specialized healthcare; 

7 

Dr. Jim Melius has helped create the mechanisms at the Mt. 

Sinai Consortium that provide care across the country; 

Dr. Jeanne Mager Stellman served on the EPA’s World Trade 

Center Expert Technical Review Panel and is here to provide a 

broad overview of the environmental health impacts of the 9/11; 

And Jeffrey Endean, a volunteer at Ground Zero who bravely responded in our Nation’s hour of need, and is now gravely ill from 

the toxic substances released on that day. 

I’d like to recognize all of the people suffering health problems 

who have traveled here to attend this hearing to represent all 

those still affected by 9/11. 

People such as Steven Hess, an emergency medical technician 

who used to easily be able to bench press 250 pounds, but now has 

trouble lifting his grandson. 

Marvin Bethea, a paramedic who managed not only to escape 

being buried in a pile of debris, but who continued to work after 

that day until 2004 when he could no longer, and who has suffered 

not only respiratory and mental health effects, but a stroke attributed to the stress of 9/11, 

And Craig Hall, who lives in Downtown Manhattan with his family. When he and his family returned to their apartment after 9/ 

11, they began experiencing health problems that include eye irritation, nose bleeds, persistent cough, sinus problems, allergies, and 

reduced lung capacity. The concern he has for the future health of 

his children and the ailments he sees in his neighbors is what 

brought him here today. 

We also have with us here today union officials who have been 

fighting for more assistance on behalf of their members. Including 

Steve Cassidy, President of the NYC Uniformed Firefighters Association, Denis Hughes, President of the NYS AFL–CIO, Ed Malloy, 

President of the Building and Construction Trades Council, Dick 

Ianuzzi, President of the NYS United Teachers, and representatives from the NYC Uniformed Fire Officers Association, AFSCME, 

and several other unions. 

We also have residents, office workers and students in our audience who have been continually speaking up to make sure they are 

not forgotten—these populations of people who live, work and go to 

school near the Ground Zero area currently have no Federal monitoring program available to them. We must fix this. 

And I’d like to note that there are many, many more individuals 

who are too sick to join us today. 

Individuals like retired Detective Mike Valentin, who was caught 

in the dust and debris released when the towers collapse. Like 

many others, Detective Valentin experienced severe health effects. 

In July 2005, in addition to his 9/11-related asthma, doctors discovered a tumor in his chest, a second tumor in his gall bladder, and 

changes to his lungs that are often a precursor of mesothelioma, all 

of which they believe are linked to his exposures on 9/11. 

And individuals like Detective James Zadroga, whose death at 

age 34 was directly caused by his exposure to toxic fumes and dust 

at Ground Zero. 

His death was the first that was linked to these exposures, and 

it will not be the last, particularly if we do not establish a mechanism to provide long-term screening, monitoring and treatment for 

8 

the residents, workers, volunteers, first responders and others who 

have faced health consequences in the aftermath of the September 

11 terrorist attacks. 

All New Yorkers—indeed, people all over the world—have seen 

the images replayed countless times: the residents, workers, and 

first-responders emerging from the destruction and the wall of debris that blanketed Manhattan and beyond. I visited the site in the 

days that followed the attacks. I saw for myself the acrid smoke 

that filled the air as the fires continued to burn in Lower Manhattan and men and women toiled day in and day out in the ongoing 

rescue and recovery. You could smell the toxins that filled the air. 

We have a duty to serve those who served us, to serve the victims, the heroes that participated in the greatest rescue mission in 

history, workers, volunteers, residents, students, and others. 

It has been 51⁄2 years since those attacks—51⁄2 years since the 

World Trade Center collapsed, stealing nearly 3,000 lives and darkening the skies with a toxic cloud of dust, debris, and chemicals— 

the full composition of which is still unknown. 

Within days after 9/11, after visiting the site, we knew the air 

was not fit to breathe despite the assurances of the EPA that the 

air was safe. 

Within 2 months of the attacks, 300 firefighters were on medical 

leave, suffering with lung ailments. 

As the research of some of our witnesses has shown, this was 

just the first sign of the persistent lung problems experienced by 

many firefighters and others. We learned that exposed firefighters 

on average experienced a decline in lung function equivalent to 

that which would be produced by 12 years of aging. 

Within 2 years of the attacks, we had secured funding, with the 

support of many on this committee, to engage in health tracking 

of the police, firefighters, trade and construction workers, volunteers, and others who worked on the rescue and recovery efforts at 

Ground Zero and Fresh Kills, the site on Staten Island where debris was sorted and examined for evidence. 

And, as Dr. Herbert will discuss today, the results of that tracking effort are astonishing—with thousands of responders reporting 

persistent respiratory, gastrointestinal, and mental health effects. 

Based upon the evidence produced by researchers, including those before us today, we managed to secure more than $50 million 

for treatment efforts, starting in October 2006—and yet, because of 

the extreme need, this funding is expected to run out before the 

end of this year. 

Federal funds secured thus far must only be a down payment in 

repaying our debt to those who came to us in our hour of need. 

This must be a priority in our budget—and the rhetoric of the Bush 

administration must be matched with results. 

The $25 million requested by the Administration in fiscal year 

2008 is no match for the need, and today, we will hear from those 

who are facing that need every day, and who have documented the 

clear impact that 9/11 continues to have on the health of far too 

many individuals. 

9/11 is not over. The loss of life, the pain, and the suffering are 

not over. The tragic legacy continues for the families who lost loved 

ones and for residents, workers, volunteers, first responders and 

9 

others who have faced hardship and health consequences in the 

aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks. 

There can be no excuses for not funding these efforts. The families who have been affected are not helped by excuses and the first 

responders who rushed to Ground Zero did not offer excuses. We 

have a duty, and I look forward to working with my colleagues on 

this committee to help fulfill that duty. 

Thank you. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, thank you very much. Now we’ll hear 

from Senator Schumer, who will present the Mayor. Mr. Mayor, if 

he doesn’t give you a good introduction, I will. We thank Senator 

Schumer. He and Senator Clinton have been tireless as we know, 

in terms of pursuing these health challenges and we’re grateful for 

his presence. 

STATEMENT OF SENATOR SCHUMER

Senator SCHUMER. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman and thank 

you for your leadership on this and so many other issues. I think 

it is very heartening to know that the HELP Committee is in such 

good hands. This issue is so important and we know that you will 

pursue this issue with your usual diligence and effectiveness. 

I’d also like to thank Ranking Member Enzi for being here and 

for him working so well, both when he was chairman and now as 

Ranking Member in a bipartisan way to solve these issues. The fact 

that we have such a good leadership team on this committee, which 

has jurisdiction over much of this issue, I think, gives heart to all 

of us in New York but particularly those who are going to need the 

help. 

Last but certainly not least, of course, is my friend and partner, 

Senator Clinton, who has taken such a huge leadership role on this 

issue from the very beginning, recognizing the real problems that 

would be faced, even long before they were apparent. Now they are 

apparent but back then, in the early days, after 9/11, they weren’t 

and she was indomitable in bringing this issue forward. 

Also to my colleagues from New York, Congressman Nadler—all 

the leaders from the civic world, from the unions, from everywhere 

else who worked so hard to bring this issue to where we are today. 

Thank you because it has been a long and hard struggle. 

Mr. Chairman, at long last and now with a brand new Senate, 

we are here today to shine light on the dark health effects that 

have occurred as a result of the collapse of the World Trade Center. 

We all know how many we lost that day, our friends, our relatives, 

our colleagues. Not a day goes by where we don’t feel their loss. 

The dirty little secret, however, is that the destruction didn’t end 

on September 11. 

The destruction continues in the bodies of many of those heroes 

who rushed to help and now we have to do something about it. 

They are becoming, every day a new person or maybe more, sick 

or debilitated because of the toxins and poisons that were in the 

air around Ground Zero. The number includes many New Yorkers 

who lived and worked downtown shortly after 9/11 when they were 

told it was safe. I guess at the top of the list, we would all say, 

are the thousands of heroes, volunteers without being asked, who 

rushed to the aid of their fellow citizens, who traveled across this 

10 

country in the hours and days following the attack for the sole purpose of aiding the rescue, the recovery efforts, and later, the clean 

up efforts. They didn’t ask questions. They didn’t say, I’m only coming if you give me this kind of help or that kind of immunity or 

this or that. They just rushed there and they were like our soldiers 

in our wars and just as those soldiers are entitled, if they become 

injured in the battle, to healthcare and help, so are these heroes. 

They risked their lives every day after 9/11 on that pile of ruin. 

They were first looking for life and then they were helping clean 

up a city and a country. They did so without being asked because 

our city and our country needed them and now they fear that this 

country will turn its back on them. 

No one knew at the time that they would be putting their lives 

and health at risk in a different way, simply by breathing the air. 

Many of these heroes now face symptoms of an unknown sickness 

and it is well past time we get to the bottom of this. It’s also well 

past time we address putting together a desperately needed Federal infrastructure to help these people. 

One of the good things that happened after 9/11 is the country 

rushed to help the families of those who were lost. We have to do 

the same thing for those who have been injured. That’s the bottom 

line here. It’s plain and simple. We didn’t know the extent of their 

injuries. No one is pointing fingers of blame because a week later, 

we didn’t know how many died but we knew that many died. We 

didn’t know how many would be sick. Now we know. So there is 

no excuse to turn away from it. 

It’s been reported that respiratory issues such as shortness of 

breath and asthma-like symptoms are common but those are not 

the main health issues. Many of these people can’t engage in the 

simplest of tasks—climbing a set of stairs, picking up and holding 

their children without the reminders of their time spent on the 

pile. Shortness of breath, coughing, inability to go forward. 

Many of our police officers and firefighters have missed work or 

can’t even be at work at all anymore due to their illnesses. Our 

country’s bravest and finest have been prevented from doing the 

life’s work that they love due to these illnesses. The illnesses are 

life altering and in some tragic cases, as Senator Clinton mentioned, deadly. We don’t know enough about them. 

So it’s time to address this issue on a Federal level and come up 

with a coordinated Federal response for these heroes who so generously gave of their time and are now suffering and I would add, 

Mr. Chairman, that this is not just a problem that affects New 

Yorkers. It afflicts many Americans across the country. No part of 

the country is immune from this horrible illness. In fact, there 

have been 9/11-related illnesses reported by residents of every single State. This tragic situation deserves our immediate attention 

and a clear perspective. 

That’s my hope for this hearing today, this breakthrough hearing 

that we’re so grateful for. I want to thank the committee for holding the hearing and know that we’re going to fully examine the 

scope of the health problems facing those who were exposed to the 

air surrounding Ground Zero. I look forward to working with my 

colleagues on ensuring that the injured receive the healthcare they 

deserve. It will cost money. It is the Federal Government’s responVerDate Aug 31 2005 16:08 Jul 30, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\DOCS\34458.TXT SLABOR1 PsN: DENISE
11 

sibility. We have a start. When Senator Clinton and I fought for 

the $20 billion, we made sure that included in there was a billion 

dollars to help with the workers and now we have agreement with 

the city and most others that that money should be used to help 

pay for the workers’ illness so we’re not starting from zero. We 

have a good head start but we have to do more. 

Now, Mr. Chairman, I want to introduce somebody who I think 

is just one of the great public servants of our country and one of 

the greatest that our city has had. He’s done a great job on issue 

after issue. Our city is prospering. Our city has recovered. Our city 

is growing under his thoughtful, careful and courageous leadership 

and I want to thank him and his staff for doing so much, addressing the impacts of the document and the impacts of this issue and 

the report addressing the health impacts of 9/11. Coming together 

so that we have a real solution that intertwines Federal, State and 

city needs and programs and working hard to remember that those 

who helped us are not forgotten. 

I know from personal experience, of course, what an outstanding 

Mayor he is. He is my wife’s boss at least for the next few weeks 

and he is a very kind and compassionate boss as well as being a 

very good Mayor. So I thank him for being here and I hope that 

met your high standard, Mr. Chairman, in terms of an introduction 

but it is my honor to—he has a very high standard. All right, we 

should make this guy king. In any case, it is my honor to introduce 

the Mayor of our great city, the city I’ve lived my whole life in, 

New York, Mayor Michael Bloomberg. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. Congressman Nadler, if you’d want 

to join us on the table here, we’d be honored to have you join us. 

Mayor, thank you for taking the time and the effort to be here and 

we’re very, very grateful and we look forward to hearing from you. 

STATEMENT OF HON. MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, MAYOR OF THE 

CITY OF NEW YORK, NY; ACCOMPANIED BY ED SKYLER, DEPUTY MAYOR OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK, NY 

Mr. BLOOMBERG. Well, Chairman Kennedy, thank you, Ranking 

Member Enzi and Senator Clinton and Senator Coburn. Thank 

you, Congressman Nadler, I appreciate you coming. Chuck, I think 

all of what you said my mother would believe but probably nobody 

else. Anyway, thank you for the kind words. 

Senator Enzi, I just wanted to thank you for bringing the committee staff to New York last year for a briefing on this topic. I 

think that was time well spent, at least I hope it was. 

You know, it’s been just over 2,000 days since the terrorist brazenly attacked New York. Two thousand days and yet even now, 

we still don’t know and we can’t know the full extent of the damage 

that we suffered that terrible morning. Tens of thousands of people 

took part in the rescue and recovery effort, including 45,000 workers and volunteers who came from Oklahoma, Wyoming, Massachusetts, and New York and all of the other States. As a matter 

of fact, there is no place in the world that didn’t offer to send help 

and many of them showed up over the months that followed that 

terrible event. 

Many of these workers and other people who lived near the 

World Trade Center now suffer from a range of physical and menVerDate Aug 31 2005 16:08 Jul 30, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00015 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\DOCS\34458.TXT SLABOR1 PsN: DENISE
12 

tal health problems and there is no telling what other illnesses 

may potentially develop in the future. But there is one thing that 

we do know. 

The Nation must never walk away from these courageous men 

and women who answered the call without hesitation or who lived 

through this terrible ordeal. 

Last September, I convened a panel of city experts who conducted a comprehensive assessment of what we know about who is 

sick and what the treatment options are and what we are doing to 

stay on top of the science so that those who might become sick get 

the first rate care that they deserve. 

By now, each of you certainly has read the copy of the panel’s 

report, which details the latest medical findings and a few points 

I would argue, are especially significant. More than 11,000 firefighters who responded on 9/11 experienced at least one new respiratory symptom within a week of the attacks and more than 

3,000 report that they continue to suffer from conditions, including 

what is known as the World Trade Center cough and reactive airways disease. 

More than 6,500 rescue and recovery workers who were examined in a program at Mount Sinai Medical Center, about 7 out of 

every 10 reported at least one new or worsening respiratory symptom while engaged in response efforts. These symptoms have persisted in fully 59 percent of the workers and there are thousands 

of residents, commercial workers and others who have reported experiencing acute breathing problems, worsening asthma, posttraumatic stress disorder and other mental illnesses that require 

sustained treatment. 

The panel report contains 15 recommendations to address the 

substantial health impacts of 9/11 but two major challenges have 

become clear. Securing the sufficient long-term funding for our 

9/11 monitoring, treatment and research programs and two, compensating all the victims of this tragedy fairly and quickly. The 

Federal Government support must play a crucial role in addressing 

both of these issues. 

Let me first talk about funding for our city’s 9/11 health problems. The panel I convened estimated that the gross costs to treat 

those who are sick or could become sick as a result of 9/11 is $393 

million per year. That estimate covers the entire potentially exposed population, including the thousands of rescue workers and 

others who came to New York City from all 50 States. 

Some people will get care from their private healthcare providers. Some will get care from city programs or government programs but the total cost will be roughly, we calculate, $393 million 

a year. 

Over the past 5 years, the sick and injured have been able to get 

help at three Centers of Excellence in the diagnosis and treatment 

of World Trade Center-related conditions. They are first a free 

monitoring and treatment program run by the FDNY for firefighters and EMS workers who responded on 9/11 and who took 

part in the rescue and recovery and one of the most interesting 

things about this particular program is, we have good data on the 

firefighters going back in time, so looking to see what has changed, 

13 

the science is science that really will give us information useful for 

the general population. 

A free monitoring and treatment program for other first responders, workers and volunteers at Mount Sinai Medical Center, in 

partnership with approximately 15 affiliates across the country so 

it’s not just in New York City, it is across the country. 

And third, a free evaluation and treatment program at Bellevue 

Hospital, which the city opened last year for anyone with 9/11- 

related symptoms. It’s the only program available to residents and 

other non-responders and is virtually entirely funded by the city. 

Our registry of people who were down there and our ability to 

track what happens to them is really quite unique and we have to 

make sure that we continue it. In addition, despite having never 

received any Federal funding for this purpose, the NYPD has 

screened all 34,000 of its members who worked at the World Trade 

Center site. 

Now all of these programs, along with the World Trade Center 

Health Registry, are producing valuable research, which has resulted in the publication of clinical guidelines for doctors so that we 

can best treat the illnesses we see now and what we may see in 

the future. 

Yet all of these programs, also, could be discontinued unless they 

get sustained Federal support. We estimate that sustaining and expanding these three indispensable programs, providing sufficient 

mental health services, supporting the NYPD and supporting the 

research that is critical to understanding what illnesses may 

emerge in the future, will cost about $150 million a year. So $393 

million is our estimate of the total impact but is by a variety of different sources. This $150 million is monies that we have to put into 

these three particular programs. At the very least, we think the 

Federal Government needs to cover more of these costs so that the 

essential needs can be met. 

The 9/11 Heroes Health Improvement Act, which was introduced 

in January by Senators Kennedy and Clinton, would provide nearly 

$2 billion in monitoring and treatment grants between 2008 and 

2012. We believe this bill needs to be passed and passed quickly. 

Congress can’t turn its back on those who responded with courage 

and suffering through this terrible catastrophe. After all, 9/11 was 

not just a strike against New York or Washington, it was an attack 

against all of America. It was an act of war and our government, 

we think, has a clear responsibility to the casualties of that terrible 

morning. 

Finally, let me turn to the subject of compensation. Persistent efforts were made after the attacks to obtain insurance to cover the 

rescue and recovery operations, however no one was willing to provide it. In 2003, the Federal Government set up a $1 billion World 

Trade Center Captive Insurance Company for the city and some 

150 contracts was to defend against damage claims. The city and 

the contractors who heroically rushed to help are currently defending claims for more than 8,000 city employees and other workers 

arising out of the rescue, recovery and clean-up operations at the 

World Trade Center site. Plaintiffs allege damages that we estimate may be in the billions of dollars and it is really impossible 

14 

to predict how many more lawsuits will be filed against us in the 

future. 

New Yorkers have always been proud of the way that the city 

came together after 9/11 but this drawn-out and divisive litigation 

is undermining that unity. What’s clear is that the process of determining compensation should be removed from the courts and the 

best way, we think, to do that is by re-opening the September 11th 

Victims Compensation Fund. The original fund was administered 

expertly and compassionately by Ken Feinberg and provided a 

measure of relief to victims’ families while avoiding protracted litigation where there are no winners. 

Now we think it is imperative that Congress reopens the fund to 

take care of those who were not eligible to benefit from it before 

it closed in December 2003. The mere fact that their injuries and 

illnesses have been slower to emerge should not disqualify them 

from getting the help that they need. 

It’s also crucial that the Federal Government eliminates the potential liability that the city and its contractors continue to face in 

court. Depending on the mechanism Congress chooses, the $1 billion available to the Captive Insurance Company could then be 

made available for compensation. And although we are open to 

other solutions, if the liability of the city and the contractors is 

eliminated, we could immediately transfer that $1 billion into the 

re-opened Victims Compensation Fund, making it the fund’s first 

major installment. 

Using Federal resources to compensate claims instead of litigating them would mark an important step in healing the rifts that 

have surfaced since 9/11. What’s more, I think it would send a 

clear message that if, God forbid, America suffers another terrorist 

attack, the private sector and our first responders could respond 

with the same sense of urgency and selflessness that we saw on 

9/11, knowing that their government will always stand by them. 

We saw an incredible demonstration of the American spirit in the 

wake of 9/11 and I think it is time we recapture that unity and determine for the sake of those who’ve already sacrificed so much and 

the place to see that demonstrated is right now and right here in 

Congress. Thank you for your time and I would like to invite my 

Deputy Mayor, Ed Skyler, who has co-chaired the 9/11 Health 

Panel with Deputy Mayor Linda Gibbs to join me for any questions 

that you may have. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much, Mayor Bloomberg and 

just to coordinate with the Mayor’s schedule, we have time for one 

round of questions. So we’ll follow that procedure. 

Thank you very much for a very compelling testimony and also 

for the excellent report that you’ve made available to the committee. What I think is enormously impressive is what the city has 

already done and you’ve outlined the different kinds of activities 

and so when you’re talking about sort of the shared responsibility, 

you’re coming at this, as I understand it—maybe you want to 

elaborate on it, that the city has attempted to respond immediately 

and meet these kinds of needs but what you’re talking about—what 

is a national tragedy. We had 188 families in my own State of Massachusetts but I think that loss level—it’s indelibly emblazoned 

15 

into all of our minds and our State, as you mentioned and referenced other States, other countries, what they have lost. 

But this was Ground Zero—the assault on our country and therefore what you’re doing, as I understand it, is reminding us that it 

has been an attack, an assault on our country and our country has 

a responsibility to respond, particularly for individuals who went so 

far and beyond in terms of their personal heroism. We are in a 

world which is so frequently defined as sort of a me-world and an 

I-world and this incredible group of men and women that demonstrated such extraordinary personal courage, demonstrated really what was the sense that I think most of us feel and that is the 

common sense of brotherhood that we all have for each other. 

Could you just elaborate for a moment, on your own kind of 

sense about what this responsibility is, this shared responsibility, 

speaking as the leader of New York, how the people in that city 

feel about this shared responsibility? 

Mr. BLOOMBERG. Well, we’ve always felt that first and foremost, 

the city has to respond and take care of itself and then try to find 

ways to pay for it later. So we spared no expense, for example, in 

making sure that we do everything we can to prevent another terrorist attack. We have 1,000 police officers devoted to intelligence 

and counterterrorism. We have the equipment that we think we 

need, whether it’s radios or a fire apparatus. We first do that and 

then we worry about how to pay for it in terms of taking care of 

our citizens. We have public hospitals that are ranked among the 

best in the country. They are paid for by the city and everybody 

gets treatment, whether they can afford to or not. We have these 

three programs, which I outlined, which are terribly important, not 

just to take care of those who are sick today but to give us the information we need so that we can treat people down the road. 

But the fact of the matter is, somebody also has to pay for it and 

while you can never equate lives with cost, you have to view things 

in a practical point of view when it comes to who is going to write 

the checks and this is a cost that we think that the country should 

help us with. We’ve done our part. We are proud of everything that 

New Yorkers have done but, the truth of the matter is, there are 

very significant costs that will continue for the foreseeable future 

and if what happens is we go to court on every single issue, the 

lawyers will make a lot of money. People, however, aren’t going to 

get the kind of compassionate and adequate compensation that 

somebody like Ken Feinberg administering a program with his 

knowledge or somebody like him could provide. 

And I think that what we don’t want to do is to leave the city 

with an open-ended liability, nor do we want to leave the contractors with an open liability. There’s 150 different firms that worked 

on the World Trade Center’s clean up and you could put a lot of 

them out of business if the liabilities continue on forever. We don’t 

want, in this country, anybody ever to say, ‘‘Well, maybe we 

shouldn’t go in because we have an obligation to our shareholders 

to protect their assets.’’ We want everybody to rush in and do what 

I think New York City does—try to do what is right first and then 

figure out how to pay for it. 

The CHAIRMAN. Well, I thank you. I welcome your comments 

about that Victims Compensation Fund. It’s really one of the exVerDate Aug 31 2005 16:08 Jul 30, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00019 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 S:\DOCS\34458.TXT SLABOR1 PsN: DENISE
16 

traordinary success stories of our times and I share the admiration 

that you have for Ken Feinberg. I think he just did a masterful job 

and an extraordinarily difficult one. 

Mr. BLOOMBERG. And he comes from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, I would assume. 

The CHAIRMAN. That’s right. Good college boy. Senator Enzi, 

thank you. 

Senator ENZI. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Mayor Bloomberg. 

After reviewing the report, which you briefly outlined here today, 

I can see that it adds up to quite a bit of money, as the only accountant in the Senate, I will be giving you a request to more carefully delineate or more precisely delineate the dollars that you’re 

talking about. 

But can you kind of describe the overall outer limit of the funding request that you’re making? 

Mr. BLOOMBERG. Ed, do you want to address this? Ed really was 

the one that supervised all the pulling together of data and writing 

the report and has been with me since I entered into public service. 

Mr. SKYLER. Thank you, Mayor and thank you for allowing me 

to work on this important issue. 

Senator, the report is on two financial questions. One which the 

Mayor discussed briefly was the gross economic impact of the attacks on the healthcare system and that goes beyond geographic 

borders. For example, that could be a volunteer that came in from 

Ohio that is now living in Ohio or somewhere else that is seeking 

care. We estimate that gross impact to be about $400 million annually. 

Of that impact, there are three programs in New York City that 

we think are vital—that is vitally important to be continued. They 

are the Centers of Excellence at the Fire Department, which treated about 16,000 firefighters. We estimate that that is about a $35 

million annual expense. 

Senator ENZI. You’re getting into the exact delineation of the details, which I would like in writing. 

Mr. SKYLER. Right. 

Senator ENZI. But can you give me kind of the overall number 

of the dollars that you’re requesting? 

Mr. SKYLER. We are requesting $150 million approximately, annually to support the three existing programs. It would also include 

an expansion of the Bellevue Program, which is the only program 

for non-first responders, for non-construction workers. It’s for residents and also covers people without health insurance. It also 

would extend the city’s ability to do World Trade Center health 

monitoring out of the Health Department, which is an enormously 

valuable tool. It’s so far tracking 70,000 people that began after the 

attacks and also would fund about $8 million a year in mental 

health services. Post traumatic stress disorder is one of the ailments that the panel identified quickly as the thing that was very 

widely spread throughout the city and it is a treatment—it is a 

problem that needs a long-term solution as well. 

Senator ENZI. On the mental health services question, since you 

just brought that up, is there a way that you’re going to prioritize 

the funding for those that need it most, under mental health? And 

17 

what evidence-based practices are you going to utilize to provide 

the follow up care? 

Mr. SKYLER. The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene 

would basically be picking up a program that the Red Cross had 

run for several years and successfully, in which case there would 

be a screening to make sure that the ailment that the person is describing is actually linked to the World Trade Center attack. Now, 

of course, that depends on the honesty of those being interviewed 

but it is not meant to be a program that just anybody who is complaining of depression or sleep disorders could apply for. It would 

need to be linked to 9/11. 

Mr. BLOOMBERG. Senator, another way to answer it is, we are 

very mindful that the numbers are large. Given we spend trillions 

of dollars on healthcare a year in this country and don’t seem to 

be able, at any level within the private sector or the public sector, 

of finding ways to stop the growth, which just continues. 

I think what we have here is the $150 million, we clearly can 

give you every single penny, where it would be spent. It has been 

well thought out. These are programs that have been going on for 

a while so we have experience in terms of the value of the service, 

of how many people will take advantage of them. 

The one thing we really can’t know is down the road, whether 

somebody is going to come down with an illness that was the result 

of their work at the World Trade Center but so far has not evidenced itself. And that’s why we have this liability, this insurance 

company. We are worried about down the road, what happens if 10 

and 20 years from now, there continued to be people showing up 

that all of a sudden get sick and the doctors say this is clearly because of 9/11. 

Mr. SKYLER. And Senator, one final point I’d like to add. We are 

not suggesting creating $150 million of new programs. There is a 

certain urgency to the Mayor’s testimony today. We have a program at Mount Sinai that treats 19,000 that went down to the 

World Trade Center site. That program is in jeopardy. We have a 

program that treats 16,000 firefighters, many of whom lost friends 

on 9/11. That program is in jeopardy. We have a program that 

treats those that can’t go anywhere else that live in Lower Manhattan. That program, the city has put up the money but we need Federal help to expand. 

We are not going to create—we are not coming down here to ask 

for new programs. What we’re saying is we have programs that are 

working. We have programs that are treating people that are hurt 

and desperately need your help and assistance to continue those affected programs. 

Mr. BLOOMBERG. I would just add one other point, Senator. 

There is, as has been mentioned, there is a billion dollars that was 

part of the $20 billion that New York was promised by the President that the Congress actually voted on that is now in this fund. 

That purpose, because I negotiated these things with President 

Bush, had two-fold. One was to help compensate those who were 

hurt and the other was to prevent liability from inuring to the city 

or to the contractors who came. And that money has largely been 

untouched. There have been a few lawyer fees but it’s been made 

up for by the interest of the money sitting there and it’s a very imVerDate Aug 31 2005 16:08 Jul 30, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00021 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 S:\DOCS\34458.TXT SLABOR1 PsN: DENISE
18 

portant starting point. We’ll have to figure out how to deal with 

these liability issues and everything else but it’s an important 

starting point and it makes the sum seem a little less or significantly less than it might be and I know that will be entering into 

the deliberations of what we do. 

Senator ENZI. I have several other questions but since my time 

has expired, I’ll submit those in writing and I’ll appreciate answers. Thank you. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much. 

Senator Clinton. 

Senator CLINTON. Thank you very much and thank you so much, 

Mr. Mayor. Thank you very much, Senator Schumer and I also 

want to commend Ed Skyler and Deputy Mayor Gibbs for the job 

that they did on this. We really appreciate it. 

I think it is important to get into the record the extent of this 

problem and how many people are affected. I think it is important 

to note that the city government is trying to track the health of the 

volunteers and when we talk about volunteers, we’re mostly talking about search and rescue teams that were part of the FEMA response as well as those who came independently and then a third 

category of people who came on their own, to New York to help in 

the days following 9/11. 

Mayor Bloomberg or perhaps Mr. Skyler, could you describe the 

city government’s involvement with the World Trade Center registry and how this helps individuals from around the country and 

how many people have we registered, because I think that’s important to note. 

Mr. SKYLER. Right. The World Trade Center registry was set up 

by the New York City Health Department with Federal support in 

2002 and what the World Trade Center Health Registry did was 

outlined geographic borders in New York City of people that we believe are outside New York City, people we believe could have been 

exposed on 9/11. It identified 410,000 people that we believe were 

exposed on that day, including about 45,000 people that live outside New York City and New Jersey. Everybody—out of the 

410,000 people, 71,000 signed up and became part of the registry. 

Those 70,000 people did detailed interviews with Health Department staff and we have a sense now and hard data on their medical history. And now, with funding going into the out years, what 

we will be able to do is track those people over time and track 

them and find out whether they become ill or not become ill. If they 

have become ill, what sort of treatments they have received and to 

see what the long-term trends are. 

One of the issues we keep coming up against is the issue of causation. It is very difficult and I’m not a doctor but I’m assuming 

this panel—it’s very difficult to say any one illness was caused by 

any one event but when you look at gross populations and you see 

treatment rates and certain illnesses at a higher rate than the rest 

of the general population, then you can make conclusions. And that 

was the attempt of what the panels were and tools like the registry 

are enormously valuable to complete that goal. 

Senator CLINTON. Thank you. And it is a valuable tool not only 

for what we’re trying to do with respect to the victims of 9/11 but 

this provides us a scientific base to draw a lot of conclusions about 

19 

environmental exposures and what happens when people are—either through daily exposure or even limited, if their systems respond a certain way—how they then can be affected. 

I think it’s also important to take a look at what we know about 

the long-term health effects. In the aftermath of 9/11, I was fortunate to have a pulmonologist from Bellevue serve as a health aide 

on my staff and he, in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, was assisting with the medical care for first responders and others and was 

conducting x rays on a lot of the lungs of many of those who came 

to Bellevue for immediate relief, emergency intervention, and he 

reported to me that you could actually see the asbestos fibers in 

the lungs. So in addition to the pulverized glass and concrete and 

everything else, we know that there are going to be chronic, longterm health effects and it’s something that is not factored into a 

lot of the numbers that you’re giving us but multiple carcinogens 

including benzene, asbestos, and dioxin, were contained in the dust 

cloud. I don’t think people really perhaps have an understanding 

of what was in those giant towers and the surrounding buildings. 

I mean, the huge oil storage tank that was there, for example. 

There is just so much and it all was evaporated or pulverized. 

The diseases that cause permanent lung damage often take years to develop. So Mayor or Mr. Skyler, does either the $150 million 

estimate or the $3 million estimate take into account these longterm health effects? 

Mr. BLOOMBERG. What we think, Senator, is that it will cost 

roughly $150 million for these three programs in New York going 

forward for the foreseeable future. This is not you breaking an arm, 

we can see the injury, we know how to treat it, we know exactly 

what it is. It is possible for you to smoke a carton of Camel cigarettes every day and drink a fifth of Jack Daniels and live to 125 

but I just wouldn’t suggest doing it because chances are, you will 

not have a healthy, long life. But there is never any one disease 

you can tie in a case like this to one event. You have to look at 

the statistics and the correlations and we don’t have the scientific 

knowledge to know how long it’s going to be when people stop 

showing up saying, ‘‘I had no problems before but all of a sudden, 

I’ve been coughing’’ and the doctor is saying, this is clearly because 

of the work you did down in the recovery effort at 9/11. 

Senator CLINTON. And in addition to the $150 million, I believe 

based on your report that the $393 million also does not take into 

account these long-term health effects such as the diagnosis of cancer or mesothelioma in the future. 

Mr. BLOOMBERG. It does, but the difference between the two 

numbers is the $150 million is what we spend on these three Centers of Excellence in New York and in other States. Remember, 

Mount Sinai has affiliates that are part of the program. The $393 

million sort of addresses Senator Enzi’s question of what is the 

total cost, because if the Senator had worked down there, he might 

very well decide to get treatment in Wyoming and he has his own 

health care plan that takes care of it. So that is sort of an economic 

effect but for us to maintain these three centers, which not only 

treat people—I must reiterate, but give us the science for knowing 

what to do later on for others. That’s the difference between the 

two numbers. 

20 

Mr. SKYLER. Right and it’s an annual cost. 

Senator CLINTON. Yes, right. Thank you very much. 

The CHAIRMAN. Senator Coburn. 

STATEMENT OF SENATOR COBURN

Senator COBURN. Thank you, Senator Kennedy, for having this 

hearing and Senator Bloomberg, it’s good to see you. Thanks for 

your good work. A couple of questions—I did call you Senator instead of Mayor, didn’t I? I don’t know, maybe it pertains to something. 

Of the 150 firms that were down there, were they all insured? 

Mr. BLOOMBERG. They basically have no insurance for this. There is this Captive Insurance Fund of $1 billion set up with Federal monies, which is supposed to provide insurance for both the 

city and for the contractors. 

Senator COBURN. But the contractors had no insurance? 

Mr. BLOOMBERG. Not for this kind of thing. They may have their 

own insurance. 

Senator COBURN. That’s what I mean. 

Mr. BLOOMBERG. We expect that there will be billions of dollars 

of claims if you go through all of the litigation process. The city’s 

liability has been capped in theory, although there are questions as 

to whether or not it really is, to the tune of $350 million but no 

cap on the private contractors. The billion dollar insurance fund 

was set up to provide protection for both the city and the contractors and in order to get monies from the insurance company under 

the law that set it up, you would have to show damage and negligence on the part of the city or the contractors part and we do 

not believe, incidentally, that there was any negligence but regardless, the people still need to get compensated and that’s why we 

would urge putting a Victims Compensation Fund in place, we 

would close the insurance company, move the billion dollars over 

into it. It would be a start at paying off the claims and with Ken 

Feinberg, maybe the claims wouldn’t be much more than a billion 

dollars. Nobody really knows but I think Feinberg showed what 

can be done with somebody that is intelligent and caring and understands and comes up with reasonable solutions and he certainly 

brought down the potential claims back in 2003 to a much lower 

level than they might otherwise have been. 

Senator COBURN. But the true testimony is that the 150 firms 

are without liability coverage of their own and without health insurance coverage of their own for their own employees. 

Mr. BLOOMBERG. I think that they have the coverage for their 

own workers generally. This is others suing them and suing the 

city, arguing that their practices caused damage to other people 

and it may be some of their employees as well. You could really put 

out a business, a whole bunch of very large construction companies 

and if there was another tragedy, how they would respond—I don’t 

think anybody knows and nor do we want to find out. 

Senator COBURN. Okay. I want to correct the record a little bit, 

having worked a lot on the asbestos bill in the Judiciary Committee. Asbestosis is a function of exposure—both the amount and 

time. So if you get a heavy load of asbestos, that’s a problem or if 

you get a light load for a long period of time, that’s a problem. But 

21 

the assumption—nobody knows the answer to those questions and 

that’s why I would support a long-term look at that and following 

it will actually help us in a lot of ways. 

Mr. BLOOMBERG. You know, I might point out that people worked 

down on the pile of rubble for months and so both of your criteria, 

high concentration and a long period of time come into play. 

Senator COBURN. Long-term exposure and we’re not going to 

know that for a period of time. And I don’t doubt that there’s going 

to be a lot of pulmonary problems associated with the large particulate intake that they took. 

Is there a point at which this stops in terms of a Federal obligation? What do you see in terms of long-term? How do we—actually, 

my question really goes to the idea that rather than set up something, why don’t we endow it? Why don’t we endow it rather than 

have a yearly appropriation for this, why don’t we set up an endowed trust to take care of all these problems over the future, 

where we put the money in and it’s earning—much like your billion 

dollar fund that has not been used yet, so that we endow it so that 

we don’t keep coming back? 

Mr. BLOOMBERG. Senator, one of the most difficult things that 

the city has to deal with is going back every year, whether it is to 

the State or to the Federal Government for funds to support a program where we have to make big investments and make long-term 

commitments and if we’re never sure of the funding sources, that 

leaves us with a liability and you see government funding starting 

and stopping programs rather than having a much more efficient 

and useful consistency. 

Senator COBURN. So you would agree that an endowment is a 

good idea? 

Mr. BLOOMBERG. Sure. 

Senator COBURN. As far as the other people that are at your 

other hospitals in the State, do they have access to other insurance 

that would cover the problems that they are being treated for? 

Mr. SKYLER. Some of them do, some of them don’t. One of the 

panels worked to see what we could do to level the playing field 

because depending on what city agency you’re in, depending what 

union you’re in, you have different health benefits available to you. 

And one of the things we noticed early on was that members of the 

uniformed services had certain institutional infrastructure in both 

the health plans and treatment that their agencies had that other 

unions would not have, that civilian unions would not have and 

then if you take outside the city workforce, residents without 

health insurance had absolutely no where to go, which is why we 

started the Bellevue program, which is really the only expansion 

on the treatment side other than mental health, that the report advocates. 

Senator COBURN. Well, I understand those without insurance but 

I’m having trouble. If we have insured populations out there whose 

health is covered with insurance, why would we want to also come 

and pay for that as well through this? 

Mr. SKYLER. We would obviously not want to see any double dipping but what we’ve been seeing is that there are gaps and also 

when you do treatment in one facility, such as the Centers of Excellence that we support extending and continuing, you have the 

22 

benefit—and Drs. Kelly, Clineman and the doctors from Mount 

Sinai who will be here after us can talk about this in greater detail—but you have the benefit of all the medical knowledge based 

on all the monitoring and treatment that is going on at those facilities and you lose that benefit if people are going to see their own 

providers. That’s not to say that the Centers of Excellence solution 

precludes a fee for service solution for people living outside that are 

not on the geographically convenient range or don’t feel like going 

to a Center of Excellence. We need a solution for everybody and a 

long-term solution. But there are gaps in insurance. There are welfare funds that different unions have to pay for prescription drugs 

and it is—everybody has their own situation and we need a longterm solution that can address all of their needs. 

Senator COBURN. Thank you. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much. 

Senator Brown. 

STATEMENT OF SENATOR BROWN

Senator BROWN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mayor, welcome. 

Thank you for joining us. Mr. Skyler, thank you. I want to follow 

up on Senator Clinton’s questions and comments about long-term 

effects, especially of asbestos and benzene and dioxin. It is my understanding that there are 71,000 enrollees in the health registry. 

My State, 195 from Ohio, certainly way more than that number 

of people who volunteered or otherwise worked around the Trade 

Center after the tragedy. Are you satisfied and I don’t know if either of you answered this, that the registry is—that enough people 

knew about the registry, and are signed up, particularly those that 

came from around the country? Whether they were residents in the 

Trade Center site area, the 60,000 or so, I guess, south of Canal 

Street and then people from around the country, did we do enough? 

I know the CDC is a partner in this and probably does pretty decent outreach in conducting the 3-year interviews but, are you satisfied that we’re doing that well enough? 

Mr. BLOOMBERG. Well, Senator, there are people who just say, 

‘‘I’m tougher than any bug’’ and go ahead and live their lives and 

don’t seek preventive treatment, don’t want to find out what’s happening, or if they are coughing as to why. I think what we would 

always urge everybody to do is if you think there is a chance that 

because of your time near or at the World Trade Center site, that 

you might have a problem, see a doctor. You can see a doctor and 

as Senator Coburn said, have your own insurance company pay for 

it. 

You can come to our Centers of Excellence, like at Bellevue. In 

the case of New York City, as Mr. Skyler said, the uniformed services have a lot of their own insurance plans and the agencies themselves do studies, for example, our Fire Department does really exhaustive studies and that’s one of the good baselines that we have 

to note. But the Police Department has looked at all 34,000 people 

who were down there. 

Mr. SKYLER. I would just note that for reasons of analysis and 

to protect the integrity of the information, this Center—the registry 

was advertised heavily throughout 2002 and then the registry was 

closed so that people, although they can seek obviously treatment, 

23 

the treatment that the city offers, they can no longer join the registry because they wanted to look at one pool of people that were 

affected and then track that pool over time. So as I said, there are 

about 400,000 people that qualified. We did exhaustive outreach 

and captured about 71,000 people that we’ll be staying in touch 

with as long as we can support the program. 

Senator BROWN. My understanding from the Mayor’s comments 

is that the uniformed firefighters, particularly a lot of firefighters 

from Ohio and around the country volunteered, but a lot of volunteer firefighters or volunteer departments, aren’t typically insured 

through their townships. Particularly rural, suburban, ex-urban, or 

small town fire departments that are volunteer certainly did come. 

Certainly, many of these volunteers were without health insurance. 

What happens with them? How were they notified of the registry? 

How will they be educated, if you will, the ones who were selected 

for the registry, about coming in every 3 years? Is there any access 

for them to come in and have that—— 

Mr. BLOOMBERG. The registry is really—think of it as a scientific 

study as opposed to something that provides treatment and that’s 

the reason why we don’t want to take any more people into the registry. Seventy-one thousand, the scientists believe, is a big enough 

number to really have useful data and we’ll track that group over 

a long period of time. Those 71,000 and others who have a health 

problem can get treatment so it’s a separate thing. 

Mr. SKYLER. Right and it’s an excellent point because we had 

26,000 volunteers from 50 States that helped and theoretically, a 

volunteer firefighter from Ohio—presumably what is happening is 

he or she is trying to get treatment where they live in Ohio and 

hopefully they have insurance and they’re covered and that person 

may be experiencing gaps in coverage and that is something that 

the $393 million estimate—and it’s an estimate and people come 

with different assumptions—would, we believe, encapsulate but it 

wouldn’t be something that this New York City would be directly 

supporting through the programs we’re recommending outside of 

Mount Sinai for whom does have branches around the country. 

Senator BROWN. Maybe you’re not the right person to direct this 

question to Mr. Skyler, but has CDC done the kind of outreach that 

they generally are very good at, in regard first to the registry and 

second, to healthcare generally? 

Mr. SKYLER. We partnered with a division of CDC, I believe the 

acronym is ATSDR and I apologize, I can’t remember what it 

stands for but we did partner with them. 

Senator BROWN. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. 

Mr. SKYLER. Thank you, Senator. And we did partner with them. 

We have had an effective partnership with them. What we’re anxiously awaiting now is the results of Secretary Levitt’s study from 

which I believe he asked NIOSH to commission. The Mayor put out 

his panel’s report in the middle of February and we’d like to see 

what the Federal recommendations from the executive branch are. 

We’ve met with the Secretary’s staff. The Mayor is going to meet 

with Secretary Levitt later this afternoon. We shared all the data 

we have with them and we’d like to see what solution they are recommending. 

24 

Senator BROWN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much. Congressman Nadler, if 

you want to make a brief comment, we’ve got a good panel coming 

up shortly and I know the Mayor is on his way but we know that 

this is your particular district and we’re very much aware of your 

deep concern. 

STATEMENT OF REPRESENTATIVE JERRY NADLER 

Representative NADLER. Thank you very much, Senator. As the Mayor or Mr. Skyler—he said that the $393 million estimate includes future diagnosis of diseases or I think he said that. 

Mr. BLOOMBERG. It’s an annual estimate of what the total medical costs would be. It would include the $150 million that we’re 

spending. It would include what private insurers may very well be 

paying elsewhere. 

That’s to try to get a way to answer Senator Enzi’s question of 

what’s the cost of this? 

Representative NADLER. Yeah, but what I’m getting at is my impression has been and correct me if I’m wrong, that it does not take 

into account things that we do not know now but that may emerge 

in the future. For example, we know from the Inspector General’s 

report of EPA that there is a lot of buildings that have never been 

properly inspected and cleaned and one can expect that 10 to 15 

years from now, we’ll see a lot of cancers coming out of this and 

it would not include that. Am I correct in that? 

Mr. SKYLER. This is an annual estimate based on the treatment 

rates we’re seeing now. 

Representative NADLER. Okay. 

Mr. SKYLER. It is a non-economic forecast. The number could go 

up. It could go down if situations resolve themselves or if they go 

get treatment and they recover. But it is not a predictive model. 

It is what we are seeing based on the information that we have 

right now. 

Representative NADLER. So it could increase, based on future 

contingencies. 

Mr. SKYLER. It could and if the cancers, which we can’t see now 

but develop over time, do materialize and I don’t know if they will, 

obviously the cost would increase because those are more expensive 

to treat. 

Representative NADLER. Thank you. I have just one other question. In terms of re-opening the Victims Compensation Fund, which 

we certainly ought to do. When the Victims Compensation Fund 

was operated under Mr. Feinberg, and everybody seems agreed 

that he did an excellent job and that it worked very well, people 

were given a choice. 

They could go to the Victims Compensation Fund and give up 

their right to sue in court or they could sue in court but 99-something percent chose to go to the Victims Compensation Fund and 

I don’t know if there were any lawsuits or if there were, there were 

very few. If we were to reopen that, the position that you have stated is that we should bar suits all together. Why wouldn’t it be a 

good idea to do exactly what we did before, tell people if they want 

to go for compensation to the Victims Compensation Fund, they 

give up their right to sue but they retain the right to sue if they 

25 

don’t go there, in the expectation that 99 percent—we have the 

same experience. 

Mr. BLOOMBERG. Well, I think depending on how sure we were 

that the expectation would be repeated, what happened the last 

time. What we’re concerned about is leaving an open-ended liability 

for the 150 contractors and for the city and I think that if Congress 

were to allow us to reopen the fund, move this billion dollars over, 

we really only can do it if we are sure that we and the contractors 

don’t have any further liability. Otherwise, the only thing keeping 

us from bankruptcy is that fund. That’s why the insurance company was set up by the Federal Government and we have a responsibility to make sure it stands there as the protector of those two 

groups, the private contractors and the city, as long as they have 

a liability. So doing hand-in-hand dealing with the liability, and 

making the Compensation Fund available and you could have a 

separate process, I suppose, for a handful of people that chose not 

to. 

I think what Ken showed was that if it is run intelligently, most 

people come to the conclusion that rather than spending a lot of 

fees for lawyers, no offense to the lawyers in the room, there is a 

better way to do it and I’ve always believed that doing something 

efficiently, rationally, expeditiously leads to better results for everybody. 

Representative NADLER. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, thank you, Senator. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. Just, Mr. Mayor, to remind all of us, 

we have what we call the Down Winders. Now, those were the approximately 14,000 Americans that experienced the radiation as 

the result of nuclear testing before we ever knew the dangers of radiation and I had worked with them and Senator Hatch. They received over $900 million and they receive about $50 million a year, 

those in that definition was also some of the uranium miners that 

were mining uranium for our national security. And we’ve also had 

the Energy Employee’s Occupational Illness Compensation Program, on which I worked with Senator Bunning. These are the factory workers that worked on nuclear and atomic weapons and all 

experienced—on behalf of the national interest—health challenges. 

There has been over $2.5 billion that have been expended and we 

still continue to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in claims each 

year. Because it was made as a judgment that this was in our national interest. These individuals were experienced in these kinds 

of health challenges because of our national interest and it seems 

to me that we’re talking about more individuals who have experienced health needs as a result of our national interest, with this 

kind of disaster as well. 

I think the comparison, I find enormously compelling. 

Mr. BLOOMBERG. Senator, you can just take it one step further. 

We ask our young and women repeatedly to go overseas and fight 

and die and get injured to protect us and to advance our causes 

and then when they come home, sometimes we are found wanting 

in terms of providing the care for the illnesses and taking care of 

the families of those who made the ultimate sacrifice and shame 

on us. We do have a liability. Some of these things are very expensive, Senator and some of them go on for a long time. 

26 

The CHAIRMAN. I want to thank you very much, very helpful and 

we’ll look forward to, I think, probably if we have additional questions, getting to them. We thank you, Mr. Skyler, excellent. Mayor, 

it’s always good to see you. 

Mr. BLOOMBERG. Thank you, Senator. 

The CHAIRMAN. We have a really extraordinary panel, which we 

are welcoming here to our committee. Dr. Robin Herbert joins us 

from Mount Sinai Medical Center. She has been at the forefront of 

treating first responders and workers, over 60 percent of whom 

can’t even pay for their healthcare. 

Dr. Reibman comes to us from Bellevue Hospital, which continues to treat anyone who may have been exposed to dust and toxins from 9/11. The New York City Fire Department has also had 

a major role in demonstrating a clear link between recovery and 

clean-up work and illness and Dr. Kerry Kelly joins us on its behalf. 

Dr. Melius, from the World Trade Center, medical monitoring 

and treatment program, speaks to the lack of healthcare coverage 

available for responders and finally, Jeff Endean, from New Jersey 

who will share with us some of the personal experience following 

the September 11 attack with the New York Authority Police Department. 

So if you would be good enough to come forward and join us, 

please. I don’t know whether you—your names are on the back 

ends of those cards. It’s always a mystery but they are. Look how 

wonderful our staff is to have done that. Thank you very, very 

much. 

Dr. Herbert, we’ll start with you and I thank all of our guests 

here this morning and appreciate your willingness to speak to us 

about this issue. Thank you. 

STATEMENT OF ROBIN HERBERT, M.D., CO-DIRECTOR OF THE 

WORLD TRADE CENTER WORKER AND VOLUNTEER MEDICAL SCREENING PROGRAM, NEW YORK CITY, NY 

Dr. HERBERT. Thank you. Chairman Kennedy, Ranking Member 

Enzi, Senator Clinton and other esteemed members of the HELP 

Committee, Mr. Nadler, I thank you so much for inviting me to 

present testimony today. My name is Dr. Robin Herbert. I am an 

Associate Professor in the Department of Community and Preventive Medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and I serve 

as Director of the World Trade Center Medical Monitoring Program 

Data and Coordination Center at Mount Sinai. 

In the days, weeks and months following September 11, 2001, 

tens of thousands of hardworking Americans from all over this Nation responded selflessly, without concern for their well-being when 

the Nation and the Federal Government called upon them to serve. 

Many of these workers and volunteers have become seriously ill as 

a result and it is therefore imperative to continue to take stock of 

how we, as a nation, care for World Trade Center responders and 

others who have fallen ill or may become ill in the future. 

It is essential that we continue to provide aid to all those who 

were there for us, now and in the future and with your strong support, as a nation, I have no doubt that we will. 

27 

Well over 50,000 people worked or volunteered in the aftermath 

of the attacks. I think it is important to note that these included 

both traditional first responders such as firefighters, paramedics 

and law enforcement officers as well as a large and very diverse 

group of heavy machinery operators, laborers, iron workers, workers from utilities, telecommunication workers, sanitation workers 

and a large number of other public and private sector workers as 

well as volunteers and again, these responders came from around 

the Nation. 

This group performed extraordinarily grisly work, including sifting through thousands of tons of rubble, searching for survivors 

and then human remains while others were to restore critical services like electricity and communication systems for America’s largest city when it was in shock and on the brink of economic disaster. 

For many months, World Trade Center responders were witness 

to horrors no one should ever have to face and for which there is 

no training that could have prepared them. Additionally, although 

it’s not the focus of my remarks, a large number of residents, office 

re-occupants and students were also affected by the disaster. 

I think that the medical and mental health effects of the World 

Trade Center disaster has been very well documented at this point 

and there certainly can be no longer any doubt that many people 

are sick and many more may become sick in the future. 

In September 2006, we released a paper detailing the findings 

from federally funded examinations of 9,442 responders, whom we 

and our consortium partners examined between July 2002 and 

April 2004. I have appended this study to my written testimony 

and I won’t go through it in great detail. But I would note as the 

Mayor had noted, that among the responders we examined, 69 percent reported experiencing new or worsened respiratory symptoms 

while engaged in their efforts at or near Ground Zero. 

[Editor’s Note: Due to the high cost of printing previously published materials will not be reprinted in the hearing record. The paper indicated 

above can be found at http://dx.doi.org.] 

At the time of their examinations, fully 21⁄2 years after September 11, 2001, 59 percent were still experiencing new or worsening respiratory symptoms. Of particular concern, one third had 

abnormal breathing tests and one particular breathing test abnormality decreased forced vital capacity was found five times more 

frequently in World Trade Center responders than in the general 

non-smoking population of the United States. This was a particularly worrisome finding to us because it can be caused by a variety 

of conditions including asthma with air trapping or interstitial lung 

disease, scarring disease of the lungs, of the type that has resulted 

in known fatalities among some World Trade Center responders. 

Earlier findings released in 2004 have revealed the mental 

health consequences among responders. We have at this point, 

through the Mount Sinai World Trade Center Treatment Program, 

served over 3,700 patients and in our treatment program patients, 

we found that fully 86 percent have upper respiratory conditions 

such as chronic sinusitis, 51 percent have lower respiratory conditions, including asthma, about a third have persistent gastrointestinal conditions such as GERD, about 30 percent have musculoskeletal conditions from injuries sustained when they were reVerDate Aug 31 2005 16:08 Jul 30, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00031 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 S:\DOCS\34458.TXT SLABOR1 PsN: DENISE
28 

sponding and about 30 percent of our physical health treatment 

program patients are also receiving mental health treatment for 

conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder. Many of the 

treatment program patients actually have multiple World Trade 

Center-related illnesses and this really complicates their case management. 

Forty percent of our patients in the treatment program have no 

health insurance whatsoever. An additional 23 percent are underinsured and I know my colleague, Dr. Melius, will be talking about 

the insurance issues in greater detail. But access to care has been 

a major problem for our patients. 

One of the things that I worry about is that sometimes the 

human sides of our patient’s stories and lives gets lost in all the 

numbers and statistics. Our typical patient, the typical person we 

see in our treatment program and in our monitoring programs is 

a man who was in excellent health, had a family with kids in 

school, was actively involved in his community, coaching Little 

League, going to church, typically paying off a mortgage and often 

working overtime to support his family. This American would have 

rushed to the site of the World Trade Center disaster and toiled in 

the weeks and months that followed, for long hours and during unimaginable conditions. All of our patients, all of the responders, despite huge difficulties, took special care to treat the site as the sacred ground it was. 

When our patients—when that American came home from long 

shifts, he tried to shield his family from the horrific sights, sounds 

and smells that were among his constant companions at the site. 

Many of our patients ignored the new, hacking cough, the chest 

pain, the panic attacks and insomnia and tried to forget what they 

had experienced. 

For this American, for our patients, it often had seemed that 

there was nowhere to go where people understood what they had 

experienced. For many, their own doctors were too busy and many 

of our patients felt they shouldn’t seek help, anyway. They had survived the attacks. They were the lucky ones. 

As time goes by, our patients have found that they have become 

often too ill to work, to provide the health insurance their families 

need, to put food on the table or to play or to even lift their children. Our patients become terrified about losing their homes and 

their marriages and unfortunately, many have done so. Many of 

our patients have lost not only the ability to work, or health insurance, but a great deal of self respect and they’ve ended up alienated from their family members and those closest to them. 

We are thus very, very lucky that we have federally funded Centers of Excellence where people such as the man I just described, 

who again, are very typical of our patients, can go for help—the 

World Trade Center Medical Monitoring and Treatment Programs. 

The World Trade Center Centers of Excellence model was developed as an unprecedented response to a disastrous attack on our 

Nation. This attack has left our Nation faced with unprecedented 

physical and mental health consequences and we’ve had to therefore develop service models that could meet needs that we’ve never 

experienced before in this Nation. We needed to be able to identify 

all who might become ill, we needed to set up screening programs 

29 

to screen for possible illnesses, develop appropriate treatment responses and link those efforts to scientific programs that could understand the emerging diseases in a setting where we really do not 

know the long-term health effects of the exposures. 

And we are, therefore, very grateful that Congress has provided 

Federal funding to establish and operate the World Trade Centers 

of Excellence. Our Centers provide standardized monitoring examinations, comprehensive treatment and they collect and evaluate 

standardized data so we can detect emerging disease trends, which 

is especially important because again, we do not know what the 

long-term health effects of the exposures will be. 

Congress provided resources for medical screening in April 2002 

and Mount Sinai was able to establish the World Trade Center 

Worker and Volunteer Medical Screening Program in 2 months, in 

July 2002. We have operated our program as a regional and national consortium of Centers of Excellence that provided standardized, free, comprehensive physical and mental health examinations 

and we really view ourselves as a sister partner to the program at 

the FDNY and more recently, to the program that Dr. Reibman 

runs. 

Since we began the screening program, Congress has helped us 

establish an ongoing medical monitoring program for responders 

and this provides regular follow up exams. We’re also continuing 

to take in new responders. We continue to have more than 400 responders per month register and we found them eligible to continue 

joining our programs. 

To date, our program coordinator at Mount Sinai has examined 

over 20,000 World Trade Center responders and provided almost 

7,500 follow up examinations. Again, this work has been done parallel to the work of the New York Fire Department. We examined 

responders from almost—from throughout the Nation and at the 

present time, we have about 2,300 responders from every State in 

the Nation who are registered at one of the World Trade Center 

monitoring programs. 

More recently, your efforts have provided funding for critically 

needed medical and mental health treatment services and the 

World Trade Center treatment program—sorry. The World Trade 

Center Treatment Program coordinated by Mount Sinai has, to 

date, provided over 19,000 medical and mental health treatment 

services to 4,700 responders. We’ve also provided 9,900 social work 

services, primarily to assist the uninsured and the unemployed. 

These World Trade Centers of Excellence bring together specialists from many fields of medicine who work together to provide 

state-of-the-art care for the complex diseases we’re seeing. 

Of equal importance, our staff understand the issues facing responders. We offer a safe and compassionate haven for responders 

to get the medical care they need. Our doctors and others have experience in a wide array of medical specialties and work together 

closely to diagnose and treat responders. 

Just as importantly, our patients can get mental health care 

from mental health specialists who also understand the unique 

stresses our patients experience. 

The Centers also have the capacity to track patterns of disease 

and to provide information on new and emerging illnesses. For exVerDate Aug 31 2005 16:08 Jul 30, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00033 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 S:\DOCS\34458.TXT SLABOR1 PsN: DENISE
30 

ample, we know, as was mentioned earlier, that responders were 

exposed to a wide range of toxins, including cancer-causing agents 

such as asbestos, benzenes, dioxins, PCBs and PAHs. Thus, it is 

critical that the model of health service delivery for these heroes 

is capable also of scientifically identifying newly emerging disease 

patterns. 

Thus, in summary, needed clinical service provision linked to scientific programs has already been developed and established with 

successfully operating federally funded initiatives. The participants 

have been selected through a competitive peer review process. Unfortunately, as you are likely aware, Federal funding for the treatment services is likely to run out by the end of this Federal fiscal 

year and we also have concerns about the duration of funding for 

the monitoring program. 

We therefore implore you to keep these programs alive, ideally 

for the lifetime of the responders because they do serve as a lifeline 

for the 20,000- to 30,000-, or 50,000-plus responders who rushed in 

to help our Nation in a time of crisis. Thank you very much. 

[The prepared statement of Dr. Herbert follow:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF ROBIN HERBERT, M.D. 

Good morning. Chairman Kennedy, Ranking Member Enzi, Senator Clinton and 

other esteemed members of the HELP Committee, I thank you for having invited 

me to present testimony before you today on the health consequences of 9/11 and 

on the urgent need to continue to provide proper medical services for the brave men 

and women who rose on that day to America’s defense, many of whom are now ill 

as a consequence of their heroism. 

My name is Robin Herbert, M.D. I am an Associate Professor in the Department 

of Community and Preventive Medicine of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and 

I serve as Director of the World Trade Center (WTC) Medical Monitoring Program 

Data and Coordination Center at Mount Sinai. 

In the days, weeks, and months that followed September 11, 2001, thousands of 

hard-working Americans from all across this Nation responded selflessly—without 

concern for their well-being—when the Nation and the Federal Government called 

upon them to serve. Unfortunately, many of these workers and volunteers have become seriously ill as a result of their response work, and we have documented in 

many that their illness appears to be persistent. It is therefore critical that we take 

stock of how we, as a nation, are caring for World Trade Center responders, and 

for others who have fallen ill, or may become ill in the future as a result of 9/11. 

It is essential that we continue to provide aid and care for all those who were 

there for us—now and in the future. With your strong support—as a nation—I have 

no doubt we will. 

DIVERSITY OF THE WTC RESPONDER POPULATION

Well over 50,000 people worked or volunteered in the aftermath of the attacks in 

and around the World Trade Center, and at the Staten Island landfill. An extraordinarily broad range of skill sets and occupational groups was required to mount 

an effective response to the terrorist attacks. Those who rushed in to perform rescue, recovery, restoration of services, and essential clean up included both traditional first responders such as firefighters, paramedics, and law enforcement officers, as well as a large and very diverse population of heavy machinery operators, 

laborers, ironworkers and others from the building and construction trades, telecommunication workers, other utility workers, transportation workers, sanitation 

workers and other public and private sector workers and volunteers. This extraordinarily diverse group toiled in search and rescue efforts that extended for days, 

weeks, and months, and engaged in critical service restoration for one of America’s 

largest cities when it was in shock and on the brink of economic disaster. They sorted through the remains of the dead, and were witness, through many months, to 

horrors no one should ever have to face, or likely had ever faced, even if previously 

trained as responders. Even those not working directly on the pile—for example, responders who worked in manholes to restore communications, or to shut down gas 

lines to prevent explosions—sustained exposures both to airborne toxins and to the 

31 

unexpected sight of human remains. Thus, when I use the term responders in my 

testimony, I will be referring to the large and diverse group of responders that performed rescue, recovery, restoration of services, and clean up in the service of our 

Nation. 

In addition to tens of thousands of men and women from New York, New Jersey, 

and Connecticut, approximately 2,300 responders from every other State in the Nation are currently registered in one of the WTC Medical Monitoring Programs. Particularly large numbers came from the States of Massachusetts, Ohio, California, Illinois, North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. 

THE HEALTH CONSEQUENCES OF 9/11

The medical and mental health effects of the World Trade Center disaster have 

been well documented. I believe that there can no longer be any doubt that many 

people are sick, and that more will likely become ill in the future as a result of their 

work at Ground Zero. 

In September 2006, we released a peer-reviewed paper in the medical journal Environmental Health Perspectives, detailing the findings from federally funded examinations of 9,442 WTC responders whom we and our partner institutions had examined between July 2002 and April 2004. I have appended this study for your review, 

and I would like to direct your attention to a few key findings: 

• Among these 9,442 responders, 69 percent reported experiencing new or worsened respiratory symptoms while engaged in their efforts in or near Ground Zero. 

• At the time of examination, up to 21⁄2 years after the start of the rescue and 

recovery effort, 59 percent were still experiencing a new or worsened respiratory 

symptom, a finding which suggests that these conditions may be chronic and require 

ongoing treatment. 

• One third of responders had abnormal breathing test results. One particular 

breathing test abnormality—decreased forced vital capacity—was found 5 times 

more frequently in WTC responders than in the general, non-smoking population of 

the United States. This is a most worrisome finding, that can be caused by a variety 

of conditions, including asthma with ‘‘air trapping,’’ and interstitial lung disease (or 

scarring disease of the lungs), the condition that has resulted in known fatalities 

among a few WTC responders. 

• Findings from our program released in 2004 have attested to the fact that there 

also exist significant mental health consequences among WTC responders. 

All of these findings are consistent with other independent study findings. They 

are replicated also in the spectrum of disease that we have seen among patients 

treated in the Mount Sinai WTC Medical Treatment Program: 

• 86 percent of treatment patients suffer from upper respiratory conditions, such 

as chronic sinusitis; 

• 51 percent suffer from lower respiratory conditions, including asthma and WTC 

cough; 

• 32 percent have gastrointestinal conditions; 

• 29 percent have musculoskeletal conditions; and 

• 38 percent have been diagnosed with mental health conditions, including posttraumatic stress disorder, anxiety or depression, in addition to their physical ailments. 

It is important to note that most patients in the treatment program actually suffer from multiple WTC-related illnesses, complicating their case management and 

their access to benefits. 

LACK OF MEDICAL INSURANCE AMONG WTC RESPONDERS

More than 40 percent of the WTC responders in our treatment program are uninsured, and an additional 23 percent are underinsured, a situation that creates major 

barriers to access to medical services. 

When I speak of the uninsured (those with no medical insurance) and the underinsured (those with insurance that may cover only in-patient care, or that may require payments of copays or have deductibles so high that our patients are functionally uninsured), I am talking about a wide range of responders. I am talking about 

poor workers: folks who cleaned buildings in the World Trade Center disaster area 

without, in many cases, adequate protection or training or insurance, often for flyby-night operations that no longer exist. I am also speaking of construction workers, 

some of whom received insurance coverage for themselves and their families based 

on a certain number of days worked. But when these patients become too ill to 

work, or could no longer work as many days as they used to, their coverage often 

ended along with their paycheck. These difficulties are compounded for those reVerDate Aug 31 2005 16:08 Jul 30, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00035 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 S:\DOCS\34458.TXT SLABOR1 PsN: DENISE
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sponders who file for Workers’ Compensation for their needed medical care, because 

filing for Workers’ Compensation typically results in prolonged delays in accessing 

needed care due to case litigation and a complex bureaucratic maze. And there are 

others, countless tireless heroes, including thousands of volunteers as well, too numerous to detail here today. They put their lives on the line when they were needed, 

but now many of them find themselves in need. I invite all of you to speak with 

affected responders in our program, if indeed there is any doubt of their need. 

THE MEDICAL RESPONSE TO 9/11—THE CRITICAL NEED FOR CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE

To provide medical services to the men and women who gave of themselves at 

Ground Zero, this Nation has provided funding to establish and operate Centers of 

Excellence. These Centers bring together specialists from many fields of medicine 

who work together to provide state-of-the-art care for the complex diseases that we 

are seeing in the responders. The Centers also have the capacity to track patterns 

of disease and to provide information on new and emerging illnesses. 

The WTC Centers of Excellence were launched in late 2001 after initial reports 

were received of health problems in responders and volunteers. At that time the 

Congress provided resources for medical screening, and those funds became available in 2002. The WTC Worker and Volunteer Medical Screening Program was established as a regional and national consortium of Centers of Excellence that provided standardized, free, comprehensive screening examinations for WTC responders. 

In July 2004, based on early findings from the screening programs, Congress authorized additional funding to establish an ongoing medical monitoring program for 

responders. This program too was organized as a network of Centers of Excellence. 

These Centers were selected by the National Institute for Occupational Health 

(NIOSH) through a fully competitive, peer-reviewed award process. This process established the World Trade Center Medical Monitoring Program which is funded 

through 2009. It provides baseline exams and well as follow up exams to WTC responders at 18 month intervals. NIOSH awarded funding to 2 sister programs of 

Centers of Excellence: one based at the Fire Department of New York (FDNY), and 

the other, a consortium of 5 Clinical Centers coordinated by a Data and Coordination Center at Mount Sinai Medical Center that serves all other responders. 

Most recently, new Federal funding for Treatment services which became available for the first time in 2006 has made possible a newly combined Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program. This program is again based in Centers of Excellence. It integrates all Monitoring and Treatment services and also supports a long 

needed expansion of services to provide care to a greater number of responders than 

ever before. This new Federal funding builds on generous but limited private support that had previously enabled some provision of treatment services to responders. 

The Centers of Excellence currently provide the following complex array of services to the WTC responders: 

1. Regular, standardized, comprehensive physical and mental health examinations 

to identify possible WTC-related illness in all responders. 

2. Treatment for concurrent WTC-related physical and mental health illnesses. 

This care requires the close coordination of specialists from many disciplines, including: occupational medicine, pulmonary medicine, psychiatry, thoracic surgery and 

rehabilitation medicine. This array and coordination of services is to be found only 

in Centers of Excellence such as those that Congress and NIOSH have established. 

3. Social work assistance to responders who have lost their ability to work or sustained other disastrous economic effects because of their WTC response work. Social 

workers teach responders how to navigate the Workers’ Compensation system, access much-needed medical and mental health treatment, and to plan for the longterm security and needs of their families. Our social workers provide essential services to the sickest of responders—those who, unfortunately, are too ill to return to 

work despite state-of-the-art medical care. For these responders, who typically have 

lost their jobs, their self-esteem, their income, and their ability to meet their basic 

expenses (rent, mortgage, food), social workers work directly with them and their 

families to advocate for vital resources. 

4. Outreach to responders to ensure that they are not lost to follow up by regular 

phone updates, mailings, and educational programs. This sustained outreach will 

grow in importance as responders retire and relocate throughout the Nation. 

5. Linkage of clinical monitoring and treatment findings to public health data 

analysis for identification of disease trends. This is essential because we remain 

very concerned about the potential for diseases of longer latency to emerge among 

WTC responders. We know that responders were at risk of exposures to a wide 

range of toxic chemicals, including cancer-causing agents—such as asbestos, benVerDate Aug 31 2005 16:08 Jul 30, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00036 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 S:\DOCS\34458.TXT SLABOR1 PsN: DENISE
33 

zene, dioxins, PCBs, and PAHs—and to substances that can cause ongoing respiratory problems, such as highly alkaline, fine particulate dust that can cause permanent scarring of the lungs. Thus, it is important that the model of health service 

delivery for these heroes is capable of identifying newly emerging disease patterns 

that may include interstitial lung diseases such as sarcoidosis and cancers. We have 

been faced, as a nation, with an unprecedented attack with unprecedented consequences. We therefore need health service models that are capable of meeting the 

needs created by this unprecedented event: models that can identify and treat the 

ill, AND that also can identify emerging diseases in a group that unwittingly sustained exposures with unknown effects. 

6. Dissemination of information learned from disease surveillance to responders, 

the public, and health care providers. 

Major accomplishments of the Centers are these: 

1. The Centers coordinated by Mount Sinai have provided baseline examinations 

for over 20,000 WTC responders including law enforcement officers, construction 

workers, communications workers, transit workers, building cleaners, and other 

public and private sector workers and volunteers. Follow up examinations have been 

provided to over 7,440 WTC responders through the Mount Sinai Consortium. 

2. The Mount Sinai Treatment Program alone has provided more than 14,000 

medical and mental health treatment services to 3,700 responders. 

3. The Mount Sinai Treatment Program alone has provided more than 7,700 nonmental health Social Work services primarily to assist the uninsured and the unemployed. They have successfully treated thousands of responders and returned many 

to active duty and productive lives. 

4. The Centers have documented a very high incidence of both upper and lower 

respiratory disease in responders, much of which is persistent. They have documented a five-fold increase of certain abnormalities in pulmonary function testing. 

5. They have documented high rates of mental health problems in responders, a 

proportion of which are persistent. 

6. They are tracking the occurrence of rare diseases in responders such as pulmonary fibrosis and sarcoidosis. They have put into place an active surveillance system to monitor the appearance of cancer. 

The two absolutely unique features of the Centers of Excellence are: 

1. They have assembled a critical mass of medical expertise from many specialties—internal medicine, occupational medicine, pulmonary medicine, gastroenterology, and psychiatry, coupled with highly skilled social work units. This concentration of expertise enables the Centers to effectively treat the complex and multifactorial disorders of World Trade Center responders. Such sophisticated treatment is 

not possible in a private practice setting. Indeed, responders who have been seen 

outside the Centers have in some cases not been well managed medically and their 

medical care has not addressed the complexity of their problems. 

2. The Centers of Excellence are linked to two Data and Coordination Centers 

(one at Mount Sinai and one at FDNY), which are staffed by public health specialists who are constantly monitoring patterns of disease and seeking new trends in 

illness. This highly sensitive system enables us to mount rapid responses to newly 

emerging problems, rapid responses that would not otherwise be possible. Additionally, the Data and Coordination Centers have developed unique expertise in conducting outreach and retention activities to ensure that no responder’s needs go 

untended, that contact with the most ill responders is not lost, and that public 

health and medical information learned from the activities of the Data and Coordination Centers are rapidly disseminated to the responders, the public, and other 

health care providers. 

CONCLUDING COMMENT

Our program of Centers of Excellence—the one that we, the legislative leaders, 

occupational medicine and other specialized medical experts, affected workers and 

their representatives, and health and safety experts have built together—has been 

designed and implemented to provide the greatest benefits and meet the demonstrated needs of our patient population. And our existing program of Centers of 

Excellence, and the lessons we have learned in the wake of September 11, not only 

help to guide our ongoing response, but should be instrumental in helping guide future disaster response as well. By utilizing a Center-based approach, the program 

ensures quality, experienced and standardized care across the country. We ensure 

that responders receive the best medical services on an ongoing basis, regardless of 

where they live now or may live in the future. We ensure the ongoing critical update 

of clinical monitoring and treatment services, because of the program’s ability to 

34 

identify disease trends by pooling information gleaned from almost 27,000 examinations and continually analyze that information. We ensure an ongoing public health 

response and education benefit, beyond the benefits to responders, health care providers, government agencies and policymakers by informing future disaster preparedness and response. 

As you are likely aware, Federal funding for WTC-related treatment services is 

due to run out, likely before the end of this fiscal year. Federal support for the medical monitoring arm of our efforts, provided for the first 5 years of a 20- to 30-year 

needed initiative, may run out sooner than expected, because we are able to help 

more people now than we had initially anticipated. 

Today, you can choose to continue to help thousands of those affected by 9/11 as 

we are best able: through a coordinated, experienced, expanded model of Centers of 

Excellence. We can help prevent death and disability, and improve life for many of 

those who gave so much. By providing responders with expert medical and mental 

health services, we can help them to stay in their jobs or begin to work again. We 

can help give them back their lives. We can provide them with some hope for the 

future. 

Five years following the attacks on the World Trade Center, thousands of the 

brave men and women who worked on the rescue, recovery, and clean up efforts are 

still suffering. Respiratory illness, psychological distress, and financial devastation 

have become a new way of life for many. Also suffering, of course, are many WTC 

area residents, office re-occupant employees and students, for whom no appropriate 

systematic response is yet in place. I hope that my comments today will serve as 

a reminder of the long-term and widespread impact of this disaster, and of the need 

to continue to build on the successful model which gives these men and women the 

care they deserve. 

Thank you. 

Senator CLINTON [presiding]. Thank you very much, Dr. Herbert. 

Dr. Kelly. 

STATEMENT OF KERRY KELLY, M.D., CHIEF MEDICAL 

OFFICER, NEW YORK CITY FIRE DEPARTMENT, NEW YORK, NY 

Dr. KELLY. Good morning, Senator Clinton and the other members of the committee. I’d like to thank you for the opportunity to 

speak today. I am Dr. Kerry Kelly, the Chief Medical Officer for 

the New York City Fire Department. I serve with my colleague, Dr. 

David Presont, as the Co-Director of the Fire Department’s World 

Trade Center Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program. I’m also 

joined today by my colleague, Dr. Klineman, who is here from the 

NYPD, who represents that group of our uniformed forces. 

I’d like to speak to you today about the health of our FDNY first 

responders, particularly following their exposures at the World 

Trade Center site. On September 11, our FDNY first responders 

answered the call for help. Within a matter of minutes with the 

collapse of the two towers, 343 of our members perished, hundreds 

suffered acute traumatic injuries and since then, thousands have 

required long-term care for both respiratory and mental health 

problems that have developed from that event. 

In the hours, days and months that followed, our members continued in rescue, recovery and fire suppression efforts with a virtual job-wide exposure at that site, working among the debris and 

dust from the collapse. More than 11,000 of our firefighters and fire 

officers, as well as the over 3,000 EMTs and paramedics, worked 

at that site in the months after that event. 

During that time, our first responders experienced more exposure 

to the physical and emotional hazards at the World Trade Center 

site than any other group working there. Attached to the written 

copy of my testimony is a document that provides more details 

about our findings and the health of our first responders. 

35 

Our World Trade Center Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program is one of the three Centers of Excellence for World Trade 

Center health that has been identified in Mayor Bloomberg’s just 

published report on the health impacts of 9/11. The FDNY Center 

of Excellence was the first to provide monitoring and treatment for 

first responders. Since we have pre-9/11 data for all our members, 

it is the only Center of Excellence that can perform large-scale preand post-9/11 comparisons for any exposed group. It is the only 

Center of Excellence with more than 90 percent participation rate. 

Our Center was the first to recognize and treat members with 

World Trade Center health effects and provide published, scientific 

data so that others could recognize the role of World Trade Center 

exposure. 

For those working at the site, respiratory issues surfaced quickly 

and in recognition of those symptoms, FDNY initiated our screening program in October 2001, just 4 weeks after 9/11. From October 

2001 through February 2002, we evaluated more than 10,000 of our 

FDNY first responders and since that time, we have continued to 

screen and monitor both active and retired members, now totaling 

over 14,000 personnel who have been screened to date. This program has been federally funded through the CDC and NIOSH, who 

have partnered with us as well as with a Joint Labor Management 

Initiative in managing this program. Our program is dedicated to 

monitoring the health of our members while the other programs 

work to address the health issues of our non-FDNY responders. 

Working collaboratively with NIOSH, our members have been 

followed at our Center so that now over 9,000 of our members have 

participated in a second round of follow up medicals and more than 

1,300 have recently started a third round. We’ve noted that over 

3,000 of our members have sought respiratory treatment since 

9/11. Although many have been able to return to work because of 

treatment, over 700 have developed permanent, disabling respiratory illnesses that have led to earlier than anticipated retirements among members of an otherwise generally healthy workforce. In the first 5 years after 9/11, we have experienced a threeto five-fold increase in the number of members retiring with lung 

problems annually. 

Our pre-9/11 data has provided us with objective information so 

that we can observe patterns and changes among our members. A 

significantly higher number of firefighters were found to be suffering from pulmonary disorders when we looked at the numbers 

pre-9/11 for a 5-year period before that. We noticed a marked drop 

in lung function in our members, particularly in those people who 

were working at the very day at the time of the collapse. On average, for both our symptomatic and our asymptomatic responders, 

we found a 375 milliliter decline in pulmonary function for all of 

our responders, with an additional 75 milliliter decline if the member were present when the towers collapsed. This is a 12-times 

greater decline in pulmonary function that would be expected and 

were seen in the 5 years pre-9/11. 

We continue to monitor our members to see whether these numbers continue or whether we see improvement. Unfortunately, 

many still have symptoms. Twenty-five percent still show positive 

evidence of persistent airway hyperactivity as well as 25 percent 

36 

are still continuing to complain of respiratory symptoms. Although 

we have seen no clear increase in the number of cancers since 

9/11, we continue to see occasional, unusual cancers that require 

continued careful monitoring. Monitoring for future illnesses that 

may develop and treatment for existing conditions is imperative 

and I will discuss with you how funding is essential from the Federal programs. 

Mental health issues were, of course, a concern for us in the very 

beginning. Our need for mental health treatment needed to be met 

quickly, to help our members. Past disasters have shown us that 

many times, first responders are the last to seek help and often put 

the needs of others before their own, which is why we are continuing to see a need for treatment 5 years after this event, as we 

note that members continue to seek our help for mental health 

problems. The numbers of people suffering from PTSD, grief disorder, and anxiety continue. We again have a pre-existing counseling service unit. Pre-9/11, we saw approximately 50 clients a 

month. We are now seeing over 250 a month at six sites for a total 

of about 3,000 patients per year who continue in active treatment 

seeking assistance. And the good news is that that assistance allows people to continue to work as they cope with a marked change 

in their medical care and as far as dealing with the situations of 

alienation that we’ve noted before. 

Through the efforts of our Mayor and the New York City Congressional Delegation and the continued support of our labor partners, we have secured funding to start monitoring and treatment 

of our members. This funding has been critical to our mission and 

we appreciate the committee’s efforts to bring the needed attention 

to these issues and our funding needs. Additional funding is required, though, to continue our long-term monitoring because we 

know that in the environmental and occupational medicine field, 

there is often a significant lag time between exposures and emerging diseases. 

For example, the latency periods for most cancers are often 

greater than 10 years. The actual effects of the dust and debris 

that rained down on our workforce on 9/11 may not be evident for 

years to come. Additional funding is required to continue or enhance diagnostic testing and focused treatment of our FDNY first 

responders, addressing both the physical and mental health problems, which are related to the World Trade Center site exposures. 

Both our active members and our retirees face significant gaps in 

their medical coverage. Mention has been made of medical insurance being in place but many of our members have significant 

problems finding mental health treatment without our program 

and there are often significant gaps. Treatments such as prescription drugs are required for long term. Many are on multiple medications and these medication costs are very significant. Treatment 

dollars are really essential to cover these. 

The 343 who perished at the World Trade Center are tragic reminders of the known risks that our first responders take on each 

and every call for help. For those who responded and survived, very 

real concerns for the unknown, long-term health consequences remain. For members of this athletic and healthy workforce who face 

the loss of lung function, chronic sinus problems, gastric distress 

37 

and mental health consequences, the exposures at the World Trade 

Center site have changed lives, shortened careers and forever 

changed the future of those who survived that tragedy. The commitment to long-term funding for both monitoring and treatment 

must be made to allow the FDNY World Trade Center Health of 

Excellence plan for the future in order to protect and improve the 

health of our workforce, both active and retired and to inform lesser exposed groups and their providers of the illnesses seen and the 

treatments that are most effective. 

Continued funding for the operation of this Center of Excellence, 

the FDNY World Trade Center Medical Monitoring and Treatment 

Program is the most effective way to do this. Alternative fee-forservice plans will fail to provide effective treatment to large numbers of affected FDNY members, will not be cost-effective and cannot provide the standardized and comprehensive data analysis we 

need to inform the public, doctors, scientists and government officials, all of whom need this information. 

FDNY rescue workers, firefighters and EMS personnel answered 

the call for help on 9/11 and continue to do so every day. Now we 

need your continued help to maintain this Center of Excellence so 

that our members can be best served. Thank you for your past efforts and your continued support of the FDNY and our members. 

[The prepared statement of Dr. Kelly follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF KERRY KELLY, M.D. 

Good morning Senators Kennedy, Enzi and Clinton, and other committee members. I am Dr. Kerry Kelly, the Chief Medical Officer for the New York City Fire 

Department (FDNY) Bureau of Health Services. Dr. David Prezant and I serve as 

Co-Directors of the FDNY’s World Trade Center Medical Monitoring and Treatment 

Program. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today about the health 

of our FDNY first responders following their exposures at the World Trade Center 

(WTC) site. 

On September 11, 2001, FDNY first responders answered the call for help. Within 

a matter of minutes, with the collapse of the towers, 343 of our members perished, 

hundreds suffered acute traumatic injuries and thousands have required long-term 

treatment for respiratory and mental health conditions. 

In the hours, days and months that followed, our members continued in rescue, 

recovery and fire suppression efforts, with a virtual job-wide exposure to the site, 

working amid the debris and dust from the collapse of the towers. More than 11,500 

Firefighters and Fire Officers as well as 3,000 Emergency Medical Technicians 

(EMTs) and Paramedics participated in this work. 

During that time, FDNY first responders experienced more exposure to the physical and emotional hazards at the WTC disaster site than any other group of workers. Attached to the written copies of my testimony, is a document that provides 

more detail about our findings and the health of our FDNY members and their exposures. 

FDNY MEDICAL MONITORING AND TREATMENT PROGRAM

The FDNY’s WTC Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program is one of three 

Centers of Excellence for WTC Health that is identified in Mayor Bloomberg’s justpublished report on the health impacts of 9/11. The FDNY Center of Excellence was 

the first to provide monitoring and treatment for first responders. Since we have 

pre-9/11 data for all our members, it is the only Center of Excellence that can perform large-scale pre- and post-9/11 comparisons for any exposed group. It is the only 

Center of Excellence with a more than 90 percent participation rate. Our Center 

was the first to recognize and treat members with WTC health effects and provide 

published scientific data so that others could recognize the role of WTC exposure. 

PHYSICAL HEALTH ISSUES

For those working at the site, respiratory issues surfaced quickly. In recognition 

of these symptoms, FDNY initiated the WTC Medical Screening and Treatment ProVerDate Aug 31 2005 16:08 Jul 30, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00041 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 S:\DOCS\34458.TXT SLABOR1 PsN: DENISE
38 

gram in October 2001, just 4 weeks after 9/11. From October 2001 through February 

2002, we evaluated more than 10,000 of our FDNY first responders. Since that time, 

we have continued to screen both our active and retired members for a total of 

14,250 FDNY personnel screened to date. This WTC Medical Monitoring Program 

has been federally funded through the CDC and NIOSH, and has been a joint, 

labor-management initiative. This FDNY program is dedicated to monitoring the 

health of our members, while the Mount Sinai Consortium and the Bellevue Center 

address the health issues of non-FDNY responders. 

Our monitoring program works collaboratively, partnering with NIOSH. At this 

point, nearly 9,000 of our FDNY members have participated in a second round of 

FDNY-administered medical and mental health monitoring evaluations, and more 

than 1,300 have recently started a third round. 

More than 3,000 of our members have sought respiratory treatment since 9/11. 

Most have been able to return to work, but more than 700 have developed permanent, disabling respiratory illnesses that have led to earlier-than-anticipated retirements among members of an otherwise generally healthy workforce. In the first 5 

years after 9/11, we experienced a three- to five-fold increase in the number of members retiring with lung problems annually. 

Since our Bureau of Health Services performs both pre-employment and annual 

medical examinations of all of our members, the WTC Medical Monitoring program 

has used the results of these exams to compare pre- and post-9/11 medical data. 

This objective information enables us to observe patterns and changes among members. A significantly higher number of Firefighters were found to be suffering from 

pulmonary disorders during the year after 9/11 than those suffering pulmonary disorders during the 5-year period prior to 9/11. Furthermore, we have found that the 

drop in lung function is directly correlated to the person’s initial arrival time at the 

WTC site. On average, for symptomatic and asymptomatic FDNY responders, we 

found a 375 ml decline in pulmonary function for all of the 13,700 FDNY WTC first 

responders, and an additional 75 ml decline if the member was present when the 

towers collapsed. This pulmonary function decline was 12 times greater than the average annual decline experienced in the 5 years pre-9/11. However, over the past 

4 years, pulmonary functions of many of our members have either leveled off or improved. For some, unfortunately, pulmonary functions have declined. More than 25 

percent of those we tested with the highest exposure to WTC irritants showed persistent airway hyperactivity consistent with asthma or Reactive Airway Dysfunction 

(RADS). In addition, more than 25 percent of our full-duty members participating 

in their follow up medical monitoring evaluation continue to report respiratory 

symptoms. 

The FDNY’s preliminary analysis has shown no clear increase in cancers since 

9/11. Pre- and post-9/11, the Fire Department continues to see occasional, unusual 

cancers that require continued careful monitoring. Monitoring for future illnesses 

that may develop, and treatment for existing conditions, is imperative and, as I will 

discuss shortly, should be funded through Federal assistance. 

MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES

As our doctors and mental health professionals can attest, the need for mental 

health treatment was also apparent in the initial days after 9/11, as virtually our 

entire workforce faced the loss of colleagues, friends and family. Past disasters have 

taught us that first responders are often reluctant to seek out counseling services, 

frequently putting the needs of others first. Many times, recognition that they themselves need help may not happen for years after an event. Our goal was to reduce 

or eliminate any barrier to treatment so that members could easily be evaluated and 

treated in the communities where they live and firehouses and EMS stations where 

they work. We also developed enhanced educational programs for our members to 

address coping strategies and help identify early symptoms of stress, depression and 

substance abuse. 

Nearly 14,000 FDNY members have sought mental health services through the 

FDNY Counseling Services Unit (CSU) since 9/11 for WTC-related conditions such 

as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), depression, grief, anxiety and substance 

abuse. Prior to 9/11, the CSU treated approximately 50 new cases a month. Since 

9/11 and continuing to this date, CSU sees more than 260 cases at its six sites each 

month—more than 3,500 clients annually. The continued stream of clients into CSU 

indicates that the need for mental health services remains strong. 

FUNDING

Through the efforts of our Mayor and New York City’s Congressional delegation, 

and the continued support of our labor partners, we have secured funding to conVerDate Aug 31 2005 16:08 Jul 30, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00042 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 S:\DOCS\34458.TXT SLABOR1 PsN: DENISE
39 

tinue monitoring and treatment of our members. This funding is crucial to our monitoring and treatment programs, and we appreciate this committee’s efforts to bring 

the needed attention to these issues and our funding needs. Additional funding is 

needed to provide for long-term monitoring because, in environmental-occupational 

medicine, there is often a significant time lag between exposures and emerging diseases. For example, the latency periods for most cancers are often at least 10 years 

or more. The actual effect of the dust and debris that rained down on our workforce 

on 9/11 may not be evident for years to come. 

Additional funding is also required to continue enhanced diagnostic testing and 

focused treatment of FDNY first responders, addressing both physical and mental 

health problems related to World Trade Center exposures. Both our active FDNY 

members and our retirees face gaps in their medical coverage. Early diagnosis and 

aggressive treatment improves outcomes. This is only possible if burdensome outof-pocket costs (co-payments, deductibles, caps, etc.) for treatment and medications 

are eliminated. For example, long-term medication needs for aerodigestive (upper 

and lower respiratory disease with or without gastroesophageal reflux dysfunction) 

and mental health illnesses require significant co-payments, taxing the resources of 

our members. In addition, most insurance plans do not adequately cover mental 

health treatment. 

CONCLUSION

The 343 who perished at the World Trade Center are tragic reminders of the 

known risks that our first responders take on each and every call for help. For those 

who responded and survive, very real concerns for the unknown long-term health 

consequences remain. For members of this athletic and healthy workforce—who face 

the loss of lung function, chronic sinus problems, gastric distress and mental health 

consequences—the exposures at the WTC site have changed lives, shortened careers 

and forever changed the future of those who survived that tragedy. The commitment 

to long-term funding, for both monitoring and treatment, must be made now to 

allow the FDNY WTC Health Center of Excellence to plan for the future in order 

to protect and improve the health of our workforce (both active and retired) and to 

inform lesser exposed groups (and their healthcare providers) of the illnesses seen 

and the treatments that are most effective. 

Continued funding for and operation of this Center of Excellence—the FDNY 

WTC Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program—is the most effective way to do 

this. Alternative fee-for-service plans will fail to provide effective treatment to large 

numbers of affected FDNY members, will not be cost-effective and cannot provide 

the standardized and comprehensive data analysis we need to inform the public, 

doctors, scientists and government officials, all of whom need this information. 

FDNY rescue workers (Firefighters and EMS personnel) answered the call for 

help on 9/11 and continue to do so every day. Now we need your continued help 

to maintain this Center of Excellence so that our members can best be served. 

Thank you for your past efforts, and your continued support of the FDNY and our 

members. 

40 


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64 

Senator CLINTON. Thank you very much, Dr. Kelly. 

Dr. Reibman. 

STATEMENT OF JOAN REIBMAN, M.D., DIRECTOR OF THE 

BELLEVUE HOSPITAL WORLD TRADE CENTER ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH CENTER, NEW YORK, NY 

Dr. REIBMAN. Thank you, Chairman Clinton, members of the 

committee. My name is Joan Reibman and I am an Associate Professor of Medicine and Environmental Medicine at New York University School of Medicine and I’m an attending physician at Bellevue Hospital, a public hospital on 27th Street in New York City. 

I’m a specialist in pulmonary medicine and for the past 15 years, 

I directed the Bellevue Hospital Asthma Program. Since most of 

our patients came from Lower Manhattan, which was replete with 

office towers, was also and is a major residential community with 

almost 60,000 residents of diverse race and ethnicity backgrounds, 

living south of Canal Street. 

We were very concerned when the towers collapsed, about the 

health of this population. These residents are economically diverse, 

some living in large, public housing complexes and others in newly 

minted co-ops. The destruction of the World Trade Center towers 

resulted in the dissemination of dust throughout Lower Manhattan. These dusts settled on streets, playgrounds, cars, and buildings and entered office buildings through windows, building cracks 

and ventilation systems. 

The World Trade Center buildings continued to burn through December. Some residents hired professional cleaners to remove the 

dusts; others cleaned their own apartments. Individuals living in 

the communities of Lower Manhattan had potential for prolonged 

exposure to the initial dusts, to re-suspended dusts and to the 

fumes from the fires. 


34458-53.eps
65 

As pulmonologists in a public hospital, we naturally asked 

whether the collapse of the buildings posed a health hazard to 

these residents and although levels of dust particles and particle 

components were being measured, it seemed to us that the only 

way to measure the true impact was to monitor the residents. 

Initially with funds from the Centers for Disease Control, we collaborated with the New York State Department of Health to examine whether there was an increase in the rate of new respiratory 

symptoms in the residential population. We designed and implemented the study and completed the study 16 months after 9/11 

and these results have been reported in two publications and a 

third to come out. 

Because we did not have the information that the FDNY had 

about pre-existing information, we surveyed residents in buildings 

within 1 mile of Ground Zero and therefore, needed control and 

surveyed individuals who lived a distance away, approximately 5 

miles from Ground Zero. We surveyed almost 3,000 individuals and 

were able to document that 60 percent of the individuals in the exposed area compared to 20 percent in the control area, reported 

new onset respiratory symptoms such as cough, wheezing or shortness of breath at any time following 9/11. 

The more important question to us, however, was whether these 

symptoms were going to persist and we were able to ask whether 

they persisted approximately a year after the event. We documented new onset and persistent symptoms such as eye irritation, 

nasal irritation, sinus congestion, nosebleed or headache in 43 percent of exposed residents, more than three times the number of exposed compared to control residents. 

Exposed residents also had a three-fold increase in respiratory 

symptoms of any kind compared to control. This included an increase in new onset versus the cough, day time shortness of breath 

and a six-and-a-half-fold increase in wheezing. These reported 

symptoms were also associated with objective measures of illness— 

that is, unexplained medical visits and medications used for asthma. 

This study was one of the first studies and particularly one of the 

few with a control population, to describe the incidence—that is, 

the development of new and of persistent symptoms among residents of Lower Manhattan after 9/11. 

Do these symptoms persist today? Over 5 years, almost 6 years 

after the attack and some almost 4 years after our study. When it 

comes to residents and local office workers, to date, we still have 

little information. The New York City Department of Health and 

Mental Hygiene World Trade Center Registry, which was implemented after our study was completed and closed in 2004, has reported a similar pattern of symptoms in office workers but has not 

addressed the issue of persistence. This question is now being addressed with a second study implemented by the New York City 

Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Registry and we look 

forward to the results, which will help shed light on this question. 

While we await more survey information, we are looking, however, at what we are seeing in our clinics. After 9/11, we began to 

treat residents who felt they had World Trade Center-related illness in our Bellevue Hospital Asthma Clinic. We were then apVerDate Aug 31 2005 16:08 Jul 30, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00069 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 S:\DOCS\34458.TXT SLABOR1 PsN: DENISE
66 

proached by community groups such as the Beyond Ground Zero 

Network, a coalition of community organizations and together with 

these groups, began an unfunded program to treat residents. 

We were awarded an American Red Cross Liberty Disaster Relief 

Grant to set up a medical treatment program for World Trade Center-related illness in residents and responders, which began functioning in September 2005. In September 2006, Mayor Bloomberg 

announced the new initiative to provide for evaluation and treatment of individuals with suspected World Trade Center-related illness and this city funding of $16 million over 5 years has allowed 

us to expand the program. 

With this funding, we have evaluated and are currently treating 

over 1,000 individuals. In the past month alone, with minimal outreach, we received over 400 calls to enter the program. We have 

a wait list of hundreds. These requests are from local residents of 

diverse socio-economic status, some of whom were evacuated but 

others who were left in their apartments with no place to go. We 

also receive calls from office workers, many of whom were caught 

in the initial dust cloud as the towers disintegrated and many of 

whom, responding to the need to keep the city going, returned to 

work 1 week later. And we have a large contingency of cleanup 

workers, the individuals who removed the layers of dust that had 

infiltrated the surrounding commercial and office spaces in order to 

allow the city to function. Sixty percent of our population is uninsured and many are non-English speaking. 

An individual has to have a physical symptom to enter our program. We are not a screening program for asymptomatic individuals. Most of our patients have symptoms that began after 9/11 

and as you have heard over and over today, consist of upper respiratory symptoms such as sinus congestion, lower respiratory 

symptoms such as cough, shortness of breath or wheezing. They 

are seeking care for these symptoms over 5 years after 9/11. 

We have individuals—a gentleman we just recently saw, a 

former broker in government securities, who was working at 80 

Pine Street, just east of the towers and was caught in the dust 

cloud on 9/11. He returned to work 1 week later and soon developed a persistent, unremitting cough. Over the next few years, he 

sought care by a variety of physicians and was told it was recurrent bronchitis, pneumonia and finally 1 year ago was told that he 

had reactive airways dysfunction. Last year alone, he required five 

courses of Prednisone, a steroid medication. Now, no longer working and on chronic inhaled medications, on a good day, he can walk 

five blocks. 

Although he has medical insurance and was able to receive medical care, you could ask why does he need our program? He needs 

a Center with expertise and a familiarity with World Trade Center 

health effects that can understand what his symptoms are and attribute his symptoms to a cause. 

Or we have another gentleman, a 37-year-old resident of 

Beekman Street, again just east of the towers, who before 9/11 had 

not had a sick day in 10 years. He was training to run the marathon. He stayed in Lower Manhattan, having no place to go, 

cleaned his dust-covered apartment and 1 year later, noted the 

onset of shortness of breath and wheezing. He now requires daily 

67 

high-dose inhale steroids and bronchodilators to control his symptoms. Why does he need a program like ours? He has no insurance. 

Whereas many of these individuals have symptoms that can be 

treated like asthma, others have a process in their lungs that we 

do not fully understand and may consist of a granulomatous disease of the lung, like sarcoid or fibrosis, which is a scarring in the 

lungs. 

And although we call ourselves a treatment program, many questions remain. We do not know how best to evaluate and monitor 

the symptoms. We do not know who may need lung biopsies. We 

do not know which medications work best. We do not know how 

long we will need to treat these individuals and if the symptoms 

will completely resolve. We do not understand the underlying 

mechanism or pathology of the symptoms. 

Finally, we do not know whether other diseases will emerge. The 

threat of cancers, particularly those of the blood or lymph nodes, 

remains a concern. We know that many residents and workers of 

Downtown Manhattan were subjected to environmental insults on 

a large scale and many will require continued screening and treatment for years to come. We can only answer these questions when 

we have Centers that see clusters of patients and identify patterns 

and perform epidemiological, clinical and translational research 

studies. 

These illnesses are contained to those exposed to the dusts and 

fumes. They are not contagious and will not spread. So why is 

funding of these programs a national need? Clearly, this was a national disaster and we have a population to care for. But I would 

also argue that there has been much talk of preparedness. We hope 

that there will never be an environmental disaster of this magnitude but these programs developed as community, labor, medical 

and government collaborations serve as models for environmental 

disaster responses. The need to fund these models is ongoing. 

Finally, I would argue that these Centers, which allow for the 

study and understanding of this environmental disaster, will generate information on the detection and treatment of environmental 

diseases that will benefit the Nation as a whole. 

I thank Mayor Bloomberg for funding our program and Members 

of Congress for their efforts to provide funding for monitoring treatment and members for having this important hearing. We need 

continued support for treatment programs for residents, local workers and individuals involved in rescue, recovery and debris removal. 

[The prepared statement of Dr. Reibman follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF JOAN REIBMAN, M.D. 

Thank you Chairman Kennedy, Ranking Member Enzi, and members of the 

Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. 

My name is Joan Reibman, and I am an Associate Professor of Medicine and Environmental Medicine at New York University School of Medicine, and an Attending 

Physician at Bellevue Hospital, a public hospital on 27th Street in NYC. I am a specialist in pulmonary medicine, and for the past 15 years, I have directed the Bellevue Hospital Asthma Program. Most of my patients come from Lower Manhattan, 

which, though replete with office towers, is also a major residential community; almost 60,000 residents of diverse race and ethnicity backgrounds live south of Canal 

St. alone (U.S. census data). The residents are economically diverse, some living in 

large public housing complexes, others in newly minted coops. 

68 

The destruction of the WTC towers resulted in the dissemination of dusts 

throughout Lower Manhattan. These dusts settled on streets, playgrounds, cars, and 

buildings. Dusts entered apartments through windows, building cracks, and ventilation systems. 

The WTC buildings continued to burn through December. Some residents hired 

professional cleaners to remove the dusts; many cleaned their own apartments. 

Thus individuals living in the communities of Lower Manhattan had potential for 

prolonged exposure to the initial dusts, to re-suspended dusts and to the fumes from 

the fires. As pulmonologists in a public hospital, we naturally asked whether the 

collapse of the buildings posed a health hazard for these residents. Although levels 

of dust particles and particle components were being measured, it seemed to us that 

the only way to measure the true impact was to monitor the residents. 

With funds from the Centers from Disease Control, we collaborated with the New 

York State Department of Health to examine whether there was an increase in the 

rate of new respiratory symptoms. The study was designed, implemented and completed 16 months after 9/11/01 and the results have been reported in two publications (Reibman et al. The World Trade Center residents’ respiratory health study; 

new-onset respiratory symptoms and pulmonary function, Environ. Health Perspect. 

2005; 113:40–411. Lin et al. Upper respiratory symptoms and other health effects 

among residents living near the world trade center site after September 11, 2001, 

Am. J. Epidemiol. 2005; 162:499–507). We surveyed residents in buildings within 1 

mile of Ground Zero, and, for purposes of control, other lower-risk buildings approximately 5 miles from Ground Zero. Lung function testing, consisting of screening 

spirometry, was performed in a subgroup of individuals in the field. Analysis of the 

2,812 residents in the exposed area revealed that approximately 60 percent of individuals in the exposed area compared to 20 percent in the control area reported new 

onset respiratory symptoms such as cough, wheezing, or shortness of breath, at any 

time following 9/11. The more important question, however, was whether these 

symptoms resolved over time, or persisted. To address this question, we examined 

whether symptoms persisted in the month preceding completion of the survey (8– 

16 months after 9/11) with a frequency of at least twice/week. Such new-onset and 

persistent symptoms as eye irritation, nasal irritation, sinus congestion, nose bleed, 

or headaches were present in 43 percent of the exposed residents, more than three 

times the number of exposed compared to control residents. New-onset persistent 

lower respiratory symptoms of any kind were present in 26.4 percent versus 7.5 percent of exposed and control residents respectively; a more than three-fold increase 

in symptoms. This included an increase in new onset, persistent cough, daytime 

shortness of breath, and a 6.5-fold increase in wheeze (10.5 percent of exposed residents versus 1.6 percent of control residents respectively). These respiratory symptoms resulted in an almost two-fold increase in unplanned medical visits and use 

of medications prescribed for asthma (controller and fast relief medications) in the 

exposed population compared to the control population. 

There were some potential limitations to our studies. Because of the unexpected 

nature of the disaster, we had to rely on self-reported health information. One must 

keep in mind that during the time of the study, the postal service was not functioning in Lower Manhattan and often mail did not reach residents—we resorted 

to hand delivery. Residents were moving in and out of the buildings, were emotionally distraught, and were being bombarded with a variety of forms for housing services, clean-up services, etc. Our response rate, though low, is comparable to that of 

the U.S. Census and we confirmed our data, by targeting a few buildings in the exposed and control areas with more intense outreach that resulted in a better response rate (44 percent). The data from this group was similar to that from the 

overall study. 

This study was one of the few studies, and particularly one of the few with a control population, to describe the incidence of respiratory symptoms among residents 

of Lower Manhattan after 9/11/01. It suggested that many residents had new onset 

symptoms in the immediate aftermath, with persistence of symptoms in the year 

after the event. Our findings are similar to those now described through the 

NYCDOHMH WTC Registry. 

Do these symptoms persist today, over 5 years after the attack and some 31⁄2

years after our study? When it comes to residents and local office workers, we have 

little information. The NYCDOHMH WTC Registry, which was implemented after 

our study was completed, and closed in 2004, found a similar pattern of symptoms 

in residents and office workers, but did not address the issue of persistence. This 

question is now being addressed with a second study implemented by the 

NYCDOHMH WTC Registry and we look forward to the results, which will help 

shed light on this question. 

69 

While we await more survey information, we are cognizant of what we are seeing 

in our clinics. After 9/11, we began to treat residents who felt they had WTC-related 

illness in our Bellevue Hospital Asthma Clinic. We were then approached by the Beyond Ground Zero Network, a coalition of community organizations, and together 

began an unfunded program to treat residents. We were awarded an American Red 

Cross Liberty Disaster Relief Grant to set up a medical treatment program for 

WTC-related illness in residents and responders, which began functioning in September 2005. In September 2006, Mayor Bloomberg announced new initiatives to 

provide for evaluation and treatment of individuals with suspected World Trade 

Center-related illnesses and this city funding of $16 million over 5 years has allowed us to expand the program. 

To date, we have evaluated and are treating over 1,000 individuals. In the past 

month alone, with minimal outreach, we received over 400 calls to enter the program. We have a wait list of hundreds. These requests are from local residents of 

diverse socioeconomic status, some of whom were evacuated, but others who were 

left in their apartments, with no place to go. We also receive calls from office workers, many of whom were caught in the initial dust cloud as the towers disintegrated 

and then later returned to work. And we have a large contingency of clean-up workers, the individuals who removed the layers of dusts that had infiltrated the surrounding commercial and office spaces in order to allow the city to function. 

An individual has to have a physical symptom to enter our program; we are not 

a screening program for asymptomatic individuals. Most of our patients have symptoms that began after 9/11 and consist of upper respiratory symptoms such as sinus 

congestion (45 percent), or lower respiratory symptoms, such as cough (52 percent), 

shortness of breath (65 percent) or wheezing (36 percent), for which they are still 

seeking care, 5 years after 9/11. We have individuals like J.K., a former broker in 

government securities, who was working at 80 Pine Street, just east of the towers, 

and was caught in the dust cloud on 9/11. He returned to work 1 week later and 

soon after developed a persistent unremitting cough. He sought care by a variety 

of physicians and was told of recurrent bronchitis, pneumonia, and finally 1 year 

ago, was told that he had reactive airways dysfunction. Last year alone, he required 

5 courses of prednisone—a steroid medication. Now, no longer working, and on 

chronic inhaled medications, on a good day, he can walk 5 blocks. 

Or M.R. a 37-year-old resident of Beekman Street, just east of the towers, who 

went 10 years without a sick day and trained for the marathon. He stayed in Lower 

Manhattan, having no place else to go, cleaned his dust-covered apartment and 1 

year later, noted the onset of shortness of breath and wheezing. He now requires 

daily high dose inhaled steroids to control his symptoms. 

Or J.F. a healthy man, a carpenter at the NY Stock exchange, caught in the dust 

cloud, who helped clean up the exchange, now with lung function that is 60 percent 

of normal. 

Whereas many of these individuals have symptoms that can be treated like asthma, others have a process in their lungs that we do not fully understand and may 

consist of a granulomatous disease of the lung like sarcoid, or fibrosis, which is a 

scarring in the lungs. And although we call ourselves a ‘‘treatment’’ program, many 

questions remain. We do not know how best to evaluate and monitor the symptoms. 

We do not know which medications work best. We do not know how long we will 

need to treat these individuals and if the symptoms will completely resolve. We do 

not understand the underlying mechanism or pathology of the symptoms. Only rare 

individuals, those with atypical presentations or a failure to respond to treatment, 

have had invasive tests, which may help reveal the underlying pathology. Finally, 

we do not know whether other diseases will emerge, the threat of cancers, particularly those of the blood or lymph nodes, remains a concern. We know that many 

residents and workers of Downtown Manhattan were subjected to environmental insults on a large scale and many will require continued screening and treatment for 

years to come. Our unanswered questions suggest the continued need for epidemiologic, clinical and translational research studies to help answer these questions. 

I thank Mayor Bloomberg and Members of Congress for their efforts to provide 

funding for monitoring and treatment and members present for having this important hearing. We need continued support for treatment programs for residents, local 

workers, and individuals involved in rescue, recovery, and debris removal. 

Pertinent funding to Joan Reibman, MD.: 

2001–2002: CDC, World Trade Center Residents Respiratory Survey (Institutional 

P.I, Lin P.I.). 

2001–2003: NIH, NIEHS, World Trade Center Residents Respiratory Impact Study: 

Physiologic/Pathologic characterization of residents with respiratory complaints 

(P.I.). 

70 

2004–2005: CDC, NIOSH WTC Worker and Volunteer Medical Monitoring Program 

(P.I.). 

2005–2007: American Red Cross Liberty Disaster Relief Fund (P.I.). 

2006–2011: New York City funding for Bellevue WTC Environmental Health Center. 

Senator CLINTON. Thank you very much, Doctor. 

Dr. Melius. 

STATEMENT OF JAMES MELIUS, M.D., Ph.D., CHAIR, ADVISORY 

BOARD OF THE WORLD TRADE CENTER MEDICAL MONITORING AND TREATMENT PROGRAM, ALBANY, NY 

Dr. MELIUS. Thank you, Senator Clinton, Congressman Nadler. 

I’m Dr. James Melius. I’m an occupational physician and epidemiologist. I currently work as the Administrator for the New 

York State Laborers’ Health and Safety Trust Fund, which is a 

labor management organization. 

I’ve been involved in health issues for World Trade Center responders since shortly after September 11. Over 3,000 of our union 

members were involved in response and cleanup activities at the 

site and in fact, I have with me here today in the audience, two 

of our union members, Daniel Arriga and Vladmir Lomek, both of 

whom worked at the site, both of whom have developed significant 

respiratory and other health problems due to their work down at 

the World Trade Center. They are among the many different people 

that—the type of groups that have been—developed significant illness. 

Dr. Herbert, I believe, has already sort of described the diversity 

of the groups that worked at the World Trade Center and I was 

asked in my testimony to focus on some of the issues related to 

health insurance and workers’ compensation and regarding potential sources that could help to pay for the costs of the monitoring 

and treatment for these workers. 

Now, in my written testimony, I’ve outlined a number of the 

issues that have come up with the use of health insurance for this 

type of coverage. It includes the fact that many of the people were 

uninsured, many have lost coverage because of their health problems and disabilities, many also faced very high deductibles or 

copays and significant out-of-pocket expenses for them that can 

limit their abilities to pay for medications and other necessary 

medical care. 

Also, one basic problem with health insurance is that it’s not 

supposed to pay for—it’s excluded from paying for work-related illnesses. So even the Medicare system has a program in place to try 

to recognize that something being asked for reimbursement may be 

work-related and to question that or to stop payment for that is 

common with other health insurance. So there may be sort of a period of time where there is uncertainty about the work-relatedness 

of the illness that health insurance will cover but at some point, 

it stops paying for work-related health conditions. So this is going 

to be a significant problem and one can’t expect health insurance 

to provide the overall coverage for this program. 

It also is a problem because it shifts the burden of paying for all 

these illnesses or much of the burden, over to our health insurance 

funds. As many of the other union leaders who are here in the audience can tell you, our union health insurance funds have seen the 

71 

financial burdens of this. We are paying—our costs have gone up 

in all our funds due to the large numbers of people with World 

Trade Center-related illnesses that we are providing some reimbursement and healthcare for. 

So it’s very hard to see health insurance as paying for a significant portion of the medical monitoring and treatment needs for this 

population. 

Now one would also expect that the workers’ compensation system would provide coverage in some way for this. However again, 

as I outlined in my testimony, there are many problems with the 

health—the workers’ compensation coverage that is available for 

these responders. Basically two systems, one is sort of the line-ofduty disability and pension, retirement system for the uniformed 

services in New York and finally, the other is the regular workers’ 

compensation insurance system run through the State of New York 

but usually paid for either through self-insurance or through private insurance companies. 

Unfortunately, these systems have long bureaucratic delays built 

into them, particularly the State Workers’ Compensation System. 

It can take months or years for a claim to be processed and even 

while that is being processed, the insurance company or person 

handling the claim will often contest almost every step of that process, including diagnostic testing, including even routine medications for the chronic condition, even after a claim has been accepted. So although many of the people involved in seeking treatment 

for their World Trade Center-related condition have applied for 

workers’ compensation, it may be months or years before their 

claims may be recognized and even then, there is a great amount 

of uncertainty to this. 

The city of New York outlined in their report that even the city 

of New York routinely contests every claim that is related to World 

Trade Center-related conditions. So I think it is unfair to expect 

the workers’ compensation system, certainly in the short term, to 

be able to provide for the health coverage, the medical monitoring 

and treatment program costs. 

New York State has taken some steps to try to improve that situation, to improve the processing claims for World Trade Centerrelated illnesses. Most of those changes have just gone into place 

or are going into place but even with these changes, I don’t think 

we can expect the workers’ compensation system to provide a full 

cost for this treatment program. And it also is a problem because 

it shifts the burden over again to either the city, in the case of 

someone that is self-insured or to the private companies and their 

insurers, to pay for these costs. 

We believe that a comprehensive solution is needed to address 

these healthcare needs for the 9/11 responders. We cannot rely on 

a fragmented, patchwork system utilizing private philanthropy, 

limited health insurance, line-of-duty disability retirement and 

workers’ compensation to support the necessary medical monitoring 

and treatment for the thousands of people that need it. This approach will inevitably leave many of the ill and disabled rescue and 

recovery workers without needed medical treatment, which can 

only worsen their conditions and certainly over the shorter term, 

this is a critical period. As we are recognizing, Dr. Kelly, Dr. HerVerDate Aug 31 2005 16:08 Jul 30, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00075 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 S:\DOCS\34458.TXT SLABOR1 PsN: DENISE
72 

bert, and Dr. Reibman have pointed out through the programs that 

they are leading, we have in place a good monitoring, good diagnostic centers. They need to be in place to also provide treatment 

and we don’t want to delay that treatment or unnecessarily disrupt 

that treatment due to issues over who is going to pay for this cost 

or to drive people away from that treatment because they cannot 

afford it. 

So we would recommend in the shorter term that you take immediate steps. We need funding for the treatment program. That’s the 

one that is most immediately in jeopardy that I think the city has 

pointed out in their testimony, some of the estimated costs. There 

are other cost estimates out there that are on that order, $400 million or more for the overall program. 

I would also urge you to—we need to expand the current programs to fund Dr. Riebman’s program and other programs for the 

residents and other affected workers in the downtown area. 

And finally, I think we also need a program, a long-term program in place to cover not only the medical costs but also the wage 

loss and other disability costs to the many people who become very 

seriously ill related to the World Trade Center-related work. Something like Victims Compensation Fund, which has already been discussed here, would be one solution. There may be other approaches 

that can be looked at but we need to provide that type of care and 

certainly it’s something where the Federal Government needs to 

play a lead role in providing the funding and the structure for that 

program. 

Thank you. I’d be glad to answer questions at the appropriate 

time. 

[The prepared statement of Dr. Melius follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF JAMES MELIUS M.D., PH.D. 

Honorable Chairman Kennedy, Ranking Member Enzi, Senator Clinton and other 

members of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. I greatly appreciate the opportunity to appear before you at this hearing. 

I am James Melius, an occupational health physician and epidemiologist, who currently works as Administrator for the New York State Laborers’ Health and Safety 

Trust Fund, a labor-management organization focusing on health and safety issues 

for union construction laborers in New York State. During my career, I spent over 

7 years working for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health 

(NIOSH) where I directed groups conducting epidemiological and medical studies. 

After that, I worked for 7 years for the New York State Department of Health 

where, among other duties, I directed the development of a network of occupational 

health clinics around the State. I currently serve on the Federal Advisory Board on 

Radiation and Worker Health which oversees part of the Federal compensation program for former Department of Energy nuclear weapons production workers. 

I have been involved in health issues for World Trade Center responders since 

shortly after September 11. Over 3,000 of our union members were involved in response and clean-up activities at the site. One of my staff spent nearly every day 

at the site for the first few months helping to coordinate health and safety issues 

for our members who were working there. When the initial concerns were raised 

about potential health problems among responders at the site, I became involved in 

ensuring that our members participated in the various medical and mental health 

services that were being offered. For the past 3 years, I have served as the chair 

of the Steering Committee for the World Trade Center Medical Monitoring and 

Treatment Program. This committee includes representatives of responder groups 

and the involved medical centers (including the NYC Fire Department) who meet 

monthly to oversee the program and to ensure that the program is providing the 

necessary services to the many people in need of medical follow up and treatment. 

I also serve as co-chair of the Labor Advisory Committee for the WTC Registry operated by the New York City Department of Health. These activities provide me with 

73 

a good overview of the benefits of the current programs and the difficulties encountered by responders seeking to address their medical problems and other needs. 

I believe that Dr. Kelly and Dr. Herbert have already presented the medical findings from their respective medical program for these responders. The pulmonary 

disease and other health problems among both firefighters and other responders are 

quite striking and quite worrisome. Both programs have done an outstanding job 

in establishing their respective monitoring programs and in providing high quality 

medical examinations for many thousands of rescue workers and responders. These 

programs also recognized the problems that many of their participants were having 

paying for medical care for the conditions diagnosed in the medical monitoring programs and have made efforts to help the participants in obtaining necessary assistance. Given that one of the purposes of this hearing is to examine the need for more 

funding for treatment for people in this program, I believe that it may be helpful 

to examine the reasons why so many of the participants need assistance for paying 

for their medical treatment. 

HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE

The people who worked in the initial response to the September 11 disaster and 

the later recovery activities represented many different types of workers. On the 

public safety side, there were firefighters, police, and emergency medical services 

workers. The response and recovery activities also included construction trades 

workers, utility workers, sanitation workers, transit workers, cleaning workers, and 

NYC municipal workers from many agencies. Many other people just volunteered 

to work at the site especially in the first few days after September 11. Despite the 

diversity of backgrounds and job duties, these different groups are showing very 

similar patterns of illness. The pulmonary changes found in firefighters have also 

been demonstrated in the rescue and recovery workers being monitored in the 

Mount Sinai medical program. Most recently, an independent study conducted by 

medical researchers at Penn State University of NYC police officers responding to 

the WTC disaster reported similar respiratory findings among the group that they 

examined. The other types of medical and mental health problems documented 

among WTC responders also appear to be similar across all groups of responders. 

However, given the diversity of this workforce, it is not surprising that their 

health insurance coverage might be quite variable. We are currently surveying the 

major union groups in New York whose members worked in the WTC response to 

evaluate their health insurance and disability coverage. We would be glad to provide 

that information to the committee when it is complete. However, I can provide a 

general overview. 

All city workers are covered through the city’s general health insurance plan 

which provides basic coverage including retirement coverage for long time workers. 

However, pharmaceutical coverage is provided through a different plan administered through each separate union. Construction trade workers are usually covered 

through their labor-management health insurance fund which provides basic health 

insurance coverage and some pharmaceutical coverage. The pharmaceutical coverage is often quite limited with high deductibles and copays. These health plans 

require that the participant work a substantial number of days each quarter or year 

in order to maintain eligibility. An ill construction worker can easily lose their coverage by missing too many work days. Utility workers have general medical coverage including some pharmaceutical benefits. Cleaning workers (people who 

cleaned the residential and commercial buildings around the WTC) often worked for 

contractors who offered no health benefits at all. The majority of the people in the 

Mt. Sinai treatment program up to now have had no health insurance coverage or 

very limited coverage. 

All health insurance plans exclude coverage for work-related injuries and illnesses. Even Medicare has an active program to identify and recover payments for 

work-related services. While it is recognized that there may be uncertainty about 

whether a condition being diagnosed is work-related or not, this consideration could 

easily lead to the denial of health insurance coverage for many people with WTCrelated health conditions. New York State does have in place mechanisms for health 

insurance providers to be reimbursed for medical expense payments incurred for 

conditions that are ultimately determined to be eligible for workers’ compensation 

coverage. However, these mechanisms are administratively complicated and do not 

necessarily prevent the health insurer from denying reimbursement for WTC-related health expense. 

Another problem with health insurance is the limitations on coverage of many of 

the health insurance plans that cover the participants. This is especially critical for 

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ma, mental health problems, etc.) requires substantial medication costs. These costs 

commonly range from $5,000 to nearly $15,000 per year for participants. Many of 

the plans covering WTC participants have high deductibles or copays. Copays and 

deductibles can easily cost the participants with high medication costs several thousand dollars per year. These costs can severely strain the finances of a person with 

a moderate income especially if they have other health care costs and are missing 

significant time from their work due to illness. For those without any health insurance, the financial impact is even greater. Another potential problem is that many 

of these insurance programs have lifetime caps for each participant. Although these 

caps seem high ($500,000 to $1 million or more), they can easily be exceeded with 

a long-term serious illness. 

The medical and pharmaceutical costs for WTC-responders have also severely 

strained the health insurance plans for many of the responder groups, especially 

those providing pharmaceutical coverage. These funds are already stressed by the 

rapidly rising costs of health care. Those plans with a significant number of members who worked at the WTC response and clean-up have found that the overall 

medical and pharmaceutical costs for their plans have significantly increased due 

to the large number of participants with WTC-related medical costs. This has even 

led some to consider cutting back on their benefits for all members in order to absorb the costs for the WTC group. 

WORKERS’ COMPENSATION COVERAGE

One alternative to health insurance coverage for WTC-related conditions is workers’ compensation insurance. Workers’ compensation is supposed to be a no fault insurance system to provide workers who are injured or become ill due to job-related 

factors with compensation for their wage loss as well as full coverage for the medical 

costs associated with the monitoring and treatment of their condition. 

Similar to health insurance, the WTC program participants are covered by a variety of State, Federal, and local programs with different eligibility requirements, benefits, and other provisions. Most private and city workers are covered under the 

New York State Workers’ Compensation system. New York City is self insured while 

most of the private employers obtain coverage through an outside insurance company. Uniformed services workers are, for the most part, not covered by the New 

York State Workers’ Compensation system but rather have a line of duty disability 

retirement system managed by New York City. A firefighter, police officer, or other 

uniformed worker who can no longer perform their duties because of an injury or 

illness incurred while on duty can apply for a disability retirement which allows 

them to leave with significant retirement benefits. However, should a work-related 

illness first become apparent after retirement, no additional benefits (including medical care) are provided, and the medical benefits for even a recognized line of duty 

medical problem end when the person retires. Federal workers are covered under 

the compensation program for Federal workers. Coverage for workers who came 

from out-of-state will depend on their employment arrangements with their private 

employer or agency. However, volunteers from New York or from out-of-State are 

all covered under a special program established by the New York Workers Compensation Board after 9/11. 

The major difficulty with these compensation systems is the long delays in obtaining coverage. For example, the NYS Workers’ Compensation system is very bureaucratic. The insurer may challenge every step of the compensation process including 

even diagnostic medical testing. This challenge usually requires a hearing before a 

Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) administrative judge to evaluate the case, and 

this hearing may often be delayed for months. Even once the case is established, 

the insurer can still challenge treatments recommended for that individual even for 

a medication that the individual may have been taking for many months for a 

chronic work-related condition. Thus, it may be many years before the case of a person with a WTC-related condition is fully recognized and adjudicated by the compensation system. Meanwhile, the claimant may not be receiving any medical or 

compensation benefits or may have had their benefits disrupted many times. 

In order to alleviate some of the problems for WTC claimants, last year New York 

State implemented some new programs that were designed to improve coverage for 

WTC responders by providing medical coverage and salary compensation for responders while their WCB cases were being evaluated. However, these provisions 

must be initiated by the insurer carrier, and there is uncertainty as to who would 

be responsible for reimbursing these costs if the claims are ultimately denied. To 

date, these provisions do not appear to be widely used. There was also legislation 

passed last year that allows more New York City workers to obtain disability retirement benefits for WTC-related conditions. Currently, there is an advisory task force 

75 

in place that is examining how best to implement this legislation. Finally, there was 

a bill passed allowing people who worked at the WTC site to register for Workers’ 

Compensation benefits. Potential claimants were given a year to submit a registration form to the Board that makes them eligible to apply for benefits should they 

later develop a WTC-related health condition. Prior to that, claimants who later developed a WTC-related medical condition were not eligible to file claims because 

they were judged to have missed the filing deadline required by law. In addition, 

New York State has just passed broad workers’ compensation reform legislation that 

makes many changes in the current system. Once implemented, this legislation 

could help to alleviate some of the delays in the current system. However, it will 

be some time before all of these changes assist WTC claimants. Meanwhile, claimants continue to face long delays and many hurdles in obtaining workers’ compensation coverage for any conditions resulting from their WTC exposures. It is not clear 

that the recent changes in the system will adequately address these problems. 

I would also add that depending on workers’ compensation and disability retirement systems to cover the medical costs for the monitoring and treatment program 

places the financial burden on the employers and insurance companies. New York 

City is self insured and thus would pay directly for all claims. The private employers involved will also have greater costs either by directly paying for claims if they 

are self insured or through higher premiums due to an increase in their experience 

rating. 

COMPREHENSIVE SOLUTION

A comprehensive solution is needed to address the health needs of the 9/11 rescue 

and recovery workers. We cannot rely on a fragmented system utilizing private philanthropy, health insurance, line of duty disability retirement, and workers’ compensation to support the necessary medical monitoring and treatment for the thousands of people whose health may have been impacted by their WTC exposures. 

This fragmented approach will inevitably leave many of the ill and disabled rescue 

and recovery workers without needed medical treatment and will only worsen their 

health conditions. The delays and uncertainty about payments would discourage 

many of the ill rescue and recovery workers from seeking necessary care and discourage medical institutions from providing that care. 

This is a critical time for the federally funded treatment programs. Their funding 

will soon run out, and Federal officials are already proposing sending letters informing the participants that they must seek alternative arrangements for their care. 

Attempting to provide this care through some sort of voucher system as is currently 

being considered by the Department of Health and Human Services would also be 

disruptive. Discontinuing or disrupting this high quality, coordinated medical treatment would only exacerbate the health consequences of the 9/11 disaster. Most of 

the participants in the monitoring and treatment program have medical conditions 

(asthma, mental health problems, etc.) that should be responsive to medication and 

other treatments. Hopefully, many of these people will gradually recover and not become disabled due to their WTC-related medical conditions. To the extent, that we 

can prevent worsening of the medical conditions and prevent many of these people 

from becoming too disabled to work, we can not only help these individuals, but we 

can also lower the long-term costs of providing care and assistance to this population. 

Continued funding is also needed for the medical monitoring portion of this program. You have already heard about the benefits of the Centers of Excellence approach for providing and coordinating the medical monitoring and treatment of the 

9/11 rescue and recover workers. We must be able to follow the health status of 

these participants, not only to provide better medical care but also to evaluate the 

possible occurrence of new WTC-related conditions. Neither workers’ compensation 

nor health insurance will support this type of comprehensive service. This program 

should also be extended to the residents and workers in the area around the WTC 

who were also exposed to the dust and smoke from the site. Too often in the past, 

we have neglected to properly monitor the health of groups exposed in extraordinary 

situations only to later spend millions of dollars trying to determine the extent to 

which their health has been impacted. Agent Orange exposure in Vietnam and the 

current compensation program for nuclear weapons workers are only two examples 

of this problem. We should learn the lessons from these past mistakes and make 

sure that we provide comprehensive medical monitoring for those potentially impacted by the WTC disaster. 

Finally, we need to address the longer term compensation issues for the 9/11 rescue and recovery workers. This is a difficult issue due to the fragmented and adversarial nature of the current compensation systems and the potential costs for such 

76 

a program. One proposal has been to restart the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. This fund worked well for those immediately affected by the 9/11 disasters and would have the flexibility to take into account the differing benefits programs already available for anyone applying for compensation. However, other approaches to long-term compensation should also be considered. 

In summary, the current health insurance and workers’ compensation programs 

do not provide an adequate basis to ensure access to sufficient medical monitoring 

and treatment for 9/11 rescue and recovery workers. I would strongly urge you to 

take immediate steps to ensure that there is adequate Federal funding for the current medical monitoring and treatment programs and to open up these programs 

or similar programs to the affected residents and to other affected workers. I would 

also urge you to develop legislation to provide individuals access to long-term medical treatment for their WTC-related medical conditions and compensation for their 

losses. 

I would be glad to answer any questions. 

Senator CLINTON. Thank you very much. 

Dr. Stellman. 

STATEMENT OF JEANNE MAGER STELLMAN, PH.D., MAILMAN 

SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, NEW 

YORK, NY 

Dr. STELLMAN. Thank you very much for inviting me to present. 

I’m a Professor of Public Health at the Mailman’s School at Columbia University and I’m going to try to give you a very brief, more 

general perspective on the exposure and on the need to continue 

the monitoring of the responders. Just today, Esquire Magazine 

published an expose ́ on the monitoring that came out of—one of the 

editors of Esquire had a messenger bag that he carried with him 

on 9/11 and they took it out to Cahill out at UC–Davis and he did 

his analysis on one of the few pristine samples available and the 

New York Post apparently screamed a headline that the World 

Trade Center residue was less toxic than we thought. All of that 

is pretty meaningless and if you read the article, Cahill says that 

himself because there are no representative samples. We don’t 

know what the overall exposure was. The exposure changed from 

moment to moment, from day to day, from site to site. Even if anybody had bothered trying to take representative samples, chances 

are that their filters would have been completely clogged because 

this was the largest environmental conflagration of a site that we 

have ever experienced in this country. Technologically, there may 

be some natural ones and it is unnecessary to actually know the 

complete characterization. It’s undoable and unneeded because that 

is not the measure that we have ever used for any other experimental exposure. 

We do know that we had a six-story high rubble of cement dust, 

highly alkaloid, man-made mineral fibers, asbestos, the remains, 

the pulverized and volatilized remains of thousands of video display terminals, electric lights, plastics. We had smoldering and 

open fires, which daily would be generating polycyclic, polychlorinated biphenyls, dioxins, furans, other chloridates, benzenes, 

and metals. This was then followed, once the rubble was cleared 

enough, by a battalion of construction equipment that was admitting diesel emissions, which themselves are probable carcinogens 

and was re-aerosolizing everything so that we had what I think can 

only be characterized as a toxic chemical soup and maybe a chemical stew because we had large particles there but we had enough 

small particles and it doesn’t matter whether it was .1 percent or 

77 

2 percent, we had enough small particles that were of a small 

enough size that they could be inhaled, causing damage in and of 

themselves and also serving as an absorbent, a carrier for bringing 

these chemicals deep inside the lungs. We also have extensive possibility for skin absorption. 

I think the important point is that that chemical soup was comprised of the very chemicals that we as environment scientists have 

been studying intensively for years, that you as legislators and the 

policymakers have considered conducting research on and dealing 

with for years, one at a time. And here we have them all together. 

Why is it so important that this monitoring program not be 

abandoned? It can’t be abandoned because as you heard over and 

over again, we know pretty much what the acute effects were. We 

have no idea what the long-term, chronic effects are. To some people who’ve developed some exotic diseases now, we would like to 

say and we do say they are related to the World Trade Center but 

there is always a big question mark and we won’t be able to answer that question mark and establish the relative risk, the likelihood that it was related and the whole panorama of diseases unless 

we study the group as a whole. 

And Senator Clinton, if this cohort is abandoned, you’re going to 

put the responders exactly into the same position that the Vietnam 

veterans are in. I’ve spent most of my adult life now, it seems, 

studying Agent Orange. Once you take apart a cohort, you cannot 

put it together. You can’t identify them. We don’t know who those 

responders actually were. We’ve heard about the registry. The registry has many helpful, useful qualities to it but the registry 

doesn’t contain most of the workers and the qualifications for being 

a worker in the registry is very different from the ones in the monitoring program. The monitoring program has already obtained permission. The legislation—the Congress of the United States has 

now, in its wisdom, placed such onerous burdens on getting informed consent that you spend most of your time in epidemiology 

just trying to find people and getting them to sign a piece of paper 

so that you can begin to study. If that group is taken apart, we will 

never know what the true health effects are and it would be a 

gross, gross, gross disservice. 

The other reality is, I’m at the Columbia University Medical Center. We have one of the finest medical schools in the world. We 

train our doctors not—we get them a half an hour training on occupational health and occupational history. If you send these guys 

out to the world of medicine, there are no people out there, outside 

of these specialized clinics who actually treat them and we only 

give people 30 seconds of interview time with the physician, so 

even if they knew how to take an occupational history, they 

wouldn’t be able to. So if you take apart this cohort, not only will 

you have abandoned the possibility of knowing the true effects, you 

will also have abandoned the possibility of people getting appropriate care and of us recognizing early what interventions might be 

necessary to prevent and help them. 

Finally, as a Professor of Public Health, I can say that if we 

abandon this program, we will have yet again have lost our ability 

to understand how to respond to these disasters. Just take a look 

at Katrina, at yet another group of first responders who are not 

78 

identified, not being treated properly and because of the kind of 

lack of political momentum that we had in New York are just out 

there on their own. Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Dr. Stellman follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF JEANNE MAGER STELLMAN, PH.D. 

My name is Jeanne Mager Stellman and I am a professor at the Mailman School 

of Public Health, Columbia University in New York City and director of the General 

Public Health program. My formal training is in physical chemistry, in which I hold 

a doctorate. I have spent the majority of my career in occupational and environmental health studies. I have recently been the principal investigator of a multimillion dollar contract with National Academy of Sciences to develop methodologies 

for evaluating exposure of veterans to herbicides in Vietnam. That work has resulted in a number of scientific publications, including an article and the cover in 

Nature, as well as an exhibit in the London Science Museum. Our methodology was 

strongly endorsed by the Institute of Medicine. The Institute of Medicine has recently convened a committee for recommending ways in which to implement our 

methodology. Our long-term work on the health of American Legionnaires has been 

widely recognized and in 2005 Dr. Steven Stellman and I were awarded the Legion’s 

Distinguished Service Medal, its highest honor. 

I have been a Guggenheim Fellow and a recipient of one of the first Preventive 

Oncology Academic Awards given by the National Cancer Institute. I have been the 

principal investigator of many federally funded grants and have served on numerous 

peer review committees in both the United States and Canada. I am Editor-in-Chief 

of the 4th edition of the 4-volume Encyclopaedia of Occupational Health and Safety 

(ILO, Geneva 1998), an internationally recognized reference. I was Editor of the 

journal Women and Health from 1986–2004. I have written three books which have 

been translated into many languages, dozens of monographs, chapters and peerreviewed articles. 

With regard to the World Trade Center, I served on the EPA World Trade Center 

Expert Technical Review Panel, 2004–2006, that studied the environmental issues 

surrounding the destruction of the towers and the subsequent cleanup activities. 

Our task was to make recommendations with regard to community cleanup programs. During the past year, I have been working on analysis of various aspects 

of the health data gathered by the clinical examinations in the WTC Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program and am the first author of a forthcoming paper on 

the mental health of the responders. I am thus intimately familiar with the scientific background and with the current health status of the responders. 

I believe that my background and, in particular, my work with Vietnam veterans’ 

exposures and health, and the related science policy issues, provides both expertise 

and perspective for understanding the complex psychological and chemical exposures of the World Trade Center responders. 

The environmental effects of the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center 

were cataclysmic. When the towers collapsed and were pulverized, thousands of tons 

of highly toxic and corrosive dust (particulate matter) were released into the atmosphere in a toxic plume that spread contaminants over Lower Manhattan and neighboring areas. The fiery crashes of two fully fueled jetliners added some 90,000 liters 

of jet fuel at extremely high temperatures to the conflagration, creating a toxic 

plume containing a mixture of volatile organic compounds, acids, soot and metals. 

Pulverized dust was all that remained of the Twin Towers and it created a toxic 

mound six stories high. The rubble continued to smolder and burn for several 

months. A third building in the complex, WTC 7, also collapsed, thereby adding to 

the toxic mess and to the intense psychological trauma of the event. 

The actual chemical nature of Ground Zero and the surrounding environs is very 

poorly characterized. An insufficient number of representative samples were drawn 

so that we only have an incomplete picture of the exposures. Yet some facts are 

clear. The rubble was highly alkaline and contained tons of corrosive cement dust. 

The rubble also contained tons of man-made mineral fibers, asbestos, and other 

building materials. Toxic chemicals, like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), 

polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polychlorinated furans and dioxins, were 

present and their composition varied from time to time and from place to place. Several excellent overviews of the devastation and conflagration exist and a few are 

listed in the rear of this testimony. (1–5) 

The compounds and minerals that made up the WTC toxic plume were not benign. They have been the subject of much scientific inquiry and regulatory activity 

over the years. The toxic plume and the fumes emanating from the rubble contained 

79 

a host of known and suspected carcinogens like dioxin, asbestos, the polycyclic aromatics and benzene. As the cleanup continued, diesel fuel emissions from the many 

construction vehicles added another toxic component and potential human carcinogen to the mix. The nature of the exposures changed with time, depending on 

whether or not there was rain, and the extent to which the fires were smoldering. 

Concentrations, of course, diminished as the cleanup progressed. Exposures were 

not limited to Ground Zero. Workers were involved in transporting the rubble and 

in adding it to the Staten Island landfill. Others were employed at the Office of the 

Chief Medical Examiner, and, of course, the Fire Department of New York, FDNY, 

contributed enormously and selflessly to the rescue and recovery effort. 

From an environmental perspective, it is important to emphasize that many of the 

components of the WTC rescue, recovery and cleanup operations would individually 

have been considered serious occupational health hazards. The combination of so 

many toxic substances in such large quantities, and in the presence of so much particulate matter, will very likely exacerbate any individual chemical effects, making 

the sum of the components far more toxic. Although most of the dust was too coarse 

to be inhaled deep into the lungs, given the enormous mass of rubble, even the very 

small percentage of dust particles that were present and small enough to enter the 

small airways (respirable dust) represents a serious toxic load. Such small particles 

not only have the potential to damage the lungs themselves, but they also serve as 

excellent vehicles for transporting adsorbed chemicals into the lung and bloodstream. The larger particles that were breathed into the upper airways were highly 

alkaline. Exposure to the alkaline dust appears to have caused serious upper airways and throat problems, as well as gastrointestinal reflux, in a significant number 

of rescue workers. 

In addition to the dust and chemical exposures, workers were exposed to extraordinarily stressful working conditions. Among the group of workers who have been 

monitored by the WTC Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program (non-FDNY), 

more than 65 percent arrived at Ground Zero within the first 48 hours following 

the attack. By the end of the first week, about 70 percent of the overall workforce 

had arrived and by September 24, 2001, 90 percent of the rescue, recovery and 

cleanup crew was on the job. The great majority of them worked at Ground Zero 

operations for 3 months or more. Thus these workers were present for the extraordinarily traumatic—and frightening—early post-attack days and then they remained for the arduous and stressful working conditions that followed, with hours 

that were longer and work that was more intense than almost any other job in the 

United States. 

The initial days at the site were fraught with danger and emotion. Workers handled nearly 20,000 human body parts. They discovered and transported bodies. They 

served in long bucket brigades to clear enough debris for construction vehicles to 

enter. Many worked around-the-clock, and then on workdays with extremely long 

shifts. They accomplished their tasks in a breathtakingly short period of time. Many 

of the rescue, recovery and cleanup workers also suffered the personal loss of 

friends, family or co-workers in the attack. Conditions such are these are an excellent breeding ground for a variety of stress-related psychological problems, like posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, panic disorder, generalized anxiety and other 

manifestations of a substantial stress response. These disorders can affect not only 

the workers themselves but also their spouses, children and other loved ones. 

The average age of the non-FDNY responders was about 43 years. In the group 

currently being monitored, about one-third were in law enforcement and about the 

same percentage were construction workers. Utility workers and New York City employees drawn from a variety of agencies make up the remaining rescue, recovery 

and cleanup team now under surveillance in the monitoring and treatment. Many 

of these men and women had no training in rescue/recovery operations and we know 

that there were serious problems in providing workers with adequate protective 

gear or training for using it. Many of the workers had occupations that had already 

subjected them to almost two decades of exposures to toxic and dangerous conditions, thereby possibly putting them at even greater risk by exacerbating existing 

disease potential. 

The demographic makeup of the workforce is relevant to any consideration of both 

long- and short-term health effects. The rescue, recovery and cleanup workers were 

not an army of young recruits fresh from basic training, but were more mature, with 

some not in optimal physical condition. It is possible that a workforce with these 

characteristics may be placed at even greater risk for both short- and long-term 

health effects. 

Studies of the WTC rescue, recovery and cleanup workers and of the FDNY firefighters are already showing widespread pulmonary symptomatology. New studies 

on the mental health of the rescue, recovery and cleanup workers that are currently 

80 

under scientific review, likewise, indicate an excess of psychological distress and an 

extraordinary amount of social and physical disability. 

The current studies, however, cannot possibly provide us with insight into the 

overall burden of disease and disability because the diseases associated with WTClike exposures are chronic and take many years to manifest themselves. Thus it is 

too early to know the full extent to which exposure to carcinogens and other toxic 

and stressful working conditions will lead to elevated rates of cancer or whether the 

rescue, recovery and cleanup workers will suffer from more cardiovascular disease 

or other chronic diseases. 

WHY CONTINUE MONITORING AND TREATING

It is now more than 5 years after the terrorist attack and the question has been 

raised of whether or not to continue funding a monitoring and treatment program 

for the rescue, recovery and cleanup workers, FDNY and other governmental employees. Let us set aside moral and ethical considerations about whether our Nation 

has an obligation to care for those who selflessly come forward to serve us during 

our time of need, and instead consider some scientific and health policy issues. 

• If monitoring the rescue, recovery and cleanup worker and FDNY cohorts were 

to be abandoned, we might NEVER know the full extent of health effects caused 

by responding to the emergency and working at the site. Systematic appraisal and 

follow up of the health of a sufficiently large number of responders is needed for 

meaningful epidemiological research. The cohort currently enrolled in the monitoring and treatment program provides us with the opportunity to understand both 

the short- and the long-term health consequences of exposure to the conditions 

caused by the attack. Environmental epidemiology studies generally require a long 

period of follow up both in order to have sufficient ‘‘statistical power’’ to be able to 

observe an elevated risk and also to allow time for the chronic diseases to develop. 

Unfortunately, despite its many strengths, the WTC Health Registry is far from 

complete with respect to the worker population and no governmental or private 

agency has identified all the workers who participated in the operations. Thus the 

responders in the program provide the best study population and possibly the only 

feasible opportunity for identifying both long- and short-term health effects. 

• If the monitoring and treatment program were to be abandoned, the rescue, recovery and cleanup workers and firefighters will probably not be adequately treated 

for any WTC-related maladies. Most physicians have little or no formal training in 

environmental and occupational medicine. They are, by and large, not equipped to 

take an adequate exposure history and, given the constraints on medical care today, 

would not have sufficient time to take such a history in any case. The exposures 

were complex and it is likely that the combination of psychological, physical and 

chemical stresses may lead to unexpected health outcomes. The symptoms that a 

responder presents with may be related to underlying causes not easily recognized 

by an untrained physician seeing isolated patients. Treatment by trained physicians 

and surveillance by scientists, and in groups larger enough for patterns to be observed, is essential to our understanding the full range of health effects. 

• If the monitoring and treatment program were to be abandoned, the rescue, recovery and cleanup workers and firefighters may be deprived of early treatment 

interventions that are much more likely to be developed in a specialized program 

dedicated specifically to this group. 

• If the monitoring and treatment program were to be abandoned, the rescue, recovery and cleanup workers, and firefighters may not have the financial means to 

seek and pay for needed tests, examinations and treatments. Social stigma, particularly for psychological distress and disorders, may also make them reluctant to seek 

help. The established relationships and vigorous outreach activities of the monitoring and treatment program can help overcome those barriers. 

• If the monitoring and treatment program were to be abandoned, we will have 

lost a great opportunity to learn from this unique and tragic event and to put into 

place public health policies and practices that will lessen the impact of future natural or technological disasters. Experience and knowledge will be dispersed as the 

scientists and physicians involved will, of necessity, turn to other activities. 

In conclusion, I think it is illustrative to look at another example in which men 

and women were called upon to serve their Nation: the Vietnam War. For more than 

25 years I have been engaged in studying the use and effects of military herbicides 

in Vietnam. To date, some 30 years after the end of the Vietnam War and more 

than 35 years after the last Agent Orange was sprayed, we still cannot tell our veterans and their loved ones what the effects of exposures to the herbicides are. We 

base our veteran compensation and treatment policies on occupational studies of 

others—forestry and farm workers—not Vietnam veterans. Just this month an InstiVerDate Aug 31 2005 16:08 Jul 30, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00084 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 S:\DOCS\34458.TXT SLABOR1 PsN: DENISE
81 

tute of Medicine Committee met for the first time to begin formulating recommendations for implementing the exposure model I and my collaborators developed in 

order to carry out definitive studies on the effects of herbicides on Vietnam veterans. If and when those studies are undertaken, a major roadblock will be identifying large enough groups of veterans and reconstructing their Vietnam activities. 

For many veterans it will be too little, too late. Abandoning the monitoring and 

treatment program will put the WTC responders into precisely the same position. 

Or consider the difficulties that Vietnam veterans so often encounter in receiving 

appropriate diagnoses and treatment. For example, in one study we carried out on 

American Legionnaires we learned that Vietnam veterans seeking treatment at VA 

facilities were only occasionally queried about their combat exposures, a pivotal consideration for recognizing and treating PTSD. Abandoning the medical monitoring 

and treatment program will inevitably lead to similar results: the particular symptoms and diseases they may develop will simply be lost in the general population 

and few practitioners will know the right questions to ask. 

And just as with Vietnam, if the Nation were to try to finally make it a priority 

to put together studies of the health effects of working on the World Trade Center 

rescue, recovery and cleanup, it is doubtful that identifying and re-assembling the 

group now under surveillance could be easily done at a later date. 

Finally, we can wonder whether the next cohort of volunteers and responders may 

be less willing to put their own lives on the line if those men and women who rose 

to the challenge of recovering from the WTC attacks were ultimately ill-treated by 

their country. 

SELECTED REFERENCE

1. Landrigan PJ, Lioy PJ, Thurston G, Berkowitz G, Chen LC, Chillrud SN, 

Gavett SH, Georgopoulos PG, Geyh AS, Levin S, Perera F, Rappaport SM, Small 

C, Group NWTCW. Health and environmental consequences of the world trade center disaster. [see comment]. Environmental Health Perspectives 112:731–9 (2004). 

2. Offenberg JH, Eisenreich SJ, Gigliotti CL, Chen LC, Xiong JQ, Quan C, Lou 

X, Zhong M, Gorczynski J, Yiin LM, Illacqua V, Lioy PJ. Persistent organic pollutants in dusts that settled indoors in Lower Manhattan after September 11, 2001. 

Journal of Exposure Analysis and Environmental Epidemiology 14:164–72 (2004). 

3. Offenberg JH, Eisenreich SJ, Chen LC, Cohen MD, Chee G, Prophete C, Weisel 

C, Lioy PJ. Persistent organic pollutants in the dusts that settled across Lower 

Manhattan after September 11, 2001. [see comment]. Environmental Science & 

Technology 37:502–8 (2003). 

4. Lioy PJ, Weisel CP, Millette JR, Eisenreich S, Vallero D, Offenberg J, Buckley 

B, Turpin B, Zhong M, Cohen MD, Prophete C, Yang I, Stiles R, Chee G, Johnson 

W, Porcja R, Alimokhtari S, Hale RC, Weschler C, Chen LC. Characterization of the 

dust/smoke aerosol that settled east of the World Trade Center (WTC) in Lower 

Manhattan after the collapse of the WTC 11 September 2001. Environmental Health 

Perspectives 110:703–14 (2002). 

5. Lioy PJ, Georgopoulos P. The anatomy of the exposures that occurred around 

the World Trade Center site: 9/11 and beyond. Ann NY Acad Sci 1076:54–79 (2006). 

Senator CLINTON. Thank you very much, Doctor. 

Mr. Endean. 

STATEMENT OF JEFFREY L. ENDEAN, GROUND ZERO VOLUNTEER AND FORMER DIVISION COMMANDER, MORRIS COUNTY NEW JERSEY SHERIFF’S OFFICE, SUCCASUNNA, NJ 

Mr. ENDEAN. Thank you. I would like to thank Senator Clinton 

and the members of the HELP Committee for the opportunity to 

testify today regarding the health and care of 9/11 responders. 

There are many responders who would have liked to have had this 

opportunity and I wish to recognize them and do my best to represent them honorably. 

I am Jeffrey L. Endean. I am a former Division Commander in 

the Morris County Sheriff’s Office Emergency Services Division. On 

the morning of September 11, 2001, I responded with personnel 

under my command to carry out mutual aid to the New Jersey/New 

82 

York Port Authority Police Department at the site of the attacks 

against America at the World Trade Center site. 

The scene was very sad, to see my country ripped open and just 

imagining the body count. The smoke was acrid and irritating and 

it was hard to see your hand in front of your face. The sound of 

the firefighters mayday alarms sounded like a million crickets. 

After the 11th, I was assigned to the Port Authority as I am certified in Critical Instance Stress Management. My assignment was 

at the pile. 

The pile looked like a war zone or a peak into hell. The fire, 

smoke and smell of burning flesh, devastation and the parts of a 

skeleton of what was the World Trade Center was surreal at best 

and terrifying at worst. Only someone who has seen such devastation can understand how this affects one. The faces of the responders told many sad stories. 

I could not be left there by my agency so what I did was, very 

creative scheduling that allowed me to respond daily and volunteer 

my time because it was much more important. I kept up as a volunteer responding after my shifts in Morris County until November 

22, 2001. I retired August 1, 2002 after using sick time from November 2001. 

During October 2001, I developed a chronic cough and was 

wheezing and just not feeling well. The coughing would be violent 

with my eyes bulging and not getting a breath. I was having difficulties breathing, wheezing, trouble sleeping. I was developing 

upper and lower respiratory infections on a regular basis. 

I received a letter from the PBA to contact Mount Sinai Hospital 

for screening. I did so post haste and on January 2003, had my 

first screening. The initial screening revealed scarring on my lungs, 

pleural thickening of my lungs, wheezing, asthma and a chronic 

cough and rhinitis. But there was no treatment program available 

so I went to what doctors I could. 

I would later find that I had been misdiagnosed and that’s a key 

point. The average doctor in the average town are not these doctors. I was treated for colds and I was treated for allergies. I was 

called for a second screening in 2005, which revealed the same 

issues. I was placed into the new treatment program at Mount 

Sinai. I was then, in addition, diagnosed with RADS, GERD, asthma, chronic headaches, joint aches. I was having trouble sleeping 

and PTSD. 

I was assigned to Dr. Laura Bienenfeld, who became my primary 

doctor there, who made diagnoses and started initial treatment. 

But she did not stop there. Each and everything that I was diagnosed with, I was sent to a specialist within Mount Sinai Hospital 

to corroborate it. So there was no guessing. Everything was what 

it truly was. 

In fact, I was examined by a Dr. Genden, an ENT, who told me 

I was the seven-thousandth person that he had seen. To me, that 

was amazing in the fact that the knowledge that this man must 

have is unbelievable. What doctor in the world has seen 7,000 of 

something that nobody else has ever seen? This just—it made me 

feel good. It didn’t make me feel good what he had to say but it 

made me feel very good with that. I had a camera placed up into 

my sinuses and then down my throat and what have you and he 

83 

explained to me that my sinuses—there was particulate encapsulated throughout my sinuses, within the cells of my sinuses and 

that they were basically like bloody sponges and that I had vocalcord larynx damage. That’s as far as he could go. After that, I saw 

Dr. Christie, who did an endoscopy. I had been taking a drug called 

Nexium for the GERD, the acid reflux for the 12 months prior. 

After Dr. Christie’s examination, with the endoscopy, she found 

that the esophageal erosion was still there and it went down my 

esophagus into my small intestine. So the Nexium had not stopped 

it or touched it. So the dose was doubled and time will tell. 

I had PET scans for possible tumors. I awake now, to take three 

inhalers, one breathing pill and a host of other meds. I use a 

nebulizer treatment three times a day. I still wheeze and cough 

and get severe headaches. I’m 57-years old and hope to live to be 

87 but I do have my definite doubts. 

I’m now getting the proper treatment from those who know the 

illnesses best and let me say that I’m not saying that the people 

from the Fire Department and the other doctors here don’t know 

as well as Mount Sinai but Mount Sinai is where I have been taken 

care of so I can only speak for them. Their care has made the quality of life better. The World Trade Center Treatment Program at 

Mount Sinai is the most knowledgeable group of doctors in the 

world regarding the toxins and illnesses from a disaster like 9/11. 

No other doctors have ever seen and documented the symptoms 

and designed treatments and continue to innovate and adapt to the 

worsening illnesses. To move this treatment away from Mount 

Sinai would be a disaster equal to 9/11 itself and continue the casualties of September 11. 

We could not stop the attacks and death on September 11 but 

you, as the Senate and the Congress, you have the ability to stop 

the next human disaster. Creating a department or a program run 

by the government will be costly and cumbersome and is not necessary. The Mount Sinai program exists today and runs just fine. 

To change it would result in the aforementioned human disaster. 

I ask the committee to take a long, hard look at the success of the 

existing program and to continue to subsidize it. This would save 

dollars and lives. This legacy of illnesses and suffering will continue for my lifetime and way beyond. The responders need to be 

taken care of. They were running down West Street towards the 

towers, not away from them. 

This was an attack on America. President Bush termed it an act 

of war. Those who responded deserve nothing less than the best 

care. FDR said, ‘‘Any man who sheds his blood for his country deserves a fair deal.’’ This applies now in 2007 as it did then. I cannot believe that every Senator and Congressperson does not champion this cause. America’s sons and daughters came to her aid as 

it was their duty. Now it is the duty of the Federal Government 

to care for those who served. 

Thank you. God Bless America. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Endean follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF D/CDR. JEFFREY L. ENDEAN, RET. 

Chairman Kennedy, Ranking Member Enzi, Senator Clinton, and other members 

of the HELP Committee, I am Jeffrey L. Endean of Sucasunna, New Jersey. Former 

84 

Division Commander with the Morris County Sheriff’s Office with 20 years assigned 

to the Special (Emergency) Services Division. 

I would like to thank Senator Clinton and the members of the HELP Committee 

for the opportunity to testify today regarding the health care of 911 responders. 

There are many responders who would like to have had this opportunity and I wish 

to recognize them, and do my best to represent them honorably. 

On the morning of September 11, 2001 I responded with personnel under my command to carry out mutual aid to the New Jersey, New York Port Authority Police 

Deptartment at the site of the attacks against America at the World Trade Center 

site. 

The scene was very sad, to see my country ripped open, and just imagining the 

body count. The smoke was acrid and irritating, it was hard to see your hand in 

front of your face. The sound of the firefighters’ ‘‘mayday’’ alarms sounded like a 

million crickets. After the 11th I was assigned to the Port Authority as I am certified in Critical Incident Stress Management. My assignment was at the pile. The 

pile as it was called looked like a war zone or a peek into hell. The fire, smoke, 

smell of burning flesh. The devastation and parts of the skeleton of what was the 

WTC was surreal at best and terrifying at worst. Only someone who has seen such 

devastation and death can understand how this affects one. The faces of the responders told many sad stories. I worked along and watched out for personnel experiencing emotional issues. I would speak to them about their fears and feelings and 

guide them to a mental health professional if necessary. I kept this up as a volunteer responding after my shifts in Morris County until November 22, 2001. I retired 

August 1, 2002 after using sick time from November 22, 2001. During October 2001, 

I developed a chronic cough and was wheezing and just not feeling well. The 

coughing would be violent with my eyes bulging and not getting a breath. I was having difficulties breathing, wheezing and trouble sleeping. I was developing upper 

and lower respiratory infections on a regular basis. I received a letter from the PBA 

to contact Mt. Sinai Hospital for a screening. I did so post haste and in January 

2003 had my first screening. The initial screening revealed scarring on my lungs, 

plural thickening of my lungs, wheezing, asthma and the chronic cough, and rhinitis. There was no treatment program available and I would later find that I had 

been misdiagnosed and treated for colds and allergies. My health continued to deteriorate, and the medical bills were mounting even though I had 80-20 medical insurance. They paid a set amount for services and I was stuck with ill health and 

mounting medical and prescription bills. I was called for a second screening in 2005 

which revealed the same issues. I was placed into the new treatment program at 

Mt. Sinai. I was then in addition diagnosed with rad’s, gerd, asthma, chronic headaches, joint aches, and trouble sleeping and PTSD. I was assigned to Dr. Laura 

Bienenfeld who made diagnoses and initial treatment. She then referred me to specialists. 

I was seen by the specialists at Mt. Sinai who corroborated the initial diagnosis 

with MRI, x ray, camera up sinuses, down the throat, Endoscopy and visual. Dr. 

Genden ETN told me I was the seven-thousandth person he had seen and that particulate was encapsulated in the cells of my sinuses and my sinuses were like bloody 

sponges. 

Specialist Dr. Christie learned from endoscopy that after a year of Nexium my 

esophageal erosion was not healing so the dose was doubled. I also had a PET scan 

as it was believed a mass in my lung may have been cancerous. I awake to take 

three inhalers, one breathing pill, and other meds. I now need a nebulizer treatment 

three times per day and I still wheeze and cough and get severe headaches. My 

worker responders claim was accepted and all mentioned illnesses accepted in court. 

I am receiving good care, but will it remain? I am not getting well, just holding 

ground and will I lose ground? I am 57 and hope to live to 87 but I don’t know how 

long I will live. 

I am now getting the proper treatment from those who know the illnesses best. 

Their care has made the quality of life better. The WTC treatment program at Mt. 

Sinai is the most knowledgeable group of doctors in the world regarding the toxins 

and illnesses from a disaster like 911. No other doctors have ever seen and documented the symptoms and designed treatments and continue to innovate and adapt 

to the worsening illneses. To move this treatment away from Mt. Sinai would be 

a human disaster equal to 911 itself. The misdiagnoses and poor treatment would 

start all over again. We could not stop the attacks, death and continued casualties 

of September 11. You have the ability to stop the human disaster. Creating a department or program by the government would be costly and cumbersome and it is 

not necessary. The Mt. Sinai program exists and to change it would result in the 

aforementioned human disaster. I ask the committee to take a long hard look at the 

85 

success of the existing program and to subsidize it. This will save dollars and lives. 

This legacy of illness and suffering will continue for my lifetime and way beyond. 

The responders need to be taken care of. They ran down West Street not away 

from the attack. This was an attack on America. President Bush termed it an act 

of War. Those who responded deserve nothing less than the best of care. FDR said 

‘‘Any man who sheds his blood for his country deserves a fair deal.’’ This applies 

now in 2007 as it did then. I cannot believe that every Senator and Congress person 

does not champion this cause. America’s sons and daughters came to her aid as it 

is our duty. Now it’s the duty of our Federal Government to care for those who 

served. 

Thank You. God Bless America. 

Senator CLINTON. Thank you very much, Mr. Endean and you’ve 

spoken so eloquently for many others who are here in this audience 

and many thousands more who could not be here. Thank you very 

much. 

I want to thank each of the witnesses for your testimony. It is 

extremely important to build this record and to make this case. As 

Chairman Kennedy said before he had to go to another important 

engagement in his responsibilities, there are precedents in our 

country for taking care of people who have been exposed to environmental toxins and have been made ill over a long period of time. 

Certainly the Down Winders, the uranium workers, miners who acquired Black Lung and Dr. Stellman, I wanted to ask you about 

Agent Orange. Do you see any analogies with what we eventually 

did on behalf of the many thousands of our veterans who were affected by Agent Orange. 

Dr. STELLMAN. Well, yes and no. I hope one analogy is one we 

can avoid and that is, to this date, we still do not have a major 

epidemiological study of Vietnam veterans. Every disease that is 

compensated is the result of looking at other groups, like farmers 

or forestry workers and not at Vietnam veterans. My husband and 

I are currently doing a study on ALS, Lou Gehrig’s Disease. We 

think it is going to show positive. That’s not something they are 

compensated for now. 

Senator CLINTON. In other words, people who were exposed to 

Agent Orange are at a higher risk of developing ALS? 

Dr. STELLMAN. We have never in our country done this study and 

I just see looming in my brain that the same thing is going to happen to 9/11 responders. We just set up a committee at the Institute 

of Medicine now, 35 years later, to try to implement a model that 

I developed for the Academy on doing the first major epidemiological study and stopped spraying 30 years ago in Vietnam. And 

what we’re facing is the huge problem of finding the vets and getting permissions. It’s a very onerous job and here you have a cohort 

that’s been assembled and it would be the greatest public health 

tragedy to let it go. 

Senator CLINTON. I wanted to underscore that point because obviously, I am most acutely concerned about making sure we keep 

the treatment going, that Mount Sinai and the Fire Department 

have engaged in and provided support for Bellevue and then create 

the mechanism and program to continue to provide funding for 

treatment, going into the future. But I think it is important to underscore this public health perspective because there may be some 

who would argue that we don’t have a continuing obligation, which 

I heartily disagree with, to care for our first responders, our other 

workers and volunteers and residents but perhaps we can persuade 

86 

them that on public health grounds, this kind of information that 

can only be obtained by tracking and treating the people who were 

affected will help us with so many other of the issues that we confront. So thank you for making that point. 

I wanted to go and ask our expert witnesses, starting with Dr. 

Herbert, if you would provide for the record, where you are in the 

money that you have to continue the treatment at Mount Sinai? 

When will you run out of money, the Federal money that we finally 

have received and what would that mean for the patients who you 

are currently treating, one of whom is Mr. Endean? 

Dr. HERBERT. The financial experts with whom we work at 

Mount Sinai have told me that we expect the Mount Sinai Treatment Program funding to end or to run out right around the end 

of this current Federal fiscal year, so this fall. It’s been somewhat 

difficult to project because we only receive the Federal funding in 

November and there is always a ramp-up period. We thankfully 

have been able to add staff and rapidly increase the number of patients that we can serve. But we’re finding our expenses are going 

up monthly so if anything, that’s a conservative estimate. I don’t 

know if it is conservative but we worry that it could be even sooner. The demand for the specialized care we provide is growing. The 

demand for the medications, which are very costly, is growing. 

I don’t have a good answer for what we will do when that funding runs out. It’s the kind of thing I lose sleep over at night. You 

know, I was one of the team at Sinai who worked very hard to get 

private funding, initially, to set up our treatment programs. It was 

very difficult in 2002 and 2003 to get private funding. It’s going to 

be much harder now. So I literally—I wish I had an answer as to 

what will happen. We will beg, borrow and pray. I really don’t 

know what we’ll do if we run out of money but we will run out of 

money. 

Senator CLINTON. How many patients are you currently treating? 

Dr. HERBERT. The group—at Mount Sinai, we have 3,700 patients that are in our treatment program. 

Senator CLINTON. Do you have a waiting list? 

Dr. HERBERT. We do have a waiting—we don’t have a waiting 

list. What we do is we schedule people in so the waiting period can 

vary from 2 weeks up to about 2 months. I don’t know what it currently is but it has ranged, with the Federal funding, we’ve been 

able to cut down the waiting period and anybody who is potentially 

seriously ill is always seen right away. We rearrange our schedule. 

But we know that if we are continuing to enroll new responders 

into the monitoring program at a rate of 400 per month, the treatment program populations will grow simultaneously as we continue 

to see new responders and screening. 

Senator CLINTON. Dr. Herbert, would you describe how the 

Mount Sinai Consortium works? Because I know that you’re working with clinics across the country and it would be useful to have 

that also in the record. 

Dr. HERBERT. I’d be delighted to. The consortium consists of five 

different programs in the New York/New Jersey area. Each is 

called a Clinical Center. Each Clinical Center provides diagnostic 

screening and monitoring exams and treatment and the consortium 

partners are located at Bellevue and YU, at Suny Stoneybrook, 

87 

which has two sites on Long Island, at the University of Medicine 

and Dentistry in New Jersey in Piscataway, at Queens College and 

at Mount Sinai. 

We also have a national network—when we begin the screening 

program, we had partnered with the Association of Occupational 

and Environmental Clinics, which is an organization of experts in 

occupational medicine from throughout the Nation. We’ve conducted through our program, over 800 examinations of responders. 

We’re presently struggling with the issue of how to expand geographic accessibility. That’s been a real challenge. There are very 

few occupational medicine physicians in the country and so we’re 

right now looking at a model where ideally you’d have access to occupational and environmental medicine specialists and if that was 

not geographically convenient, we would also have a network to 

broaden the geographic coverage. 

But we know that we have responders who live at least—in over 

1,000 zip codes. So meeting their health needs has been quite difficult. The other piece that we’re just putting in place now is—or 

that we’re building on—to have more centralized coordination of 

the national program so that we’ll always have physicians at 

Mount Sinai and other healthcare providers who can answer questions for any physician or other healthcare provider in the Nation 

who wants to use our expertise in diagnosing and treating World 

Trade Center health problems. 

Senator CLINTON. Well, of course, that’s important as we heard 

from Mr. Endean. Many of the victims have been misdiagnosed. We 

have a lot of evidence of that and in your written testimony, you 

described a breathing test abnormality known as decreased forced 

vital capacity, which can be caused by a variety of conditions, including interstitial lung disease, which we know has been the 

cause of death for several people who were involved at Ground Zero 

and if we don’t have the expertise to know what tests to be given, 

diagnosis can both be wrong or delayed, which then in turn causes 

unfortunately, the chances of recovery or complete treatment to diminish. So I want to underscore and connect what Mr. Endean said 

with what you’re doing at Mount Sinai. 

Dr. HERBERT. Thank you. 

Senator CLINTON. I want to next turn to Dr. Kelly and I appreciate everything you’ve done, Dr. Kelly. You were here in the Congress shortly after 9/11 and gave incredibly emotional and gripping 

testimony about your own experience on 9/11 and you have been 

a champion of the healthcare needs of the firefighters ever since. 

I’d like you to describe the impact of Federal funding on the care 

and treatment services you’re able to provide because I think there 

may be some misunderstanding as to what the Federal funding has 

made possible for you to do with respect to taking care of people 

within the jurisdiction of the Fire Department. 

Dr. KELLY. I’d like to thank you for your continued support since 

9/11. You’ve been an early champion also and consistent in your 

message, letting people know how important these issues are. 

Federal funding has been critical to our mission, allowing us to 

continue and expand programs that were so essential to the well 

being of our Fire Department. In the area of mental health, our 

single site CSU was expanded to six sites. That allowed us to reVerDate Aug 31 2005 16:08 Jul 30, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00091 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 S:\DOCS\34458.TXT SLABOR1 PsN: DENISE
88 

duce the barriers to treatment. We’ve talked about how first responders are often reluctant to seek help. This allowed people to 

be seen in their communities by professionals so that they could 

seek assistance and get help that was essential to their well being. 

These sites continue through Federal funding. Initially, we had 

FEMA money, which has now again, through the treatment money 

that was recently released in the fall of 2006, allowed us to continue at these sites and maintain that professional group of people 

for mental health care. Currently, over 3,000 of our members, both 

active and retired, continue to be seen at these sites. 

For our respiratory care patients, we are seeing, at one point, as 

high as 2,000. We’re now at about a little over 1,000 patients, who 

are being seen by our respiratory experts, our physicians, including 

Dr. David Presont, have been critical in identifying problems, identifying treatments that were successful and taking care of our 

members. 

Again, if you think of our members, they were athletic individuals who were so active in their communities and prided themselves on their physical well-being. So it is extremely hard for a 

group of people who do see themselves in that light, suddenly to 

face a loss of lung function. Even for people who have changes that 

on many other levels, would appear not to be significant, the fact 

that they can’t do what they did before is of critical importance. 

The monies that we’re now getting for treatment have been used 

for prescription drugs. Although our members do have insurance, 

they do not have—they have areas of gaps, areas of caps that lead 

to problems when we start running out of money for the individuals. A lot of that money has been borne by our unions who are 

supporting these programs for prescriptions. 

So with the treatment dollars we’ve put into place prescription 

plans to allow for treatment to continue. Many of our members, 

again active and retired, are on multiple medications. These are 

chronic medicines that go on for months and years. It allows them 

to remain functional and not have as many symptoms but we’re not 

getting rid of the underlying problem. For many of our people, this 

is permanent. As we’ve said, over 700 members have had to retire 

prematurely before their careers would normally have ended because of their ongoing respiratory problems. 

Mental health problems, too—some have been of a permanent 

basis. Many are on four, five, six medications that they require on 

a chronic basis. So the treatment dollars have been critical in helping us provide the care that we need for our members and it’s an 

ongoing need. 

Senator CLINTON. I know, Dr. Kelly, that you can’t at this point, 

based on the evidence you have, predict whether the future will 

perhaps mean that some of the first responders will be coming 

down with cancers and other acute illnesses. But do you have a 

professional opinion as to what you fear for the future with respect 

to the ongoing health challenges that firefighters and others will be 

facing? 

Dr. KELLY. It’s a very real fear that I think I have and many of 

the members of the Department have. When I came on this job and 

I’ve been with the Fire Department for 26 years, there was talk of 

a telephone fire that took place prior to my coming on, in which 

89 

many of our members responded and we’ve had, over the years, 

this concern that people who responded to that fire had a greater 

incidence of long-term problems, including cancer but just like you 

mentioned with Agent Orange, we had no way to follow people and 

no mechanism of knowing what happens. Because once a member 

of our service retires, they are essentially lost to follow up. So the 

critical need that we saw after the World Trade Center was to continue to capture this cohort and not lose people because they retired. 

We had unprecedented numbers of retirements and we need to 

continue to see how people are doing in the long haul. So the Centers of Excellence are important for monitoring as well as treatment so that we know outcomes. You want to gather correct, scientific and accurate information so that you can reassure people 

when there isn’t a problem but also point out problems as they develop and approach them in an aggressive manner so that you can 

treat them and get good outcomes. Those are important parts of 

our mission to do that. 

Senator CLINTON. Thank you. 

Congressman Nadler. 

Representative NADLER. Thank you, Senator and thank you, Senator, for your leadership in this ever since shortly after 9/11 and 

most of the members of the panel, the same. 

I have a number of questions. For Dr. Melius, the Mayor stated 

his estimate of the cost of continuing the Mount Sinai and Fire Department programs at $150 million a year. Do you concur in that 

estimate? 

Dr. MELIUS. No, I do not. I believe that what he was referring 

to was sort of the administrative overhead costs of running those 

programs. It did not include the costs of medical treatment, pharmaceuticals and other medical care costs that would be included, 

lab tests and so forth. So it’s simply sort of the administrative overhead for those three programs. 

Representative NADLER. That would be the city’s administrative 

role? 

Dr. MELIUS. The city’s Administration and I’m not sure to what 

extent that includes the Mount Sinai and I don’t believe it did either. 

Representative NADLER. The real cost is closer to—— 

Dr. MELIUS. Well, $400 million at least, I think and could very 

well be more. I mean, some of the estimates that have been done 

for the medical treatment costs alone—not necessarily including 

the medical monitoring, have gone up to over $400 million. 

Representative NADLER. Well, in December of last year, the Fire 

Department and Mount Sinai prepared an estimate of the cost of 

providing monitoring and treatments for the 32,000 workers who 

have thus far registered in the two programs is about 257 million 

a year. You’re saying it would exceed that? 

Dr. MELIUS. It would exceed that. I believe that was a range of 

estimates—costs that they estimated at the time and one of—part 

of that estimate was up to over $400 million. 

Representative NADLER. And your $400 million figure is not the same as the Mayor’s $393 million figure, which included things 

you’re not talking about. 

90 

Dr. MELIUS. Correct. He includes the registry, some of the other 

sort of administrative costs that are involved there. 

Representative NADLER. So if we want to keep these programs 

going and provide the services that we’re now providing for the 

populations that we expect, we would need about $400 million a 

year, is your testimony? 

Dr. MELIUS. Yes. 

Representative NADLER. Thank you very much. Dr. Kelly, we 

talked about the exposure of Fire Department personnel and obviously, we have a lot of health problems with Fire Department personnel. Were all the firehouses properly and professionally cleaned 

after 9/11 so we are confident that Fire Department personnel are 

not continuing to be exposed to contaminants? 

Dr. KELLY. As the physician in charge of the Bureau of Health 

Services, I’m involved with the medical monitoring and treatment. 

The question you’re asking relates to another area of our Department. I would be happy to have you speak to the person in the Department who is involved in that. I’m not part of that work. 

Representative NADLER. Well, I’d appreciate that. The reason I 

ask the question is that my information is the answer is no and 

that a number of the firehouses downtown are still highly contaminated and that the Department has been totally insensitive to this 

problem up until this point and that this, of course, would lead to 

continued exposure and probably more health problems in the future. 

Dr. Reibman, I think you testified that—I’m sorry. We have a 

large contingency of cleanup workers—is this Dr. Reibman that 

testified this? The individuals who removed the layers of dust that 

had infiltrated the surrounding commercial and office spaces in 

order to allow the city to function. And we were expecting that 

many of these people will come down with—or have you already 

seen a lot of these people come down with health problems? 

Dr. REIBMAN. Yes, we have a large contingency of individuals 

who helped clean up Lower Manhattan, many of whom have very 

similar complaints to what you’re hearing in everyone else, shortness of breath—— 

Representative NADLER. Who knows, with these people, when 

they cleaned up surrounding buildings, were they wearing proper 

respiratory protective gear? 

Dr. REIBMAN. Most of them were not. Many were given paper 

masks. Some of them were not given anything. Many were told 

that there was no asbestos therefore it was safe to not wear anything. There was an assortment of gear. 

Representative NADLER. They were told that it was safe? And 

they were told this by? 

Dr. REIBMAN. This is what they tell us and I don’t know exactly 

who told them but that there was no asbestos therefore it was safe 

is one of the stories that we have been told. 

Representative NADLER. Let me ask either—I’m not sure who 

could answer this question. It’s my last question and the vote is on 

the floor anyway. Dr. Reibman, Dr. Kelly, Dr. Herbert, one of you, 

maybe Dr. Stellman, we have this huge problem now, obviously 

with all these people getting sick and we expect more people to 

come down with it. Was much of this preventable, had people been 

91 

wearing proper respiratory equipment? In the several months after 

9/11? 

Dr. KELLY. The day of the event, our group went in with excellent protective gear of SCB mask but they don’t last. That air will 

run out within 15 to 20 minutes. After that, people who worked at 

that site certainly for days on end, as a mission to recover and rescue people, certainly it would be very difficult within that first few 

hours or days to provide that kind of protection and if you look at 

our results, it clearly shows that that group is the group who are 

showing the most physical difficulties. 

Dr. STELLMAN. You know, the Pentagon handled it very differently. They exercised—they are very good at occupational safety 

and health in these situations and they exercised rotation, they 

trained people. They had the proper equipment. You can’t work 12 

hours a day in one of these heavy-duty masks. You have to get people time off the job and you have to apply basic industrial hygiene. 

Representative NADLER. But they did it properly at the Pentagon? 

Dr. STELLMAN. They did it very differently and I think they did 

it properly. 

Representative NADLER. Would they have done it if they had— 

been of a mind to, could they have done it similarly in New York? 

Dr. STELLMAN. I suppose. I think in retrospect, there are many 

things that could have been done differently. It’s very hard to finger point. It was—— 

Representative NADLER. I’m not interested in finger pointing. I’m 

interested in learning the lessons for God forbid, the next time. 

Dr. STELLMAN. Well, I’m worried about our emergency rooms in 

New York. We have medical students in that class and we talked 

about—these surgeons were talking about how people were on the 

table and they were sewn up without being completed because people didn’t know whether or not the emergency rooms were going to 

be needed. And then they had to be reopened. There’s been no 

change in that, in how do you inform the medical—the hospitals in 

New York don’t have safety equipment for people to go out and go 

to a site, should this happen again. Students went out in flip flops. 

Why don’t we have steel-toed shoes? Why don’t we have a set of 

helmets? The hospitals can’t possibly bear this cost by themselves. 

Why don’t we have such a program in place? I don’t see that we 

have learned all that much in terms of doing something about it 

the next time. 

Representative NADLER. Well, thank you very much and let me 

in particular, thank Senator Clinton and in his absence, Senator 

Kennedy, for the extraordinary courtesy of allowing a member of 

the other body to ask questions here. 

Senator CLINTON. Well, I want to follow up on what Congressman Nadler was just asking you. I visited the Pentagon site and 

it wasn’t, obviously, anywhere near as overwhelming as what we 

faced in New York. There was, however, as you pointed out, Dr. 

Stellman, a system set up for everyone I saw who was going into 

the Pentagon, which was a part of the building that had been hit 

by the plane. It was burning. People had obviously died there, on 

a smaller scale but very lethal. They were in full gear. This was 

mostly, as I recall, responders from Virginia. They had set up a deVerDate Aug 31 2005 16:08 Jul 30, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00095 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 S:\DOCS\34458.TXT SLABOR1 PsN: DENISE
92 

contamination center so that people were required, when they came 

out of the building on this rotation that was determined, they were 

required to go through the decontamination and I think of the immediate aftermath. You know, Dr. Kelly is absolutely right. It 

would have been very difficult to do that quickly. We could have, 

perhaps, done more over time. But I think the important question 

is what do we do to prepare for the future? What are the lessons 

that we have learned and how, if at all, can we better implement 

them? And who is responsible for doing that? 

Dr. Melius, I would love your thoughts on this because you’re an 

expert in this area and given everything we now know, what could 

we have done differently and what should we be trying to plan to 

do differently in the future? 

Dr. MELIUS. I think actually you expressed it very well. We could 

have done better. However, under the immediate aftermath, given 

those circumstances, it would have been difficult to provide absolute or perfect protection. 

I have two comments. One is, we sort of assume that what protective equipment you have is what is available. Well, one of the 

problems is, most firefighters and other people have to wear respirators. Well, what they’ll tell you is that equipment is heavy, uncomfortable, and difficult to wear for long periods of time. And we 

really need to invest in the kind of research and technology that 

would try to improve that equipment and make better, lighter, 

more comfortable equipment available to firefighters, construction 

workers, other people who would be in these circumstances. 

Secondly, I think we also need to go through the efforts of doing 

the planning and getting prepared for these kinds of circumstances. 

A number of years ago, I participated in an exercise in Seattle that 

Homeland Security funded to try to do planning for a similar event, 

should it occur in the Seattle area. And that effort is ongoing. 

They’ve actually developed plans on how to get the right mix of 

personnel that would be needed to deal with a World Trade Center 

type of disaster, construction equipment and emergency rescue and 

so forth. In the initial planning of these, one of the biggest issues 

we had was how do we get people prepared to wear respirators? 

You can’t put everybody in a respirator. You need to have some 

sort of screening process in place and the emergency planners were 

very reluctant to try to address that issue. 

We’ve even had discussions in New York City with our contractors, how do we set up sort of an emergency response force that 

would have better training as well as have the proper equipment 

to be able to respond to these kinds of disasters, should they occur 

in the future. So it’s going to take investment and the research to 

develop the better equipment and also the investment in training 

as well as getting prepared and making sure that a plan is in place 

and that is all appropriately coordinated. I think some of that is 

going on, how well it is being done, I just don’t think we know right 

now. 

Senator CLINTON. I think it would also be useful to identify 

where such equipment is. I know the operating engineers came forward and said they had a supply of respirators. Other unions came 

and said they did. The military has them but we need to have a 

93 

better inventory control, if you will, to figure out what we have 

now. 

Finally, I want to ask Dr. Reibman about the forgotten populations that you are serving at Bellevue. What do you foresee as 

the financial need and the requirement for Federal funding to keep 

these programs going for the people you’re caring for, Doctor? 

Dr. REIBMAN. This is, I think to date, we don’t know the size of 

this population. All of us remember the images of the office worker 

shuffling out, covered with dust and we don’t know what happened 

to those people but they’re coming back now and many of them are 

coming back sick. We don’t know how many of them there are. We 

don’t know the extent of the problem, really, within the residents 

in the community. We think there is clearly a spectrum of disease 

with many people being well but a number of people being quite 

sick. 

So we really do need the funds to understand the extent of the 

problem and also to be able to provide treatment for this assortment of people with a variety of exposure scenarios and with a 

spectrum of illness. To date, we have not received Federal funding 

for residents or office workers and we have really relied on philanthropy and on the Mayor’s office. 

Senator CLINTON. I want to thank all of our witnesses. I just 

can’t express strongly enough how much I appreciate each and 

every one of you being here. One of our concerns is that HHS has 

discussed a voucher program that would in effect, dismantle the 

Centers of Excellence, which I think today, we have demonstrated 

would be a very serious mistake. It would dismantle the expertise, 

the experience, the repository of this information, the public health 

benefits and we will certainly take what each of these witnesses 

has said and make it very clear in our conversations with our counterparts in the Administration, how important it is that we not 

undo the good work that has been done by all of you to this date. 

What we need to do is supplement it, keep it going, provide additional assistance. There are unmet needs for treatment and monitoring. There is need for long-term Federal funding for continuing 

treatment and monitoring and I will work with my colleagues here 

on the HELP Committee to address these needs and we will, I’m 

sure, be coming back to you as we try to craft both the short-term, 

emergency needs to keep the programs going and then the longer 

term need for Federal funding to back up what is being done. You 

have provided extraordinary service to thousands of people and I 

am very grateful to you. 

Again, I want to thank all of the people who have come today to 

be part of this important hearing and the work that we have done 

so far could not have been possible without the strong support of 

everybody represented here. So thank you so much for being part 

of this and we’ll continue to work together and we will get a program in place that will serve the needs of the people who took care 

of us. Thank you very much. 

[Additional material follows.] 

94 

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF ALISON S. GEYH, PH.D., ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, DIVISION

OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH ENGINEERING, DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL

HEALTH SCIENCES, JOHN HOPKINS BLOOMBERG SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH

(JHSPH) 

Thank you for the opportunity to present a summary of our findings to date regarding exposure and health effects of workers who participated in the clean up effort at the World Trade Center (WTC) disaster site. My name is Alison S. Geyh, 

Ph.D. and I am from Baltimore, MD. I am presently an assistant professor in the 

Division of Environmental Health Engineering in the Department of Environmental 

Health Sciences at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHSPH). 

I am trained as a physical organic chemist. I began working in the area of environmental health at the Harvard School of Public Health. Since joining the faculty at 

the JHSPH in 2000, the health effects of exposure to ambient air pollutants and 

the chemical composition of the air pollution mixture has been the major focus of 

my research. My current research also includes examining issues related to occupational exposure to hazardous air pollutants. This testimony represents my own 

views and is not intended to represent the views of the Johns Hopkins University. 

WHAT WE DID IN RESPONSE TO THE DESTRUCTION OF THE WTC ON SEPTEMBER 11, 2001

The Division of Environmental Health Engineering has a long history examining 

hazardous exposures in the workplace. Members of the Division have long standing 

relationships with labor organizations including the International Brotherhood of 

Teamster and the Laborers International Union of North America. For this reason, 

the work we conducted in response to the events of September 11, 2001 have focused solely on exposure and health effects of workers involved in the clean up and 

recovery effort at the WTC. The week following the disaster we contacted the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), Washington, DC. to learn what we could 

do to assist in assessing exposure and health effect of IBT members who would be 

participating in the clean up operation at the WTC disaster site. In addition, the 

chair of the Department of Environmental Health Sciences contacted the National 

Institute of Environmental Health Science (NIEHS) to discuss potential funding for 

any disaster response that might be conducted by members of the JHSPH. Between 

2001–2004, the NIEHS provide approximately $1.2 million in support of work conducted by the JHSPH in response to the events of September 11, 2001. Approval 

for all work described below was obtained from the JHSPH Institutional Review 

Board. 

ASSESSMENT OF EXPOSURE TO AIRBORNE CONTAMINANTS OF WORKERS INVOLVED IN

THE CLEAN UP AND RECOVER EFFORT: OCTOBER 1–31, 2001 AND APRIL 12–24, 2002

The purpose of the study was to quantify exposure of some workers at the site 

to airborne contaminants of concern. The exposure assessment was organized in cooperation with the IBT and a project plan was developed for contacting and monitoring truck drivers at the disaster site. On September 30, 2001, investigators from 

Johns Hopkins met with local IBT union representatives in New York City (NYC). 

Local unions included Local 282, which represents the majority of drivers in the 

NYC area and Local 831, which represents some NYC Department of Sanitation 

(NYC DOS) workers who are NYC employees. In October, 54 truck drivers hauling 

debris away from the disaster site were monitored for exposure to airborne contaminants. Monitoring was conducted across a work shift so that drivers were either 

sampled from 6 a.m.–6 p.m. or 6 p.m.–6 a.m. In addition, we conducted area monitoring at four locations around the disaster site including the cross streets of Church 

and Dey, Park Place and Greenwich, Liberty and Greenwich, and Albany and West. 

We also monitored directly in the debris pile on several days. 

Follow up personal exposure monitoring and area sampling was conducted April 

12–24, 2002. Personal monitoring was conducted for the last 15 truck drivers at the 

site. Area sampling was conducted on site within the restricted zone at approximately the cross streets of Church and Dey, Barclay and Greenwich, and Liberty 

and West. We also monitored directly in the Pit. We monitored both during the day 

and at night with the sampling period carried out across a work shift. Contaminants 

monitored for during both studies included area measurements for asbestos, size 

fractionated particulate matter (Total Dust (TD), PM10, PM2.5), and volatile organic 

compounds. Personal exposure was measured for TD, asbestos, and volatile organic 

compounds. TD refers to all particles in the air. PM10 refers to all particles 10 miVerDate Aug 31 2005 16:08 Jul 30, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00098 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 S:\DOCS\34458.TXT SLABOR1 PsN: DENISE
95 

crometers (μm) or less in aerodynamic diameter. PM2.5 refers to all particles 2.5 μm or less in aerodynamic diameter. 

Results 

We report concentrations of particles in the air in units of microgram per cubic 

meter (μg/m3). During October perimeter concentrations for TD, PM10, and PM2.5

concentrations ranged from 43 to 331 μg/m3, 41 to 392 μg/m3, and 21 to 321 μg/m, 

respectively. The median personal exposure to Total Dust was 346 μg/m3. The maximum TD area concentration, 1742 μg/m3 was found in the middle of the debris (the 

Pile) implying a strong concentration gradient from the middle of debris outward. 

PM2.5/PM10 ratios ranged from 23 percent to 100 percent suggesting significant fire 

activity during some of the sampled shifts. During April, area TD concentrations 

ranged from 14 to 195 μg/m3, PM10 from 13 to 144 μg/m3, and PM2.5 from 4 to 102 

μg/m3. The median personal exposure to TD was 144 μg/m3. During both months, 

volatile organic compounds concentrations were low. For both months personal airborne asbestos concentrations ranged from ß0.004–0.1 structures per cubic centimeter (s/cm3). Area concentration ranged from 0.005–0.12 s/cm3. In general, area asbestos measurements were less than the personal results (except for the sample collected on top of the rubble pile) and decreased over the course of the cleanup. All 

personal exposure results were sent to the IBT. We provided particle concentration 

data to the New York City Department of Health. 

Interpretation of Findings 

Particle concentrations were significantly elevated at the disaster site above background concentrations even several weeks after the attacks. Concentrations were 

still elevated near the end of the clean up operation, but were significantly lower. 

Given the elevation in particles of all sizes over the course of the clean up operation 

it was likely that impacts on the respiratory impacts would be reported. In fact during this study workers at the site reported to us that they were experiencing irritation of both upper and lower airways. Airborne asbestos concentrations were low 

and dominated by short fibers. Given these low concentrations, evidence of short fibers, and the short duration of the exposure (less than 10 months to complete the 

cleanup), it is likely that truck drivers working at the site would not be at an increased risk for asbestos-related disease. 

RESPIRATORY HEALTH SURVEY OF CLEAN UP WORKERS AT THE WTC DISASTER SITE: 

DECEMBER 11–19, 2001

While we were conducting the study, described above to assess exposure of WTC 

workers to airborne contaminants, a number of the workers expressed concern about 

problems they were having with breathing. To address this concern, we conducted 

a study which was designed to assess respiratory health effects of workers actively 

involved in the clean up operation at the disaster site. The objectives of this study 

were to collect respiratory health information by personal interview and lung function measurements by spirometry of WTC workers. This effort was coordinated 

through the IBT and the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE). 

Chesapeake Occupational Health Services, Baltimore MD was hired to conduct the 

lung function testing. Questionnaire development was conducted at JHSPH under 

the guidance of Dr. Jonathan Samet. The questionnaire included demographic information, questions about first day at the disaster site, the number of work days at 

the site, respiratory symptoms experienced before and since working at the site, previous illnesses related to the lungs, tobacco use, and respirator use. The study was 

conducted on site from December 11–19, 2001. Respiratory health information was 

obtained for 183 individuals and pulmonary function testing was conducted for 175 

individuals. Trades monitored included: Teamsters (drivers hauling debris from 

site), Operating Engineers (operators of heavy lifting equipment such as crane operators, grapplers, front loaders, and back hoes), Dock Builders (in charge of barge 

operation), Carpenters (responsible for on-site construction of any necessary structures), Laborers (involved in tasks such as directing truck traffic in and out of the 

pit, and fixing roads). 

Results 

Sixty-five percent of the workers surveyed arrived at the site without lower respiratory symptoms. Of this group, 34 percent developed cough, 24 percent developed 

phlegm, and 19 percent developed wheeze. Prevalence rates of these symptoms were 

related to the number of days spent working at the WTC, but not job category. The 

mean percentage predicted FEV1 and FVC were 6 percent and 5 percent lower, respectively, for workers who developed new lower respiratory symptoms compared to 

those who remained symptom-free. While the development of new wheeze suggested 

96 

the presence of airway obstruction, the near-normal distribution of age-adjusted 

FEV1/FVC ratios suggested that the degree of obstruction was mild. The prevalence 

rates of upper airway symptoms (nasal congestion, sore throat, hoarse throat) exceeded those of lower respiratory symptoms, however, it was not determined whether symptoms pre-dated arrival at the WTC site. 

Interpretation of Findings 

Over the course of approximately 3 months a significant number of workers who 

came to the site free of respiratory symptoms developed signature symptoms of 

lower respiratory distress. This early indication of health effects strongly suggested 

the need for further follow up. 

The World Trade Center Clean up and Recovery Worker Cohort Study: 2002 to 

Present 

This study, which began summer 2002, was designed to address concerns that 

workers involved in the clean up operation could be at risk for respiratory and mental health effects that persisted after completing work at the WTC. The goal of this 

study was to test the hypothesis that workers involved with the clean up operation 

at the WTC are at elevated risk for persistent respiratory and mental health effects, 

and that the risk is related to the duration of work at the site, and the location 

of work. Three local New York unions affiliated with the IBT, the IUOE, and the 

Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA), as well as the NYC DOS, 

agreed to participate is this study. Each organization was asked to identify members 

who had participated in the clean up and recovery effort at the WTC disaster site, 

as well as a group of workers who were never at the WTC. The local IBT and IUOE 

unions agreed to both requests; the local LIUNA union and the NYC DOS agreed 

to identify only workers who had been involved at the WTC. Workers contacted to 

participate in this study included truck drivers, heavy equipment operators, laborers, and sanitation employees. Data used for analysis of respiratory health effects 

was collected by survey specifically designed for this study. The World Trade Center 

Clean Up and Recovery Worker Health Assessment Survey included questions covering demographic information, work history, work experience at the disaster site, 

exposure at the WTC, general health history, and respiratory and mental health 

status. Two versions of the survey were created. One version was designed to be 

administered to workers who were involved at the WTC. A second version, which 

did not include questions specific to the disaster site, was designed to be administered to workers who were never at the WTC. In this version of the survey, a set 

of questions was included to allow a respondent to indicate if they had been at the 

WTC. The surveys were mailed between March and June 2003. Data collection continued for approximately 12 months. The survey was sent to 4,546 workers identified by their union or employer as having worked at the site (25 percent responded), 

and 2103 workers who were never at the WTC (11 percent responded). 

Preliminary Results (manuscripts in preparation) 

Respiratory health among workers involved in the clean up evaluated approximately 20 months after the initial exposure to assess the risk of persistent lower 

respiratory symptoms (LRS). As compared to workers who were never at the site, 

WTC workers were more than three times as likely to report any LRS (Odds Ratio 

(OR) = 3.40, 95 percent Confidence Interval (CI): 2.33, 4.94). Workers who spent 

greater than 240 days at the site were more than five times as likely to report any 

LRS as compared to those never exposed (OR = 5.79, 95 percent CI: 3.59, 9.35). 

WTC work location was also an important predictor of LRS. The OR for workers 

who spent time directly in the debris was 1.58 (95 percent CI:1.12, 2.32) as compared to other locations. The risk for experiencing mental health symptoms was also 

elevated. As compared to workers who were never at the WTC, WTC workers were 

at elevated risk for anxiety disorder, panic disorder, post traumatic stress disorder 

and depression were all elevated: Anxiety disorder OR = 3.98 (95 percent CI: 

2.23;7.10); Panic disorder OR = 3.14 (95 percent CI: 1.71.17.44); PTSD OR = 3.14 

(95 percent CI: 1.51;6.53); Severe depression OR = 3.62 (95 percent CI: 2.01; 6.52). 

Interpretation of Results 

These results suggest a persistent impact on respiratory and mental health related to work experience at the WTC. They strongly indicate the need for further 

monitoring to identify and address potential long-term effects. 

CONCLUSION

Overall, our work shows that working at the disaster site had negative impacts 

on health. The particle mixture was complex and resulted in impacts on respiratory 

97 

health early in the clean up process that have persisted. The psychological consequences of being involved at the site were also significant and need to be monitored. Following this population is necessary to form a complete understanding of 

how health was impacted by participation in the clean up operation at the WTC and 

to ensure appropriate care for those who were affected. 

REFERENCES

Geyh AS*, Chillrud S, Williams D, Herbstman JB, Symons JM, Rees K, Trupin BJ, 

Lim HJ, Kim SR, Breysse PN ‘‘Assessing Truck Driver Exposure at the World 

Trade Center Disaster Site: Personal and Area Monitoring for Particulate Matter 

and Volatile Organic Compounds during October 2001 and April 2002’’ 2005. J. 

Occ. Environ. Hygiene 2 179–193. 

Breysse PN*, Williams DL, Herbstman JB, Symons JM, Chillrud SN, Ross J, 

Henshaw S, Rees K, Watson M, Geyh AS ‘‘Asbestos Exposures to Truck Drivers 

During World Trade Center Clean Up Operations.’’ J. Occ. Environ. Hyg. 2005 

Aug; 2(8):400–5 

Herbstman JB, Frank R, Schwab M, Williams, DL, Samet JM, Breysse PN, Geyh 

AS*. ‘‘Respiratory Effects of Inhalation Exposure Among Workers During the 

Clean Up Effort at the World Trade Center Disaster Site.’’ Environ. Res. 99 2005, 

85–92. 

Tao, X, Massa J, Ashwell L, Davis K, Schwab M, Geyh A*. The World Trade Center 

Clean up and Recovery Worker Cohort Study: Respiratory health among clean up 

workers approximately 20 months after initial exposure at the disaster site. (in 

preparation) 

Omer, S, Barnet D, Chatterjee, P, Parker CI, Gross R., Massa J, Ashwell L, Davis 

K, Schwab M, Geyh A*. The World Trade Center Clean up and Recovery Worker 

Cohort Study: Mental health among clean up workers approximately 20 months 

after initial exposure at the disaster site. (in preparation) 

Gross R, Neria Y, Tao XG, Massa J, Ashwell L, Davis K, Geyh A. ‘‘Posttraumatic 

stress disorder and other psychological sequelae among World Trade Center Clean 

Up and Recovery Workers’’. 2006 Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 1071 495–499. 

Johnson SB, Langlieb A, Teret S, Gross R, Schwab M, Massa J, Geyh A ‘‘Rethinking First Response: Effects of the clean up and recovery effort on low-profile workers at the World Trade Center disaster site.’’ J. Occ. Environ. Med. 2005 Apr; 

47(4):386–391. 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF ELI J. KLEINMAN, M.D., ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF MEDI- CINE AND ATTENDING HEMATOLOGIST, ALBERT EINSTEIN COLLEGE OF MEDICINE

AND ATTENDING PHYSICIAN OF MT. SINAI, NEW YORK CITY, NY 

Good morning Chairman Kennedy, Senator Enzi and distinguished members of 

this committee. 

My name is Eli Kleinman. I am an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Attending 

Hematologist at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and Attending Physician 

at the Mt. Sinai Hospital, in New York. 

As Supervising Chief Surgeon of the largest municipal Police Department in the 

Nation, I am charged with ensuring the health and welfare of over 55,000 employees. In this endeavor, I am assisted by a dedicated corps of physicians, nurses, psychologists and other health care professionals, who work tirelessly to maintain the 

department at full strength, in protecting the public. 

Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, over 34,000 NYPD officers and employees—the largest single group of responders in NYC—participated in rescue, recovery 

and cleanup operations at Ground Zero, or one of the other designated exposure 

sites. Since that time the NYPD’s Medical Division has documented, evaluated, 

monitored, tracked and referred for treatment, all of its members who have come 

forward with WTC-related symptoms. In an effort to expand the network of options 

available to its affected employees, the NYPD established liaison programs early on, 

with Columbia University (Project Cope), for the evaluation and treatment of psychological symptoms, and with the Mt. Sinai Medical Center, for the evaluation and 

treatment of respiratory conditions, as well as encouraging enrollment in the World 

Trade Center Health Registry, Project Liberty and the NYPD’s peer support 

groups—its Early Intervention Center and POPPA. 

In the Summer of 2002, the Medical Division embarked on a study of over 600 

exposed individuals, providing participants with full medical and psychological examinations, assessment of pulmonary functions, and audiometric and laboratory 

testing. Thirty-eight percent of those tested showed abnormalities at that time mostly due to respiratory, orthopedic or hearing problems as well as PTSD. A follow up 

to this effort is slated for later this year. 

98 

As of today—even at this early stage—the NYPD has processed over 3,000 medical claims pertaining to WTC-related illness or injury by NYPD personnel, encompassing the myriad medical problems described in the medical literature, including 

respiratory, orthopedic, psychological, gastrointestinal, hearing and other maladies. 

Over 100 NYPD members have already retired with disabilities due to these illnesses, and over 300 disability applications possibly stemming from WTC-related 

causes, currently await finalization. 

Additionally, the NYPD Medical Division is now completing and analyzing the 

data from two 5-year studies of WTC-related conditions—one involving its Emergency Services Units, comparing their baseline pre- and post-9/11 pulmonary function, and a second study, following members of the department with new-onset, or 

persistent symptoms. All the aforementioned initiatives undertaken by the NYPD, 

have been entirely self-sustained, without the benefit of any Federal funding, taxing 

both the NYPD’s Medical Division personnel and resources. Projected costs for continued monitoring and treatment of the more than 34,000 exposed members have 

been estimated to be approximately $15M annually and will require upgrading and 

replacement of aging equipment. 

The importance of obtaining funding for continuation of these efforts cannot be 

over-emphasized. The 34,000 exposed members of the NYPD represent a most important, and unequalled source of medical information and data, waiting to be examined. The unique ability of the NYPD Medical Division to monitor and track the 

health status of its members, observe potential emerging symptoms and disease 

trends, and relate them to time and place of exposure, make the need for funding 

these follow ups an imperative. The NYPD cohort, which represents a broad crosssection of those who were exposed, were engaged in every aspect of duties—from 

desk jobs near ground zero, to working directly on the pile or the landfill sites— 

and serve as the largest database of individuals both active and retired, who can 

reliably be contacted and monitored, and for many, in a medical environment to 

which they have become accustomed, and which is integrated into their daily work 

schedules. The information that will emerge from this cohort will be critical to medical experts and will provide the kind of data which may be extrapolated to the 

wider community—data which scientists must have in order to be able to accurately 

assess future monitoring and treatment directions of exposed NYC and area residents. The unique capability of the NYPD to monitor possible disease trends and 

its syndromic surveillance system ensure that data emanating from this large group 

will be available for epidemiologically assessing emerging medical issues, for years 

to come. It will also help those in government responsible for preparedeness, to better plan and execute large-scale medical and psychological programs, in the event 

of another urban catastrophe. 

The NYPD, along with its sister agencies, was present in full force from the first 

moments of this great national tragedy, lost its finest on that dark day, and continues to deal with the medical and psychological consequences since. We have an 

obligation to the brave responders, to the medical and scientific community, and to 

the Nation at large, to gather and analyze the vital information that they uniquely 

possess. In order to do so adequately, the NYPD cannot hope to do it alone. The 

NYPD deserves—and must obtain—Federal assistance. 

APPENDIX: BACKGROUND ON NYPD MEDICAL DIVISION

MISSION

The NYPD is the largest municipal police force in the world, with over 30,000 uniformed and 20,000 civilian employees. The NYPD Medical Division is charged with 

maintaining the health and welfare of the 55,000 members of the NYPD, helping 

to maintain the Department at its optimum force. As one of the only Medical Divisions of its kind worldwide, it engages in myriad activities, with many programs 

and initiatives overseen by a dedicated corps of over 500 expert physicians, nurses, 

psychologists, technicians and civilians, who bring their unique talents to one of the 

most sophisticated and multifaceted enterprises to be found in any organization. 

ACTIVITIES

The Medical Division ensures the viability of the Department by evaluating Police 

Department candidates for suitability for employment, training, fitness for duty, and 

disability retirement, and its Police Surgeons preside over 100,000 medical clinic 

visits annually. 

The Medical Division monitors and tracks all uniformed members who become ill 

or injured, both in the line of duty or off-duty, with daily hospital visits and medical 

updates, makes available state-of-the-art medical consultations from among its corps 

99 

of 31 Police Surgeons and over 300 Honorary Police Surgeons throughout the metropolitan area, and has access to the expertise of physicians from the finest medical 

centers nationwide. 

NYPD Police Surgeons and Psychologists are present at every incident—involving 

trauma, both at the scene and in hospital—its Police Surgeon Corps is comprised 

of the entire spectrum of medical and surgical sub-specialties, and representing all 

the major area medical centers. It provides consultations to members’ families and 

retirees who are ill and in need of expert medical or psychological advice. 

HEALTHCARE MONITORING

The health status of every uniformed member of the department who is injured 

or ill is monitored on a daily basis with daily medical updates entered on its comprehensive Database. The status of members who suffer chronic medical conditions 

is followed by the member’s individual Police Surgeon at least every 2 weeks, in 

close consultation with their private physicians. 

The Medical Division maintains a Pregnancy Medical District, with an Obstetrician-Gynecologist on duty and available at all times for the special problems that 

may be experienced by members who are pregnant, or those with special women’s 

issues. 

Due to its unique ability to track the whereabouts and duty assignments of all 

uniformed members, the Medical Division monitors illness clusters through its 

Syndromic Surveillance system, and alerts the Department of Health to any unusual or suspicious trends. 

In addition, the Medical Division closely tracks medical conditions resulting from 

exposure at the World Trade Center, with emphasis on known conditions such as 

Respiratory illnesses and GERD, and monitors for possible newly emerging problems and trends, such as Sarcoidosis or malignancies. This information is forwarded 

to the Department of Health through its World Trade Center Health Registry medical coordinators. The NYPD Chief Surgeon sits on the Registry’s Community 

Health Advisory Board. 

TREATMENT REFERRALS

All members injured or ill in the line of duty receive referrals to the physician 

or medical facility of their choice for diagnostic testing and/or treatment. The medical division is currently arranging to provide prescription drugs—at no out-of-pocket cost to them. The Medical Division’s Billing Department processes over 70,000 

medical bills annually. 

The Medical Division maintains a cadre of over 300 medical specialists as part 

of their Honorary Police Surgeon corps, all of whom are hand-picked by the Chief 

Surgeon for their particular expertise and reputation. These dedicated individuals 

work in close association with the Department’s Surgeons to make the finest care 

available to members and their families at no out-of-pocket costs to them. This network has proven itself over and over, in situations of medical extremis for both active and retired members and their families. 

PSYCHOLOGICAL SUPPORT

The Medical Division’s Psychological Evaluation and Services sections utilize over 

25 psychologists to evaluate candidates for suitability for employment, fitness for 

duty and disability retirement. These dedicated professionals also provide counseling, trauma response and grief management services, and work closely with private practitioners, Project Cope counselors and the NYPD’s peer support groups, in 

treating members with mental health issues. NYPD psychologists greet and debrief 

members returning from overseas active military duty, to ensure their well-being 

and re-adjustment. 

MEDICAL INFORMATION AND GUIDANCE

The Medical Division provides up-to-date information and medical advice geared 

towards prevention health care maintenance, via the publication of flyers, brochures 

and in multi-media presentations. It also publishes a medical column in the NYPD’s 

publication Spring 3100, and posts a Chief Surgeon’s Corner, highlighting a topic 

of medical interest and importance on the Department’s Finest Health Web site. Additionally, The Medical Division Health Van makes rounds to all commands and police facilities, disseminating information and providing various health maintenance 

check-ups, described below. 

100 

The Medical Records section, maintains extensive detailed medical records dating 

from pre-employment to years after retirement for its members, and as such, possesses an unequalled database for research and follow up. 

HEALTHY LIFESTYLE AND NUTRITIONAL SUPPORT

The Medical Division has a full-time certified Nutritionist available to counsel 

members on nutritional advice, and promoting a healthy lifestyle. Police Surgeons 

also review and medically clear members prior to their embarking on exercise programs in the NYPD’s Fitness Center. 

VACCINATION AND PROPHYLAXIS PROGRAMS

The Medical Division makes Influenza Vaccination available and publicizes its importance, to all its members of the Department annually, and in its most recent successful campaign, administered over 7,000 vaccinations to members. Its program is 

also designed to accomplish vaccinations and distribution of medications in the 

event of a biologic emergency such as a Pandemic Flu emergency or bio-terror release, its Points of Distribution system (POD) serving as a model for others. 

In addition, the Medical Division administers thousands of Hepatitis Vaccines to 

its members and prepares and prophylaxes specialized units such as the Hurricane 

Katrina Volunteer Units, against pathogenic illness, before deploying in endemic 

areas, greeting and re-examining them upon their return. 

SPECIAL PROGRAMS AND LIAISONS

The Medical Division has special relationships with a variety of medical and mental health partners, such as Project Cope (Columbia University) and the Mt. Sinai 

Medical Center, affording its members the availability of confidential services for 

special problems. In addition, the Medical Division provides counseling services via 

its Early Intervention Unit, designed to prevent suicides or other psychological crises, and hosts the NYPD Self-Support group for members who have survived serious 

trauma or other illnesses, and supports POPPA, a peer-based confidential psychological support service. 

The Medical Division administers a highly successful Smoking Cessation program, 

Alcohol Counseling Unit, utilizes the Health Van for Blood Pressure, Cholesterol 

and Flu campaigns, and periodically has hosted Womens’ Health and other topical 

medical conferences. 

MISCELLANEOUS ACTIVITIES

The Medical Division is responsible for ensuring that all NYPD facilities are compliant with Federal safety requirements and administers the department’s OSHA 

unit. It also performs random and pre-employment Drug Testing, maintaining a 

zero-tolerance policy for illicit drug use across the Department. 

WTC STUDIES AND FOLLOW-UP

Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, over 34,000 NYPD officers and employees—the largest single group of responders in NYC—participated in rescue, recovery 

and cleanup operations at Ground Zero, or one of the other designated exposure 

sites. Since that time the NYPD’s Medical Division has documented, evaluated, 

monitored, tracked and referred for treatment, all of its members who have come 

forward with WTC-related symptoms. In addition, the Medical Division initiated a 

follow up study of exposed individuals in 2002 providing full medical, psychological, 

pulmonary, audiometric and laboratory testing, and has scheduled a follow up of 

that study for later this year. 

The NYPD Medical Division is now completing and analyzing data from two 5- 

year studies of WTC-related conditions—one involving its Emergency Services 

Units, comparing baseline and post 9/11 data, and a second study, following other 

members of the department with new-onset, or persistent symptoms or illness. 

This NYPD cohort is a critically important one, as it represents the largest crosssection of responders, most closely resembling the baseline medical conditions of 

New York area residents, from which the medical and scientific communities can 

draw upon. Evaluating and tracking this large group will allow for more accurately 

determining the future direction of monitoring and treatment needs for emerging 

conditions. Data emerging from this group may be more appropriate for extrapolation to the general public than those from other responder groups, who may have 

particular underlying characteristics. The NYPD’s unique ability to relate exposures 

to time and place may also provide critical information of epidemiologic importance. 

101 

PREPAREDNESS AND DRILLS

Since the events of 9/11, the Medical Division has been charged with preparing 

the department against future urban disasters, and has—in conjunction with its colleagues in the Counter-terrorism Bureau—drilled against both natural and terrorist 

calamities. The Medical Division has devised operational plans for various contingencies, in keeping with NIMS and CIMS guidelines, including natural disasters 

such as Pandemic Flu, Hurricanes, and terrorist events such as weaponized biological, radiological or chemical attacks. 

The Medical Division’s operational PODS plan, which is flexible to a variety of 

situations, is a meticulously worked out distribution plan recognized by the 

DOHMH as a model for other agencies, and has been tested in the field. 

The Chief Surgeon is present at all of the Police Commissioner’s numerous tabletop disaster drills, and, along with the Medical Director of Counter-terrorism, advises on all issues of medical concern in these simulations. 

NYPD Police Surgeons are involved in all the pre-training examinations and monitor all specialized Cobra Teams of the NYPD, assuring the Department’s readiness 

for all emergency contingencies. 

FUNDING

The Medical Division of the NYPD has never received, and currently receives no 

Federal funding for medical monitoring, tracking, preparedness, or any of its many 

other activities. 

UNIONS, ORGANIZATIONS AND WORKERS SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIALS

TO: The Honorable Senator Edward Kennedy, Chairperson, with Senator Hillary 

Clinton, Senator Michael Enzi, and the Members of the U.S. Senate’s Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (‘‘HELP Committee’’) 

FROM: Suzanne Mattei, New York City Executive, Sierra Club 

DATE: March 19, 2007 

Re: Submissions for the official hearing record of the HELP Committee hearing to 

be held on Wednesday, March 21, 2007. 

The Sierra Club applauds Senator Kennedy, Senator Clinton, Senator Enzi and 

the Members of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions for holding this important hearing to address the health-related needs of those exposed to 

pollution from the September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center. We request that you include these two reports in the official hearing record of your hearing to be held on Wednesday, March 21, 2007. 

POLLUTION AND DECEPTION AT GROUND ZERO REVISITED (2005)

• The first section of this report provides information on health impacts and potential future health hazards related to 9/11 pollution exposure. 

• The second section provides data on people from other States who came to help 

and now need health monitoring or care. 

HARMFUL LEGACY OF POLLUTION AND DECEPTION AT GROUND ZERO (2006)

• The third section of this report describes how and why Ground Zero workers 

with years of work experience are now bearing the burden of serious financial distress. 

• The third section also describes the failure to address the 9/11 pollution’s health 

impacts on residents and the continuing risks of exposure. 

The reports provide important background on the impact of the disaster and the 

inadequacies of the Federal response. Both reports, in addition, raise the important 

question of what would happen in a future disaster, based on the extent to which 

our country’s national response plans not only fail to correct the mis-steps of Ground 

Zero, but in some important respects actually incorporate those missteps as policy 

for future disasters. 

Thank you for including these reports in the record of your important hearing. 

[Editor’s Note: Due to the high cost of printing, previously published materials are not reprinted in the hearing record. The reports indicated above 

may be viewed online at http://www.sierraclub.org/library/onlinecollections/ 

reports.] 

102 

MARCH 22, 2007. 

Hon. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON, 

U.S. Senate, 

Washington, DC. 20510. 

DEAR SENATOR CLINTON: I am writing this letter on behalf of the members of 

Teamsters Local Union 282, International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Our members 

at Teamsters Local Union 282 responded to the attack on the World Trade Center, 

and the collapse of the towers by going down as volunteers to the site to help out 

in any way they could. Additionally, over the course of 12 months, Teamsters Local 

Union 282 had approximately 900 construction workers at the site, employed by several different contractors. 

The provision of adequate funding for medical care for our members is of utmost 

importance. The New York City medical community has acknowledged that there 

has been an increase in respiratory disease and mental health issues related to the 

World Trade Center disaster clean up. Our members continue to experience health 

problems including respiratory illness, headaches, depression, and anxiety. Teamsters Local Union 282 supports and applauds your efforts to bring attention to the 

issues faced by our members who responded so bravely in the aftermath of the attack on America. 

Sincerely, 

GARY LA BARBERA, 

President. 

MARCH 19, 2007. 

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: My name is Stanley Trojanowski. I am a retired New 

York City Firefighter from Engine 238 who is disabled due to the events of September 11, 2001. I was hoping to work as a firefighter for at least 40 years but as 

a result of that day, my own and my immediate family’s lives have changed permanently. Due to my involvement and exposure that tragic day I have respiratory 

problems and have gone unconscious numerous times due to severe cough attacks. 

I have further physical disabilities such as torn ligaments in my left arm due to 

the physical rescue and recovery efforts and from being involved in both collapses. 

I was also diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) following September eleventh. 

Due to my severe cough and breathing problems I am afraid to perform everyday 

activities such as driving or jogging. I have blacked out due to coughing while driving with my wife, over another firefighter’s house, in the hospital emergency room, 

and even on the toilet. After blacking out while driving on January 26, 2002, my 

wife Boguslawa has been afraid to drive and has not driven on a highway since. 

My son Michal has quit the Hicksville Junior Volunteer Fire Department after seeing the effects that day has had on me. I have trouble communicating with my family due to many extreme outbursts which have decreased due to medication and 

therapy. 

Since 9/11, I have been on numerous medications such as Pulmicort, Advair, 

Combivent, Nexium, Lotrell, Rhinocort, Dyphenhydramine, and Zoloft. I have been 

attending weekly sessions for retired New York City firefighters as well as seeing 

a personal counselor for a while post-9/11, at the counseling unit. I am currently 

under professional psychiatric care which is funded by the Red Cross. I am also 

being monitored by Dr. Prezant, a lung specialist at the FDNY bureau of Health 

Services. Thanks to the efforts of our union, UFA, and our legislators, most of my 

current medications treating the 9/11 symptoms are paid for by the government for 

the year 2007. This saves me thousands of dollars in co-payments annually. 

The medication, together with treatment and therapy, have helped me cope a little better with the mental and physical effects of 9/11. I feel these treatments, monitoring, and studies will help professionals understand the effects this day has had 

and therefore better treat any future tragedies and major catastrophes the younger 

firefighters and other civil servants may face. 

Sincerely, 

STANLEY TROJANOWSKI. 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF MARYELLEN MCKILLION SALAMONE, P.T., J.D., FOUNDER, 

CHILDREN OF SEPTEMBER 11, WIDOW OF JOHN SALAMONE, CANTOR FITZGERALD 104 

Thank you Senators Enzi, Kennedy and Clinton for this opportunity to present 

testimony on the long-term health effects of September 11, 2001. 

103 

THE CHILDREN CONTINUE TO SUFFER

A study released this week by the New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell 

Medical Center found that the rate of psychiatric illness among children who lost 

a parent in the attacks of September 11 reached nearly 73 percent. The research 

indicated that children bereaved as a result of 9/11 demonstrated double the rate 

of anxiety disorders and 10 times the rate of post traumatic stress disorders. The 

study also found that levels of cortisol, the stress hormone, were elevated in children grieving from 9/11 for several years after the attacks compared to their nonbereaved peers. 

The results indicated that bereaved children continue to suffer after 9/11, and 

highlighted the need for more long-term research ‘‘to determine when, if ever, children recover from these physiological and psychological consequences.’’ 1

Science affirms what families have experienced for 5 years since September 11 

and the problems we anticipate for our future. 

I am a 9/11 widow and now single mother to three children who lost their father 

in the attacks on the World Trade Center. Ages 6, 4 and 2 at the time, they are 

only now coming to realize and comprehend the horrific circumstances of their father’s death. They are only three among thousands of children who are growing to 

face the grim realities of the fate of their parent, or loved one, on 9/11. They are 

just beginning to learn how to face the images of the fire, the planes, the crumbling 

buildings, the bloodied survivors, and the desperate jumpers. 

The children continue to suffer. 

The study cited above offers evidence to substantiate the claim that children 

grieving from 9/11 continue to struggle. Without a study, those understanding childhood development could have easily predicted the results. A bereaved child does not 

process trauma and loss as adults do. To fully accept a loss and the impact it has 

in his life, a child must revisit the death or trauma at each developmental milestone 

as he grows. The tragic death of a parent has a different meaning to a child when 

he is 4 than it does when he is 7, or when his team wins the basketball championship, or when he enters his teen years or goes to his first dance. As his cognitive 

and emotional skills mature, so must his understanding of a significant loss and 

how it affects his life. Grieving lasts throughout childhood. 

This is considered the ‘‘normal’’ grieving process for all children suffering from the 

loss of a parent or significant loved one, and it is not easy. However, 9/11 was not 

normal, nor was its’ aftermath. How many Americans struggling to accept a loss in 

their lives have access to graphic video imagery of their loved one’s murder or demise, any second of the day? How many children in America, learning to cope with 

the loss of a parent, can easily access video footage in moments of their deepest despair, and wonder if the body plummeting to the ground 103 floors below is that 

of their father, or perhaps if the screams heard in the background on the 9/11 audio 

tapes as the building collapsed are those of their mother? Technology offers our children this opportunity; the media coverage of 9/11 has made normal bereavement abnormal on its face. 

The children continue to suffer. 

Society also puts children at a disadvantage as they work to recover from 9/11. 

‘‘Kids are resilient.’’ This often repeated phrase, exclaimed in praise and celebration 

of a child’s ability to return to a productive life after a crisis, trauma or loss, frequently abolishes a child’s chances for help if he encounters difficulties coping years 

after the loss. Teachers, coaches, peers, strangers: everyone seems to grant a 1-year 

recovery period to a child recovering from loss. At the first sign of resiliency, the 

child is regarded as ‘‘healed’’ and the expectation is held that he will not return to 

a place where a past crisis or trauma will affect his emotional health. Then when 

problems do arise, they are often ignored. This expectation is contrary to normal 

child development and grief recovery, and leaves a child to suffer in silence. 

In today’s world, children of 9/11 will continue to suffer. 

MY STORY

I am a pediatric physical therapist and worked as an attorney in the area of special education. In the last 5 years, I served as President of the Families of September 11 organization, founded and continue to work with the Children of September 11 program, served as faculty on Mount Sinai Medical School’s Reaching 

Children Initiative, and currently serve on the board of the National Center for 

School Crisis and Bereavement. I am most qualified to speak on this topic as a parent of two who often struggle to cope after 9/11, and of one who struggles all the 

time. My son suffers from traumatic anxiety disorder and has difficult to horrible 

times. Life for us as a family is not easy with a son so afflicted; life for him is often 

impossible. 

104 

He is a great athlete, but he has panic attacks. He is a wonderful friend, but as 

he grows and reaches his adolescence, he faces cruel jokes and ridicule due to his 

fears. He needs to know ‘‘what happens next’’ on a regular basis; he cannot cope 

with the unexpected and unknown. If he does not know what will happen next, he 

fears someone will die. Treating this symptomology often includes demonstrating to 

a child that his fears are unfounded and often unrealistic. Yet, what about my son? 

His father left for work one day and a plane filled with terrorists crashed into his 

building causing his death in a most horrific way. To affirm this reality, my son is 

reminded of it continually via newscasts, flags, bumper stickers, t-shirts, and magazine covers. He is reminded through nearly every visual venue one might imagine, 

each and every day. It is his unfortunate truth that at any moment a grisly death 

can steal another loved one from his life. He is terrified of the unexpected. What 

could have been more unexpected than the very real 9/11 he lived through? 

He is a good student, but his persistent worries often invade the school day and 

limit his ability to focus. He works hard to cope with his difficulties without help 

in school, and as a result, his teachers regularly ignore his special education Section 

504 Plan. Working to get my son the assistance he needs in school is my uphill battle. There is little education or in-service training available to teachers about how 

to work with children suffering the effects of trauma and/or loss. Also, on how to 

recognize symptoms and fears, or how to deal with a grieving that spans a childhood. As for the few training programs that do exist, it is not mandatory that teachers attend. There are no services in our school or in our community for my son. He 

was supposed to be over the death of his father years ago. 

My son’s anxiety began on 9/11/2001. It is not due to anything else. It is a casualty of 9/11. Along with my husband John, he is a victim. 

MENTAL ILLNESS

Mental illness is different from physical illness, but it can be debilitating, disabling, and for a teenager where suicide is the third leading cause of death, it can 

be life threatening. Diagnoses of mental health illnesses should be recognized and 

treated on the same level as physical illnesses. Yet, they are not. New York should 

be commended for recently passing Timothy’s Law, which requires all health insurance companies to provide coverage for mental health care. Sadly, this is not the 

case in many States, and many policies that do cover counseling services have restrictions so prohibitive that it prevents people from accessing the care they need. 

My own insurance policy covers basic counseling services, but not the specialized 

services my son requires. As a victim of pediatric traumatic loss, he needs services 

from one trained in that area. Sending my son to a psychologist who specializes in 

marriage or drug counseling, as my insurance allows, is akin to seeing a dermatologist for a chronic heart condition. It costs me several thousands of dollars a year 

for his care. 

I have health insurance. Thousands of lower- and middle-income families have no 

health insurance and therefore no chance at all to receive care for mental health 

illnesses. If choosing between care for a physical or emotional ailment that fits in 

one’s budget, realistically the choice would be to treat the physical illness. Hence, 

depression, anxiety, complicated grief, all go untreated in children and that can lead 

to drug abuse, eating disorders, and suicide. Charities most thankfully offered financial assistance to 9/11 families for a time after the attacks to guarantee access to 

mental health, but the benefits are sun-setting. Children of the victims of September 11 will soon be among those left alone to suffer in silence. 

RECOMMENDATIONS

I am thankful that this hearing has been called to investigate whether Federal 

funding should continue for those who suffer long-term ailments, even fatal illnesses, caused by the devastation of September 11, 2001. Yet I am concerned, as 

I believe caring for those who still suffer from 9/11 should be an automatic response, 

an obligation of our government, without a hearing. The findings of the 9/11 Commission clearly illustrated that steps should have been taken prior to the attacks 

which could have prevented them. Surely this gives rise to the responsibility to assist the victims who continue to suffer. Without doubt, long-term resources should 

be made available to those who are afflicted with chronic physical and emotional 

illnesses sustained as a result of the attacks on America. If financial constraints 

prevent any individual, adult or child, suffering with 9/11 ailments from attaining 

the attention he requires, resources must be available to him. 

That is not enough to help the children. They need more than reimbursement. 

The attacks of September 11 caused the largest loss of life on American soil due 

to terrorism. Thousands of parents died, and due to illnesses resulting from the 

105 

toxic debris of the destruction, parents continue to die. As a country we must resolve 

that these deaths are not in vain. In honor of those lost, as a Nation, we should 

step up and fix what is broken for their children. I implore that you, as a working 

committee, strive to effect necessary change. 

We need families to have health care insurance. We need the Mental Health Parity Act to pass providing for compulsory coverage of mental health services. We need 

quality mental health care programs in our schools and communities for children. 

We need improved crisis intervention and counseling in schools, and mandatory 

services for the long-term needs of children suffering from trauma and loss, not just 

services in the immediate days that follow. We need funding to inform teachers 

about childhood mental health, in order to better prepare them to assist the child 

that is suffering from death, trauma, loss and terrorism. We need to insure the emotional safety of children as well as their physical safety, as we prepare schools for 

future acts of terrorism as required by the Homeland Security legislation.2 If we, 

as a Nation, gave adequate attention to the mental health needs of our children in 

this country, we could instead be discussing best practices rather than simply basic 

funding for a select few. If the mental health needs of 9/11 children were adequately 

addressed in our schools and communities, there would be no need for my testimony. 

Children continue to suffer after 9/11 and we need to care. 

Thank you for this opportunity to submit this testimony. 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF WILLIAM GLEASON, FORMER NEW YORK CITY FIREMAN

My name is William Gleason. Two years ago, at age 44, I was medically retired 

from the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) for my line of duty injury of September 11, 2001. Until April 2005, I was a Lieutenant in the Emergency Medical 

Services Command and had served in the Department for 21 years. 

Over the course of 8 months, I worked more than 100 hours at Ground Zero. I 

worked at Ground Zero from the night of September 11 and for the next two days. 

After that, I was assigned to work at Ground Zero for several more shifts until May 

2002. Emergency Medical Technicians and Paramedics remained on site until that 

time, directly involved in the recovery of the lost, and in order to treat those who 

were injured while working on the cleanup of the World Trade Center site. 

I began to experience health problems on September 12, 2001 when I could not 

breathe out of my nose. Shortly thereafter, I developed recurring sinus and upper 

respiratory infections. One infection would clear up and then another infection 

would develop several days later. I underwent several sinus procedures including 

two in-hospital surgeries. 

I started noticing I was having shortness of breath in October 2003. On March 

8, 2004, I began to experience severe breathing problems. My EMS crew transported 

me to the emergency room and I was diagnosed with asthma. That was the beginning of a series of asthma attacks, several of which have required treatment at hospital emergency rooms. 

On March 15, 2004 the Fire Department Bureau of Health Services examined me 

for the asthma attack. That day the Fire Department convened a three-physician 

medical board which reviewed my medical records and determined that I was unfit 

for duty due to toxic exposure. The board stated that, ‘‘His respiratory disability is 

permanent and related to his 9/11-WTC exposures.’’ I applied for retirement and in 

November, the New York City Employees Retirement (NYCERS) approved my request for line of duty retirement. 

My health care is covered by workers’ compensation and I receive workers’ compensation payments. However, my disability pension is reduced by the amount of 

workers’ compensation I receive. I participate in the FDNY monitoring program and 

also receive my health care treatment through this program. It is vitally important 

that I receive my care through the FDNY program because the physicians are 

knowledgeable about occupational illnesses and specifically, World Trade Center illnesses. Dr. Weiden of FDNY was the first physician who was able to connect my 

medical problems to my WTC exposure. Because my asthma is occupational and related to the toxins I was exposed to at Ground Zero, it requires specialized care that 

the vast majority of physicians do not have the training or knowledge to provide. 

I am fortunate to have several different physicians who work together to maintain 

my health. 

No doubt, the financial cost of my care is quite high. I have three to six appointments with doctors each month. While I do not know the actual cost paid for my 

drugs by the workers’ compensation program, I am told that at market rates, they 

cost about $7,000 per month. 

106 

Prior to September 11, 2001 I was in great shape. I did not smoke or drink and 

I was an active swimmer and rock climber. Now, I sit on the sidelines and watch 

my three teenagers do those things. I get short of breath when I walk up stairs or 

even take walks down a long hall. I live with Hyper-Reactive Airway Disease Syndrome (a form of occupational asthma). The attacks have multiple triggers that include the cold as well as hot and humid weather, and even a stranger’s perfume. 

I have developed sleep apnea and require a machine at night that blows air into 

my lungs. I now see a cardiologist regularly to monitor my heart as it is possible 

that my respiratory problems could lead to heart problems. I have several lung nodules that require CT scans every 6 months, and I have developed gastroesophageal 

reflux disease (GERD) and other medical problems that are related to my 9/11 toxic 

exposure. 

I worry about my family’s future as well as my own. I am watching friends who 

have become very ill from WTC-related illnesses and have even watched a few die. 

Ultimately, I believe that the number who will die from the WTC-related toxic exposure will far surpass the number killed on September 11. This is one of the tragic 

legacies of that awful day. The Nation must make sure that every one affected by 

the attack receives the care they need and that they and their families are not left 

destitute. 

On September 11, we answered the call. We stood in harm’s way and did our duty 

for God and country. Now, we need you to be our heroes. Thank you. 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF BONNIE JEAN GIEBFRIED, NYC EMS 

DIAGNOSIS

Extrinsic asthma w/acute exacerbation; Reactive airway disease; WTC cough; 

Compromised lung function; Chronic sinusitis; Compromised immune system; Post 

traumatic stress syndrome; GI toxicity; Gastroesophageal reflux; Hiatal hernia; 

Hypothyroidism; Ulna nerve compression; DeQuervain’s syndrome of left wrist; L.S. 

radicular neuralgia syndrome; Left hand—shoulder syndrome (surgery of left 

thumb, wrist and elbow—October 8, 2004); Left shoulder impingement; Left elbow 

epicondylitis; Left TM arthritis; Cervical radiculitis; Cervical spine vertebral subluxation complex; Lumbopelvic vertebral subluxation complex; Cervicobrachial syndrome; Sciatica; Vertigo. 

DATES OUT OF WORK SINCE SEPTEMBER 2001

2001 

September 11, 2001: dispatched to World Trade Center—8:54 a.m.; Evacuated by 

NYPD boat—South Marina to Liberty Park, NJ—approx. 1 p.m.; Taken to Bayonne 

Hospital, NJ by ambulance (discharged 5:30 p.m.)—transferred to Jamaica Hospital, 

NY (approx. 10 p.m.). 

Jamaica Hospital, NY: September 11, 2001–September 13, 2001—injuries sustained on September 11, 2001 at ‘‘Ground Zero’’; September 11, 2001–November 12, 

2001: out due to injuries sustained on September 11, 2001; December 16, 2001– 

December 26, 2001: out of work, respiratory. 

2002 

February 4, 2002–February 10, 2002: out of work—asthma attack; March 15, 

2002–March 19, 2002: out of work—respiratory; May 7, 2002–May 12, 2002: out of 

work—asthma attack taken to FHMC; June 7, 2002–June 10, 2002: sent home from 

work—respiratory; September 13, 2002–September 17, 2002: out of work—respiratory; November 19, 2002–November 22, 2002: out of work—asthma; December 

24, 2002–December 27, 2002: out of work—respiratory. 

2003 

January 16, 2003–January 18, 2003: asthma attack at Mt. Sinai clinic—taken to 

Lenox Hospital, NYC; April 23, 2003–June 6, 2003: 911 called taken to South Nassau Communities Hospital—Oceanside (discharged 5/5/03)—asthma; August 14, 

2003–August 19, 2003: Blackout caused panic attacks; August 29, 2003–September 

3, 2003: sent home from work—respiratory; September 10, 2003–October 10, 2003— 

out of work—asthma attack November 2, 2003–November 4, 2003: out of work— 

panic attack. 

2004 

February 22, 2004–February 27, 2004: out of work—virus; April 16, 2004–present: 

out of work until present day—asthma (October 8, 2004—surgery of injuries sustained 9/11/01. 

107 

MEDICATION HISTORY

Prior to September 11, 2001 

Synthroid—Thyroid 

Post September 11, 2001 

Pulmicort 200mcg—asthma; Zithromax 250 mg Z-pak Tab PFI—respiratory; 

Albuterol 90mcg Inhaler War—asthma; Azmacort Inhaler RHO—asthma; Levaquin 

500 mg Tablet MCN—respiratory; Methylprednisolone 4 mg DSPKGRE—asthma; 

Atrovent Inhaler B-I—asthma; Bupropion 100 mg Tablet—asthma; Avelox 400 mg 

Tablet BAY; Prednisone 10 mg—asthma; Lithium Carb 300 mg Cap 60 CA ROXA— 

psychiatric; Guaifenex DM Tablet SA 20 TA ETHE—respiratory; Advair Diskus 100/ 

50 mcg—asthma; Belladonna/Phenobar Tabs—psychiatric; Trazadone 100 mg Tab— 

psychiatric; Ketoconazole Cream 2 percent—rash; Synthroid 150 mg Tab—thyroid; 

Trileptal 150 mg Tablets—psychiatric; Trazadone 150 mg Tablets—psychiatric; 

Clindamycin 300 mg Capsules—respiratory; Tussionex Pennkinetic Susp MPI 

(ground zero cough)—respiratory; Carafate 1 gram Tablets—GERD; Atrovent Inhaler—asthma; Flonase Nasal Spray 0.05 percent—nasal; Lotemax Eye Drops 0.5 

percent—eye infection; Alocril Eye Drops 2 percent—eye infection; Advair Disc 500/ 

50—asthma; Clarinex 5 mg—respiratory; Guaifenesin 600/60—antibiotic; Ciprodex 

1.5ml—antibiotic; Nasaral 25 mcg—respiratory; Lexapro—psychiatric; Zelnorm— 

GERD; Factive—pneumonia; Meclizine 12.5 mg—vertigo (PRN); Compazine 10 mg— 

(PRN); and Xopenex 1.25 mg—asthma. 

PRESENT MEDICATIONS

Singular 10 mg Tab—respiratory; Protonix 40 mg—GERD; Klonapin wafer—psychiatric; Allegra—respiratory; Wilson Solution—respiratory (PRN); QVAR—asthma; 

Armour 2GR—thyroid; Epi-pen—asthma & Allergies (PRN); Rozerem 8 mg—insomnia; Xopenex—asthma; Meclizine 12.5 mg—vertigo (PRN); Compazine 10 mg— 

(PRN); and Albuterol—(PRN). 

CERTIFICATE OF PRESENCE

I, Bonnie Jean Giebfried attest to the fact that on September 11, 2001 my partner 

(Jennifer Beckham) and I were assigned to the World Trade Center Incident due 

to the fact we were Emergency Medical Technicians employed by Flushing Hospital 

Medical Center working within the guidelines of the New York City 9/11 system 

under the direction of the Fire Department of New York City. 

Shortly before 9 a.m. when the dispatcher was dispatching the units into the city, 

all we knew was the designated staging area we were to report to, WEST & VESEY 

(now known as ‘‘GROUND ZERO’’). 

We switched our radio over to city-wide. As we headed into the city, we were traveling on the Long Island Expressway and we’re seeing assorted BLS and ALS units 

from our sector in front of us as we travel toward the city. The Long Island Expressway is one of our main routes into the city and the traffic on it was stopped dead 

in its tracks. When we got to a point on the expressway where we could see across 

to Manhattan, my partner and I could see one tower burning. 

As EMTs we learn to overcome that initial fear. We know it’s there, but we put 

it in the back of our heads and keep going so we can do our jobs. That defense 

mechanism everyone else has (fright/flight), we don’t experience, because somehow 

it gets overridden. 

During our travels on the Long Island Expressway we had to cross over into oncoming traffic, going the wrong way. We did this to make headway as we traveled 

toward the mid-town Tunnel. Just before we got to the tunnel we got back into the 

correct lane of traffic so we could get into Manhattan. As we came out of the tunnel, 

the second plane hit. 

Up to this point, we had been following an FDNY unit. We got to the Fulton Fish 

Market, and the FDNY unit turned to go to its assigned staging area, at that point 

we decided to go toward the large black plume of smoke. We met up with a crew 

from another hospital that we knew well, when we were a few blocks from THE 

TWIN TOWERS. The debris was flying all over, along with papers, and the tower 

was engulfed in flames. An officer came over and stated that we weren’t supposed 

to be staged there. Our staging assignment was WEST & VESEY and we were on 

our way again, down BROADWAY to some other street and onto THE WEST SIDE 

HIGHWAY. When we were driving on THE WEST SIDE HIGHWAY, that’s when 

we saw the body parts. 

We did not make it to our designated staging area because a firefighter stopped 

us at WEST & LIBERTY. Everything on the East side of us was on fire—buildings, 

108 

cars and the burning debris was falling from THE TOWERS. There was a pedestrian bridge where the firefighter had stopped us. It went from the corner of the 

SOUTH TOWER to the FINANCIAL BUILDING, crossing over the roadway. I 

wanted to be under the bridge for safety but the firefighter moved us 12 feet North. 

We unloaded everything we could out of the ambulance: our tech bag, oxygen, 

backboard, collars, and our helmets, which were our only protective equipment 

issued to us. We got everything. The EMS Commander for FDNY, Captain Karin 

DeShore was coordinating our staging area (WEST & LIBERTY). She yelled to us 

that we had to report to Chief Wells with FDNY, on the other side of the roadway: 

they had some people there we needed to get out of the SOUTH TOWER. We 

grabbed our equipment and ran across past the cars on fire to the lobby of the 

SOUTH TOWER. We got inside the lobby of the SOUTH TOWER and there were 

three women who needed our help. One woman was handicapped and the other two 

were just frightened. None of them were injured, but we needed to get them out 

of there and to safety! I gave the older woman my helmet and said: ‘‘you’re going 

to do exactly what we say?,’’ as the younger woman nodded her head, my partner 

and I picked up the handicapped woman and put her on the stretcher; we were 

ready to go. We waited until Chief Wells said ‘‘GO’’ then we ran across the street, 

and we got all three women to safety. 

After we got the women across to safety, we instructed them to go away from the 

towers to a safe location. At this point, my partner and I met up with a couple of 

our paramedics and their students, and this is when we started to see and hear the 

jumpers. When they hit the ground it sounded like gunshots. 

Captain Karin DeShore told us the falling debris was getting too close, and we 

had to move back. We continued to witness the TWIN TOWERS burning and the 

people jumping to their deaths. We continued to back away from the falling debris 

when a loud noise rang out, the ground shook and a ball of fire came at us. We 

ran up the grass and saw a little alcove on the side of the Financial Building that 

we thought was an entrance, but it wasn’t; it was just part of the design of the 

building and that became our tomb where we got buried alive under tons of debris. 

There were EMT, FDNY and POLICE buried under all the debris. The air, what 

little there was, was superheated! I took what I was sure would be my last breath 

thinking, ‘‘Take care of my family; take care of everyone I love.’’ Police Officer Tim 

McGinn managed to get to his firearm, and shot out the window where we were 

buried; we all started to break the thick panes of glass with whatever we had and 

suddenly there was air. We were in the lobby of the building. 

At that point everyone seemed to scatter, trying to find a way out, it was dark 

beyond belief; you could hardly see. 

After being buried we all threw up because whatever came at us, that’s what we 

swallowed. God knows what we swallowed; a tree, a piece of a car, part of the building, it was hard to tell and we will never know! 

We finally got out of the building and went into a nearby deli (Au Bon Pain). We 

had no idea the whole tower collapsed and was gone; we just figured the top blew 

off from the explosion. My eyes were burning and Jen flushed them out. Everyone’s 

eyes were burning from the smoke, dust and debris. People started to come into the 

deli and we went into EMT mode again and started to triage injuries; like broken 

arms, abrasions, contusions, difficulty breathing, etc. At some point Jen and I made 

the decision to leave the deli, because the building could be unstable. There was a 

MERV (medical van) nearby and we went over to it to get more supplies. 

We gathered necessities to triage people, as we departed from the MERV and 

started walking down the street the ground started shaking again—I remember that 

feeling from when the tower exploded. We dropped everything and ran into an underground parking garage. 

The debris started coming at us and covering the entrance way. The debris settled 

a bit, Jen pulled her flashlight out; we really couldn’t see 3 feet in front of us. Then 

we heard people calling, ‘‘Is anyone in here?’’ We called to the people to move toward our voices and look for the light. We met up with a police officer and four 

other people. We kicked the debris out from the front of the parking garage. The 

police officer said we had to go toward the water. Jen and I saw some of our supplies so we started to gather them and we headed toward the water. 

Jen and I set up a makeshift triage area and started treating anyone who came 

toward us for assistance. More resources were arriving; a fireboat pulled against the 

sea wall where we were; whoever was an emergency we directed to the boat; all 

kinds of boats were coming to assist in getting people off the island. In the midst 

of all that was going on I began to feel ill, my breathing got really bad; I sat down 

because I was getting very weak and Jen ran to find albuterol because I was beginning to have my first of three asthma attacks. 

109 

Chief Browne came over after some time and stated we were being re-deployed 

to North Cove Marina. We found one of those golf carts they use to pick up trash 

cans and loaded all our equipment. Chief Browne and I introduced ourselves and 

started to talk about our families and where we were from. We arrived at the Marina and we were told there was a threat of a gas explosion, at this point we made 

a decision to get on the boat and we were evacuated to New Jersey. 

The albuterol treatment did not break my asthma attack and I was starting to 

have another attack as the boat sped away from the Marina. I said to Jen, I did 

not feel well and I was having another attack; Jen said, ‘‘There’s no oxygen on the 

boat, just keep breathing.’’ All I could see was the city burning under a thick black 

cloud of smoke to the left of me and the Statue of Liberty to the right of me. 

I could hardly stand up when we reached New Jersey. Two men grabbed under 

my arms and brought me up the walkway where an ambulance crew grabbed me 

and brought me to their unit to be treated. I was given another treatment of 

albuterol which was not breaking the attack, the paramedics had to start an IV and 

give me a steroid (Salmeterol) to help stop the chest pain and asthma attack I was 

having. 

We were taken to Bayonne Hospital, the ER team started to triage me and Jen, 

then we were sent to a room in the general population and further tests would be 

ordered and evaluated. 

Jen was going to be released from the hospital and the staff wanted to keep me 

for observation; I said, ‘‘if she goes I am going too,’’ I would be released if I followed 

up with an exam at Jamaica Hospital. I was given goodwill clothes to wear and Jen 

was in paper scrubs. As we waited for an ambulance from Jamaica Hospital Medical 

Center (our mother hospital) Jen asked me if I wanted to view the city. She had 

found a parking garage which had a direct view of Manhattan; I said, ‘‘yes.’’ We 

walked a bit and up five flights of stairs to the top of the parking garage, where 

we looked across to view the city; it was beyond belief! All I really understood at 

that point was that we had been buried alive. We triaged people, I had asthma attacks, we left the city on a boat, we were in a Bayonne Hospital and now we were 

waiting to go home. 

The Jamaica ambulance came and got us. We came home by the Verrazano Narrows Bridge the driver pointed out the city still burning. While we were on the 

bridge we got word that a man was picked up on the George Washington Bridge 

in a fuel truck, possibly trying to blow it up. All I wanted to do was get over the 

bridge. 

We finally arrived at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center where we were instructed 

to meet in a designated place to be de-briefed. No one met us and Jen’s and my 

anxiety levels increased. All we wanted to do was go home. I started to feel ill again 

and I was going to have another asthma attack. Jen called for help and staff arrived 

and wheeled me to the ER. Jen and I received medical attention once again. I was 

taken to the 4th floor to a private room; I didn’t want to be anywhere high, I was 

ALONE! I had no TV, no phone and all I could see outside the window was the 

moon and a billboard of the TITANIC sinking over and over again. 

I went home 3 days later; I was told not to watch TV, read newspapers or magazines but to do normal things. I sustained a dislocated thumb, lacerations to my 

right leg, many contusions, many sore muscles and the memories that I would have 

to face of that day, just as my partner and co-workers would have to, one by one, 

to begin to heal. I did something normal; I got back to my home base at Flushing 

Hospital Medical Center, saw a couple of people, got in my truck and headed for 

home. 

My name is Bonnie Jean Giebfried, one of the EMTs which responded to the 

World Trade Center Tragedy on September 11, 2001. Many of the survivors from 

‘‘Ground Zero’’ are very ill due to their exposure to toxins on September 11, 2001. 

Due to pressures from the hierarchical systems survivors have been silenced, denigrated or their careers have been threatened when the truth of their experience on 

September 11, 2001 was brought to light. 

It seems with the passing of time many individuals have forgotten the survivors 

of ‘‘Ground Zero.’’ Due to the exposure at ‘‘Ground Zero’’ many people have been diagnosed with blood diseases, respiratory diseases, lung cancer, throat cancer, etc. 

On June 24, 2005, due to complications physically & mentally we buried one of our 

co-workers; Tim Keller, age 41, dead. The aftermath of 9/11/01 shows the true toxicity of the unaddressed issues; the survivors are not getting proper medical care 

due to the levels of lethal toxins inhaled and the chemicals we were exposed to at 

‘‘Ground Zero.’’ The true impact of being a ‘‘survivor’’ of Ground Zero has not been 

accurately reported; no one wants to face the reality of the suicides that have ocVerDate Aug 31 2005 16:08 Jul 30, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00113 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 S:\DOCS\34458.TXT SLABOR1 PsN: DENISE
110 

curred, the broken homes, the personal struggles, the physical limitations or the 

struggle in dealing with the bureaucratic/hierarchical structures due to the aftermath of 9/11/01. 

Being a survivor has brought about many obstacles; many of us have lost our insurance coverage, have put a great deal of money out-of-pocket, most of us have 

used our savings up, bills from 9/11/01 are not being paid/disputed; there is no continuity with the systems we must file paperwork in regard to 9/11/01 illnesses/surgery/mental health, etc. I find it very disconcerting that the ‘‘survivors’’ have received little assistance in trying to resolve issues that date back to September 11, 

2001. The lack of resolution of these issues for the past 4 years continues to impede 

our ability to recover, heal or move forward in life. 

I am overwhelmed by the inequality and treatment of individuals that were not 

considered ‘‘UNIFORMED WORKERS,’’ even though we all receive the same training and implement the same service to the general public. In a country that claims, 

‘‘. . . and justice for all’’ things have fallen quite short of this right as individuals. 

We are tired of the red tape, pass the buck, filing more papers to achieve appropriate and fair treatment—we did our jobs on 9/11/01. 

Once classified as ‘‘HEROES’’ with praise and promises; the 5th year anniversary 

approaches. Will we be left to whither away with the diseases caused by the toxic 

exposure on 9/11/01 or will we find justice by having our voices heard, our medical 

needs addressed and a governing agency that will implement the services & care 

needed for the survivors which can help maintain a quality of life before the toxins 

extinguish our existence. 

DEAR SENATOR CLINTON OR WHOMEVER IT MAY CONCERN: I would first like to 

thank you for reaching out to the First Responders by giving them an opportunity 

to speak out and provide input regarding decisions and legislations that will affect 

their quality of life. Those who have been affected must succumb to decisions made 

regarding their health by individuals who will never personally know what the First 

Responders and their families must endure on a day-to-day basis. 

As a result of 9/11 my father, Raymond Simons, has extreme difficulty carrying 

out even the simplest daily tasks. His drastically reduced lung capacity prevents 

him from living the way he used to. He will never have the full capacity of his life 

back. He was deemed ‘‘disabled’’ and granted three-quarters retirement from EMS/ 

FDNY due to his disability, however he continues to struggle to have his operations 

approved and paid for by Workmen’s Compensation. Most recently he was scheduled 

for lung surgery and had to undergo all of the necessary pre-operation exams and 

testing, only to be called the night before his surgery and told that the required preauthorization was not approved. This is only one example of the hardships that my 

family must deal with. My father has not received ANY form of compensation for 

physical pain he is in, and has been in for the past 51⁄2 years. He does not receive 

ANY compensation for the emotional stress of being told that he is disabled yet he 

is repeatedly denied Social Security Disability and has been neglected by Workmen’s 

Comp. He does not receive ANY compensation for the drastic financial strain on our 

family as he is unable to work a full-time job or receive additional benefits that 

would facilitate his once again leading a ‘‘normal’’ life. 

Now there is a question of whether or not the government will continue the funding for his long-term physical and mental health? I’m assuming that those who 

make these decisions sit behind a desk and decide that the money put aside for 

9/11 funds would be much better appropriated somewhere else. They are outside of 

the situation. The events of 9/11 are a page in history to them. They do not wake 

up every morning just to witness a loved one suffer; yet another reminder of physical and emotional pain that will never subside and will only increase. 

My father sacrificed everything to help others on that day and was a vigilant city 

worker for the weeks afterward. Now he is the one who needs help. The First 

Responders are the ones who need to be saved. 

There are heroes of 9/11 that are NOT gone, but unfortunately they already have 

been forgotten. 

We appreciate all of your efforts. 

Sincerely, 

DANA M. SIMONS. 

MARCH 21, 2007. 

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: I am the wife of a NYPD detective who became ill 

after 9/11. My husband had spent 8 months at the World Trade Center site and 

111 

Fresh Kills. During the time period he was working there, he started coughing and 

having trouble breathing. He had headaches on a daily basis. However, he felt it 

was something that would discontinue when the work was done. Little did we know, 

his work there would change the lives of our family forever. 

My husband often woke up at night with breathing problems that seemed to me 

to be asthmatic. I knew this because I had a sister with asthma, but had no idea 

that a person could develop hyper-reactive airways from exposure to chemicals. He 

started having problems with physical exertion where he would have to stop after 

small intervals of outside yard work in order to catch his breath. Some days were 

worse than others, and it wasn’t until he was sent in for a methacholine challenge 

test that we were informed he has RADS (reactive airways dysfunction syndrome). 

However, despite finding out the problem with his breathing, we were still perplexed about another problem. He was having severe dizzy spells where he couldn’t 

see straight, and his spacial relations were off. He often compared this to having 

a brain fog, being in a video game, and taking a bad ride on a roller coaster where 

he couldn’t stop the ride. He would lay down hoping it would go away. He started 

walking into things, and seemed to have trouble with small motor skills. He couldn’t 

remember things that he had been told or said. He couldn’t focus or concentrate. 

After failing a neurological test in family doctor’s office, he went to a neurologist 

who ran tests and discovered he had vestibular dysfunction, gait ataxia, vertigo, and 

memory loss. Depression set in when he was told he’ll never get better. 

Through all of this, strange things have happened where my husband had a 

tumor appear under his left rib (noncancerous) and one within a sebaceous cyst 

(also, noncancerous). An atypical mole was removed. He’s had a biopsy done on his 

esophagus and was diagnosed with Acid Reflux. Some of his teeth have crumbled 

and fallen out in his mouth. He developed rashes on the front of his shins that 

would break open and bleed during the night. He has frequent chest pain. His body 

temperature often drops for no reason to 95 and 96 degrees. Liver function tests 

have shown fluctuating levels of bilirubin without explanation. He has become Vitamin D deficient and has always been one to drink a lot of milk. 

The unfortunate part about all of this is that it took us years to figure out what 

was wrong with my husband and some things are still left unanswered. We were 

uninformed about what the men and women at the sites were breathing in, and this 

lack of information caused my husband and others to suffer for years. We don’t 

know what could happen, and we’re not prepared for the types of illnesses that 

could take place. 

We have physicians in the State of New York who discount people’s participation 

as a cause of their illnesses and a lack of education as to what types of illnesses 

may occur. For the past 5 years, my husband has seen several physicians, and the 

list continues to grow. We’ve forked out thousands of dollars of our own money despite having health insurance because some tests and some physicians aren’t covered. The federally funded hospitals seem to be lacking as well. The focus at Mt. 

Sinai seems to be on breathing and lung problems, but so many other illnesses that 

could occur, such as my husband’s problem which is considered to be a brain injury 

from chemical inhalation, are completely discounted. 

My youngest daughter was conceived during the time period my husband was 

working in Rescue and Recovery. She’s growing at an abnormal rate (approximately 

5 inches a year) and was found to have an extra lower rib on her right side. She 

has outgrown her sister who is 2 years older than her. She wakes up at night 

screaming in pain from the growth, and I believe her problems are no coincidence 

since I have three other children who were born healthy prior to 9/11, and no inherited problems have been found with my daughter. I also had miscarriages which 

never happened to me prior to 9/11. I miscarried last April and was devastated. No 

one can convince me that my husband’s exposure had nothing to do with this, and 

I DO believe the children are affected. 

None of us were informed as to what people were breathing in. None of us knew 

how it could affect anyone or how it could affect our children. None of us planned 

to have these things happen to our families. None of us wanted to be the center 

of attention for having sick family members, and none of the sick wanted to be ill. 

I lost my best friend after 9/11 and am now watching a man who is a shell of 

a person he once was. He’s frustrated with the memory loss and the inability to do 

the types of things he used to do. He wakes up at night and has broken sleep due 

to RADS and hypopneas. He gets angry and frustrated that these illnesses will 

never get better, and I’m frustrated for not being able to help him. There’s nothing 

I can do to help him get better. I can only hope that the right things are done by 

him and everyone else who has suffered the way our family has suffered. He lost 

the quality of his life after 9/11 and will never have the type of life he once had. 

112 

My husband waits for his retirement to occur after serving over 19 years of working for the city of New York. His dream since childhood was to be a police officer 

for the NYPD. Now, he waits for the day where he might find a place to breathe 

easier. His doctors say he can no longer do his job. He asked me, ‘‘What job could 

I ever do again?’’ I have no answer for him. 

I cannot put words into this letter to tell people how devastating the physical 

changes in my husband have been. It’s difficult to watch someone suffer and wish 

so badly that his life was back to normal. It’s difficult to hear him be told that his 

injuries are permanent. It’s difficult to see him frustrated from his memory loss, 

gasping for breath, or having vertigo so badly that he can’t function. There are so 

many out there who are like him, and I pray to God that we will one day find a 

way to help him get better. 

I pray for the children of those who worked in Rescue and Recovery and for the 

future families of all residents and people exposed. Most of all, I pray that our country will come together and help the people who were injured in this attack that 

wasn’t just an attack on New York City, but an attack on our country. 

Sincerely, 

DONNA L. MICHAELS. 

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: On September 11, 2001, I was alerted at my home 

by a co-worker about a plane that had just hit the first tower of the World Trade 

Center that morning. As my wife and I watched in horror at the events of that act, 

a second plane hit tower 2. My good friend and co-worker and I jumped in my car 

and headed down to the firehouse. All the way down we received updates from a 

friend in the dispatcher’s office of just how bad the situation was. The one thing 

we concluded before we arrived, was that we were not going to walk away from this 

one without a scratch (meaning the Fire Department as a whole) and that life, as 

we knew it, was changing as we lived and breathed. We arrived at Ground Zero 

with other members of Rescue 3 just after the second tower collapsed. From that 

moment on, I was involved in the search and rescue operation at Ground Zero in 

a desperate attempt to find any survivors, only to realize, in a few days, that would 

not be the case. By about the fourth or fifth day, it became painfully obvious that 

if survivors were not found by this point, it was highly unlikely that there would 

be any. However, that did not stop me, or anyone else involved, from continuing our 

search through every opening or crevice, however small, throughout that entire 16- 

acre area in hopes of finding someone still alive somewhere in a void area. 

Throughout much of the first week, there was no resource from which to obtain 

proper breathing respirators that we could operate with. Our standard S.C.B.A. (self 

contained breathing apparatus) that we used was too bulky and did not supply 

enough time on air to allow us to continue the task at hand. We had only simple 

dust masks and medical masks, if you could find them, to rely on Rescue Co. #3 

lost all eight members working that day and my battalion, Special Operations Command, lost over 90 lives. 

Nine months later, with recovery operations winding down and the task ahead of 

rebuilding, not only our company but our battalion, I decided that I did not want 

to retire from the F.D.N.Y. but help rebuild it. My career with this Fire Department 

and the people I’ve worked with is something I’ve cherished and respected. 

In the years after 9/11, I started to notice my breathing becoming more labored. 

I tried to reason with myself that perhaps I wasn’t working out enough, with all 

the long hours we needed to work. On September 11, 2005, I was at a multiple 

alarm fire in the Bronx when I ran out of air in my S.C.B.A. and could not get out 

of the building right away due to reports of children possibly trapped on the upper 

floors. I went unconscious and was dragged out of the building by other firefighters 

and brought to the hospital. Before returning to work, I had to be examined by the 

medical office and was told that I would not be going back to the firehouse. 

I was diagnosed by F.D.N.Y. Chief Medical Officers with having asthma with persistent symptoms, airway obstruction and GERD, and retired in October 2005. Since 

then, I have received treatment and have had constant monitoring by the World 

Trade Center Monitoring Program and the F.D.N.Y. Medical Office. The doctors and 

staff have been very attentive in providing me with good medical attention and are 

continually regulating my medications and watching out for the best I can expect 

for my future health. It is good to know that the job that I cared so much for still 

cares enough about me to continually monitor my health since September 11, 2001. 

They have also helped me to obtain the necessary medications that I now need. As 

you all know these are very expensive medications that were using up a good portion of my retirement pay, as it does to many others with the same health concerns. 

113 

I can only hope and pray that the government will continue to provide the necessary funding for this most valuable medical monitoring to be done on all individuals that were involved in the rescue, recovery and clean-up at Ground Zero as a 

result of the events of September 11, 2001. Personally, I can only feel that if Federal 

funding is significantly reduced or stopped, that much of the medical attention that 

we are now receiving will be gone. The majority of us involved at Ground Zero are 

worried about our future and therefore the future of our families whom we work 

to support. I urge you to continue to support these medical programs with the proper funding and increase it, if anything. When, and if, another terrorist attack occurs, 

it would be sad if America’s First Responders were to have doubts about how their 

health issues will be dealt with by the very government we will so proudly protect 

from harm. It’s one thing to say ‘‘We will never forget.’’—It’s another to honor those 

words. 

‘‘UNITED WE STAND’’ 

I am always available. 

DOUGLAS C. HANTUSCH, 

Firefighter, F.D.N.Y. (retired). 

MARCH 18, 2007. 

TO: Senator Clinton, Senator Kennedy, Senator Enzi, and Members of the Help 

Committee 

FROM: Jacqueline Kaht Fernandez, widow of Lt. Cruz A. Fernandez 

SUBJECT: The Health of 9/11 First Responders 

My husband, Lt. Cruz A. Fernandez, was with the FDNY for 24 years. He began 

his career as a fireman in Spanish Harlem and retired while an officer at Ladder 

111 in Bed-Stuy November 2002. On September 11, 2001, he and his men arrived 

at Ground Zero 5 minutes after the second tower fell. My husband was digging from 

that day until April 2002. He logged in about 400 hours at what they called ‘‘The 

Pit.’’ The lives of he and his men were saved on 9/11 because they had to leave their 

rig and walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. How ironic that ‘‘Bombero,’’ as his men 

called him, would die 5 years later on July 14, 2006. 

People ask if I knew he was sick. How could I? The information and stories only 

began right around his death. Now knowing what I do . . . collectively his condition 

would have raised a red flag. Did he tell me he was feeling sick? These men are 

what the city call ‘‘The Bravest.’’ They drip testosterone. My husband would not 

have told me he was sick until he was on his deathbed. Unfortunately, he was. 

The autopsy shows Bombero died as a result of his heart. It shows the heart was 

enlarged and also anthrocosis of the lungs. He was on the medication Protonix for 

Acid Reflux. During that Spring his sinuses were out of control and he was waking 

up with crusted, burning eyes. He complained he couldn’t breath. I have a drawer 

full of nose spray and eye drops. Finally he went to the doctor, and he was put on 

Allegra D. The eczema on his face became out of control. He started to use over the 

counter hydrocortisone cream to calm it down. He developed an abscessed tooth and 

an infection despite the massive doses of antibiotics prescribed because of his double 

hip replacement in July 2004 and January 2005. Doctors have said all these conditions were a result of his auto-immune system shutting down. 

He had been previously diagnosed with sleep apnea. It became scary. The time 

between breaths were lengthening. His snoring was getting louder and louder. 

On May 7, 2006, my husband participated in the 3-hour FDNY WTC Medical 

Monitoring Program and was given a clean bill of health. The report of his chest 

x ray dated May 10 shows ‘‘Stable chest, lungs clear.’’ ‘‘No enlarged heart.’’ In June 

he had a myocardial perfusion study with Thallium dye. His doctor, Dr. Michael 

Chesner, said there was no indication of heart problems. He was as shocked as I 

was at my husband’s death. 

Bombero was athletic and still kept himself in great shape. He walked everyday. 

He was retired and we lived our life in Ft. Lauderdale. The no-stress lifestyle probably lengthened his life. 

I’m tired of the politicians, government, and medical community trying to hide 

what is going on with the First Responders. These men and women ran in when 

everyone else was running out! They served the city and people of New York without hesitation. What happens the next time there is a national disaster if everyone 

knows they and their families will be abandoned? It’s time that EVERYONE takes 

responsibility and steps up to the plate. These heroes are sick and dying left and 

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right. This is not a political issue, this is a MORAL issue. And down the road, who 

is to say some of YOU might not get sick? 

JACQUELINE KAHT FERNANDEZ. 

I am a Battalion Chief in the FDNY. My name is James Riches and still on medical leave from November 24, 2005 awaiting disability retirement due to decreased 

lung capacity. I lost my son firefighter Jimmy Riches, 29, of Engine 4 FDNY on 

9/11/01. I arrived at WTC shortly after the second tower had collapsed and stayed 

there until the site closed on June 30, 2002. I was a healthy 49-year-old on 9/11/ 

01, didn’t smoke, didn’t drink alcohol, and ran 5 miles every day. I had been feeling 

okay with minor symptoms—runny nose, dry cough—but nothing major. On November 24, 2005 I was admitted to Victory Memorial Hospital in Brooklyn having trouble breathing, with double pneumonia, and it escalated to Adult Respiratory Syndrome. My oxygen levels were abysmally low and doctors told my wife that I had 

5 hours to live. I had flu-like symptoms for the week before my admission. I was 

in a coma for 16 days and placed on a ventilator. I was very lucky to survive this 

ordeal—from being a healthy person one day to laying in a coma with a machine 

breathing for me. I had stroke-like symptoms after I came out of the coma miraculously. Physical rehabilitation, speech therapy and breathing therapy with countless 

medications and I was finally released from the hospital on December 28, 2005. This 

was a very scary and horrible episode which I wouldn’t wish on anyone. My lung 

capacity is reduced and I am currently taking many medications. The mental anguish of not knowing if you will be able to catch your next breath is excruciating. 

I lost my son on 9/11 and my health went down that day also. It took 4 years for 

the effects to rear its ugly head. I have been taking numerous medications and will 

forever. Doctor’s visits and exams are a weekly event. It all went back to 9/11. The 

FDNY, Dr. Kerry Kelly and Dr. David Prezant have been very helpful with my medical care. The U.S. Senate and Federal Government can’t turn their backs on the 

9/11 workers who toiled very hard looking for the bodies of our fellow Americans, 

sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, fathers, and mothers. Medications, doctor’s visits, 

prescriptions are part of our every day routine now. We still don’t know how many 

more will get sick from 9/11. 

Thank you, NEVER FORGET 9/11. 

BATTALION CHIEF JIM RICHES, 

FDNY Batt.11. 

I worked for the New York City Human Resources Administration at 180 Water 

Street, a 5-minute walk East down the hill from the site of the World Trade Center. 

All of us were called back to work on 9/17/01, a mere 6 days after the attack. We 

were told that no annual leave requests would be honored, and further advised that 

sick leave requests would be closely scrutinized. Since Christie Whitman, head of 

Federal EPA, got on the air and announced that ‘‘the air [in Manhattan] is safe to 

breathe and the water is safe to drink,’’ who could protest? 

As soon as I exited from the IRT station on Fulton Street, the air hit me like a 

club. I pressed a tissue over my nose and mouth and kept it there until I reached 

my office. The entire area, free of other pedestrians except for National Guard members in olive drab and gas masks, was covered with a fine white dust which came 

up in puffs as I walked. 

I tracked the dust into the lobby, up the elevator, and onto my floor. My desk 

was covered with a fine grit, which I spent the morning sponging off. The water 

coming out of the faucets in the building smelled strongly of sulfur. 

In short order, all of us began to experience respiratory symptoms. At the very 

least, people had sore throats and eyes. I had to cough constantly in order to clear 

my airways. I was bringing up a thick yellow discharge which was also, I am afraid 

to say, oozing out of my tear ducts, my ears, and indeed every other opening in my 

body. It was like the material which accumulates as the result of an infected wound. 

I went to my doctor (a new physician since my former M.D. left the practice.) She 

said, ‘‘Gee, there seems to be some kind of flu going around’’ and didn’t even bother 

to examine me. I got sent home with instructions to ‘‘drink a lot of fluids and take 

a decongestant.’’ 

We requested that the building’s air filtration system be evaluated, and in turn 

received a rather 9/18/01 brisk memo from my agency’s maintenance chief telling 

us the air filters had been checked prior to our agency’s initial tenancy of the building (a year prior)! 

115 

My staff and I got together and asked management to issue breathing protection. 

All we got (about 11 days after we returned to the area) were the kind of paper 

masks, secured by a rubber band, which hardware stores sell 3 for $1 to homeowners who are planning to do heavy dusting. 

We also asked for an evaluation of the air quality within the building. Someone 

from city EPA visited, and about a month later issued a report indicating the air 

was ‘‘safe.’’ 

I was thoroughly shocked to read, this past winter in Juan Gonzalez’s excellent 

book, ‘‘Fallout: the Environmental Consequences of the World Trade Center Collapse,’’ that the air was as caustic as drain cleaner, and that the levels of asbestos, 

benzene, dioxin, PCBs, lead, mercury, chromium, and diesel fuel oils in both the air 

and water were dangerous. Gonzalez also related this staggering tidbit: the accumulation of debris was so great that the air quality measurement devices nearest to 

our office were so clogged that they could not function. 

I took early retirement the following October, still feeling as if I were functioning 

at about 40-percent physical capacity. Colds lasted longer and were much more difficult to shake off; flu shots failed to work. 

Four and a half years out of the area, I am feeling a bit stronger, except for the 

fact that I heal from respiratory infections with much more difficulty. Given what 

I and my co-workers were exposed to, I worry about what MAY happen to my health 

in the future. 

Provisions are being made for the brave souls who sifted for remains at Ground 

Zero. What is being done for the workers, residents, and schoolchildren of Lower 

Manhattan, innocents who were forced back into a toxic cauldron? 

KATHRYN NOCERINO. 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF KENNETH GEORGE, FORMER NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT

OF TRANSPORTATION EMPLOYEE

My name is Kenneth George. I am 43-years-old and married. My wife Cynthia 

and I have three children who range in age from 15 to 22. 

For over 19 years, I worked for the New York City Department of Transportation. 

But on July 29, 2006, I left the Department and my job because I could no longer 

work, not even on light duty. I am sick as a result of working on the recovery and 

cleanup efforts at the World Trade Center, following the September 11, 2001 attack. 

I worked at the World Trade Center site from September 12 until the end of November, 2001. On 9/11, many employees from the Transportation Department, including myself, were assigned to assist with the recovery of victims. I went to the 

World Trade Center site on that day to provide identification and be put on a list 

that would allow me to pass through security checkpoints. I returned to the site on 

September 12 to begin my work assignment. Initially, my job was to dig through 

the pile of rubble to look for the remains of victims. We worked 16 hours a day for 

more than a month, doing our best to find the precious remains that would give 

comfort to the loved ones of these poor victims. As you might imagine, this work 

was emotionally difficult at times. Nothing I had been trained for at DOT prepared 

me for this work. Five years later I find myself reliving some of those difficult moments. 

In November, the recovery phase ended and we began the cleanup operation. At 

that point, my job was to refuel the equipment being used in the cleanup by the 

city and its contractors. 

I started to experience respiratory problems in late October or early November. 

I was at a work site where a large piece of debris was moved and green smoke filled 

the air around me. I believe it may have been burning Freon. The air was so bad 

it nearly knocked me and the other workers out. After that experience, my throat 

became irritated and I developed a cough. 

In early November 2001, I saw a physician who diagnosed me with asthma. Since 

that time I have been diagnosed with other lung and chest ailments and with post 

traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). I had a slight heart attack last year, which the 

doctors believe was due to the combination of fumes at the work site and the 

steroids I take for my respiratory problems. I have been hospitalized a few times, 

including an episode following seizures brought on by my medications. 

As you might expect, these illnesses have changed my life. I was once strong and 

healthy. I lifted weights regularly and rode my bike. Now, I cannot work. Climbing 

stairs is not easy and the steroids have caused me to gain weight. I can no longer 

drive because of the drugs I take for PTSD. I am often irritable and angry and this 

has been difficult for my family. Their husband and father has changed a lot. 

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Currently, I get my care from Nassau University Medical Center which is part 

of the World Trade Center Monitoring Program. But they have told me that they 

may run out of money soon and this worries me. My doctors there know how to 

treat me. Unfortunately, other doctors I have seen did not understand my health 

problems. 

I also worry about my financial security. Currently, my health care costs are paid 

for by the WTC Program. I don’t know where I would go for my care or to get my 

prescriptions filled if the Program ran out of money. Just the copays on my drugs 

would be difficult to pay. When I left my job, I received a disability pension. The 

benefits are only one-third what they would have been had I retired on a normal 

pension with my years of service. More importantly, my pension is more than $3,000 

less per month than what I earned before I retired. I have had trouble paying my 

bills and I have been living with the fear that I could lose my house because I have 

not always been able to pay the mortgage on time. I have applied for workers’ compensation and I am awaiting a final determination on my claim for health care benefits and weekly payments. I have also applied for Social Security Disability. 

Working at the World Trade Center site has turned my life upside down. I worry 

about my future and that of my family. And I ask the Congress not to turn a blind 

eye towards the troubles of the many thousands of us who worked at Ground Zero. 

We need your help. 

DEAR SENATORS: I am writing in regards to the Long Term Health Impacts from 

September 11 hearing. I lost my brother at the World Trade Center attacks. I still 

suffer from depression, anxiety, and sleep problems due to the post traumatic stress 

that I experienced directly after the attacks. The visions and nightmares of my beloved brother, who as part of FDNY bravely rushed in to save others, trapped under 

rubble have receded but have left a chronic legacy. I sought professional help on 

more than one occasion for these problems, and am currently in the process of finding another mental health counselor because we have moved. I participated in the 

Red Cross Mental Health Program and am a member of the World Trade Center 

Family Center located on Long Island. These organizations have been very helpful 

to both myself and my family. 

I urge you to continue Federal funding for programs dedicated to helping those 

like myself, as they have been a lifeline for me during some very dark times. 

Never Forget! 

Thank you, 

LISA RAND MEYER, 

Sister of Adam Rand, FDNY Squad 288. 

Greetings, I am the sister of a firefighter who died in the line of duty on September 11, 2001. I currently live in a rural community along the California-Oregon 

border. I arrived in New York as soon as I could get there (just over a week) and 

went to the WTC site the next day. I volunteered to help dig as I have a background 

in emergency medicine and critical care, but was told that there were enough recovery personnel at that time and that they were also not wanting family members. 

Nevertheless, I spent a lot of time at the site when I wasn’t needed with my mom 

and family. I stayed until the middle of November in order to attend my brother’s 

memorial (we found no remains) as well as the memorial of his best friend, also a 

firefighter who died that day. By mid-October my respiratory symptoms were becoming consistent and I ended up finding a walk-in clinic a week or so later. I was 

told I needed to take antibiotics and did a 3-week course that was pretty thorough. 

(Anthrax was around) Symptoms included: deep bronchial congestion that showed 

signs of infection, headache, sinus pain and swelling/congestion, sore throat, low 

fever and chills . . . flu-like symptoms with a twist. 

I was back in New York soon after as our dad died on 3/11/02. Again, I spent a 

lot of time at the site . . . and I had to drive past the Fresh Kills landfill to get 

to my mom’s house which is just a few miles away. By then I was noticing a consistent need to clear my chest and throat. When there was a forest fire near my 

home in California, I had an asthma-like attack and passed out from smoke sensitivity, something new for me. I had two chest x rays, a year apart, that show ‘‘scar 

tissue’’ in my lungs. I had a second asthma-like attack (my sister was in the room 

when it happened, fortunately for me) just last February after being in a moldy 

house . . . again, something new for me. 

I now experience a low-grade congestion that an ENT specialist helped me treat 

shortly after the respiratory problems of last year. I still have trouble breathing at 

times and have definitely developed a sensitivity to what is in my environment. I 

117 

suffered from gastric reflux closer to 9/11 which has seemed to have resolved after 

a few different treatment approaches. 

My intention in reporting this is to add to the statistics and remind folks back 

East that there are a lot of people in California and other places outside NYC/DC. 

who have the ‘‘WTC cough’’ and other health impairments of varying degrees. I also 

want to stay in the loop of future discoveries and suggestions for treatment, especially if this gets worse. 

Thanks for all you are doing in this very challenging and vital effort. 

MARIE MITCHELL. 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF MARVIN BETHEA, 9/11 FIRST RESPONDER, PARAMEDIC

Good afternoon. I would like to take this time to thank our elected officials for 

giving me the opportunity to testify at this hearing. My name is Marvin Bethea, 

and I was a NYC 911 Paramedic for the private hospitals. When I was dispatched 

by the NYC Fire Department from the borough of Queens to respond to the World 

Trade Center, I did. As I crossed the 59th, I was informed by phone that a big jetliner just crashed into the second tower. We knew this was no accident, this was 

a terrorist attack. 

Did we say, ‘‘We shouldn’t go, this is a terrorist attack?’’ Absolutely not, because 

we understood we had a duty to act and a responsibility to protect the city, State, 

and country that we love so much. I survived the collapse of both towers. Here we 

are 5 years later and we are fighting for healthcare and financial compensation. Can 

you imagine if it took me 5 years to respond to the World Trade Center what would 

my city, State, and country think of me? I, like so many others, did what President 

Kennedy asked of us when he said ‘‘Ask not what your country can do for you, ask 

what you can do for your country.’’ 

What did doing for our country get us? We got sick, injured and financially ruined. I went from being a happy, hard-working paramedic to becoming a disabled 

paramedic with numerous health problems. The last day I worked was January 8, 

2004. I went from taking 2 medicines before 9/11 to taking 15 medicines. I am a 

broke man that has been given a slow death sentence. I pray to God every day that 

I don’t develop any new health problems like cancer. I saw and heard my government promise, on a city, State, and Federal level, that we wouldn’t be forgotten. 

They forgot. You can’t tease us now by allocating some funds for treatment that will 

only last maybe a few months. People are starting to get treatment, only to be 

threatened with the fact that it may last only for a few months. That is cruel. This 

is equivalent to a man who hasn’t eaten for the past 3 weeks and now you give him 

a steak. You ask him, ‘‘Do you like that steak?’’ after he had three bites of the steak 

and he tells you that it’s the best steak he ever had, and your response is, ‘‘Enjoy 

it because you will not get anymore.’’ Like I said before, this is very cruel. 

I am extremely grateful for the $25 million President Bush has pledged. Here is 

the problem with that: Senators Clinton and Schumer’s 9/11 Heroes Health Improvement Act calls for $1.9 billion in funding. Giving $25 million is like me asking 

you, ‘‘Can I borrow $100,000?’’ and you say, ‘‘See me today and I will take care of 

you.’’ When I see you, you give me $10 and act as if you are doing me a favor. Don’t 

turn 9/11 into another Katrina. What do I mean by that? The government was told 

those levies wouldn’t withstand a level 4 or 5 hurricane. How much to fix the problem? $14 billion. Their response was, ‘‘Too much money.’’ Now $90 billion later to 

fix the damage from Katrina, I would say in retrospect $14 billion was a bargain. 

Just think: $90 billion from $14 billion, you are left with $76 billion. Seventy-six 

billion dollars would cover the $1.9 billion that the New York congressional delegation is calling for in the 9/11 Heroes Health Improvement Act. You could have 

opened up the 9/11 Victims’ Compensation Fund with that money and still had additional money left over. I don’t want you to have to stand and scratch your heads 

5 to 10 years from now when the residents and workers of Lower Manhattan and 

Brooklyn can’t work anymore because the area was not properly cleaned and the 

people didn’t receive healthcare treatment. The Bellevue Program needs Federal 

funding yesterday!!! NYC should not be footing this bill by themselves. 

It is imperative that treatment centers like Mt. Sinai Health for Heroes Program 

are continually funded. Mt. Sinai and other programs like them offer occupational 

health doctors. These doctors are specially trained and know what to look for, and 

treat the horrible things we have been exposed to. As we know, today most doctors 

specialize in a particular field of medicine. The thought of giving heroes and survivors money to see the doctor of their choice is absolutely asinine. If you have a 

toothache do you go to the foot doctor? I say not, you go to the dentist. Allowing 

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people to go to inappropriate doctors will not help make people better, but only 

make their ailments worse which mean pouring much-needed money down the drain 

and their suffering greater. Haven’t we suffered enough? This is why it is imperative for people who are sick to see the appropriate doctors. 

Financial compensation is another absent component of this equation. It is no 

fault of our own that we can’t work anymore. We need to open up the 9/11 Victims 

Compensation Fund like it was. What good is treatment if I am sleeping in my car 

and I have lost my family? If I don’t have high blood pressure or depression, I will 

have it now for sure. People forget a lot of our brave soldiers enlisted in the military 

after 9/11 because they felt a patriotic need as Americans to do something for this 

country. President Bush could you please explain to me how you can spend billions 

and billions of dollars to send the troops over to Iraq to fight a war, then god forbid 

they get ill or injured now you don’t know them or don’t care about them. The soldiers in my opinion are being treated like the survivors of 9/11. 

Today, I say to the President: When you spoke to the Nation on 9/11 sir, most 

of the people in this country were 100 percent behind you. All parties—Democrats, 

Republicans, Independents as well as the different ethnic groups and races. Why 

have you abandoned us sir? The military has a saying, ‘‘We leave no soldier behind.’’ 

9/11 was an act of war against this Nation. You must not leave anyone affected by 

9/11 or the Iraq War behind. 

Thank you. 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF PETER SHANLEY, RETIRED DSNY SUPERVISOR, EMERGENCY

RESPONSE DIVISION, WTC 

On September 11, 2001 it was my regular day off. I was a supervisor in the NYC 

Department of Sanitation. When I saw that the first airplane had hit the World 

Trade Center I tried to call my district in Manhattan where I worked, but I couldn’t 

get through. So I just put on my uniform and headed into the city to see if I could 

help out in any way. I parked my car at the Sanitation District 2 garage and proceeded on foot the rest of the way. By the time I got there, the second plane had 

already hit. People started running as the buildings started to fall. I was not ready 

for what I saw. I stood in amazement as the giant dust cloud approached me. I waited a few seconds and then ran into the blackness to see if I could help anyone. I 

choked on the dust as I was enveloped by the cloud. 

The following day I went back to my District M12 in Washington Heights. At the 

end of the week I volunteered to return to Ground Zero (GZ) and by Sunday I was 

there. The second week of GZ I started working 12-hour shifts from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., 

7 days a week. We stayed on that schedule for about a month. Then they reduced 

our days to 6 days a week. I remained amidst the rubble instructing my men in 

their duties and guiding the trucks to the pile to get loaded. 

It was during this time that my health started suffering. I developed a severe 

lung infection and my eyes were always sore. I went to the doctor and he gave me 

antibiotics and my first inhaler. I had never had allergies in my life before, but the 

doctor said I had them now from breathing in the airborne dust and bacteria. My 

lungs cleared up with treatment, but the cough stayed with me. Around November 

I developed a severe case of insomnia. In addition I was getting quite irritable. I 

took some vacation time, but I wound up going back to work. I had a passion for 

working at GZ and my men and the cause were very important to me. 

Around Christmas time the hours were reduced again to 10-hour shifts, 5 days 

a week. My respiratory infection was still bothering me, along with an annoying 

skin rash. The department started reducing manpower but didn’t bring in replacements for us. All the other departments were rotating their manpower, but we 

stayed with the original crew. All of my men were seeing doctors for one reason or 

another. Mostly, we were developing asthma and bronchitis. OSHA hadn’t started 

mandating wearing respiratory filters until sometime in November. By then it was 

too late; the damage was already done. I stayed at GZ for the remainder of the 9 

months of the clean up effort. 

When it was over my men and I went back to our respective districts. Many of 

us started suffering the terrible effects of PTSD. My lung problems worsened, in the 

form of extreme asthma. I was given everything from steroids to inhalers, and I had 

multiple surgeries. I even went to a sleep therapy institute, where I found out that 

I had developed permanent sleep apnea. As time goes on, the CPAP machine’s pressure needs to be increased. 

Today my lung capacity is permanently diminished. The PTSD continues and I 

still suffer with nightmares. The rashes still continue and I have developed diverticulitis. 

119 

I give my testimony to you today because I want to bring awareness to the health 

issues of all GZ workers, and I want to emphasize that these health concerns are 

a long-term problem. I also hope that funding remains to address our health issues 

and that medications eventually become more affordable. 

Thank you. 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF STEPHEN HESS, FORMER EMERGENCY MEDICAL

TECHNICIAN FOR NEW YORK CITY FDNY 

My name is Stephen Hess. I am 48-years-old and married. My wife and I have 

two kids, one of whom lives with us at home. I am also the proud grandfather of 

two. 

I have been an emergency medical technician since 1995, and went to work for 

the Fire Department of New York City (FDNY) in 1997. To supplement my income, 

I worked about four shifts a month for the emergency department at a local hospital 

and worked a few days each month driving a cement mixer truck. 

On September 11, 2001 I was part of a Hazardous Materials Unit based on Staten 

Island. I was sent to the World Trade Center site immediately that day. My unit 

arrived before the first tower fell. Like many others, I was caught in the cloud of 

debris that resulted when the first tower fell. My colleague and I ran away from 

the site to avoid being crushed. After the first tower fell, I went back to where we 

had been in order to retrieve my ambulance. Not long after the collapse of the first 

tower, the second tower came down and we were surrounded by an even thicker 

cloud of dust and debris. We were on location for approximately 4 hours. When the 

air had cleared enough for us to see, we drove our ambulance out to Chelsea Pier 

where victims had gathered to be treated. 

Later, we returned to Staten Island. Our ambulance was so contaminated that it 

could not be cleaned and had to be destroyed. I did not return to Ground Zero again, 

but over the next several months I did 10 or more tours of duty at the Staten Island 

Landfill, the destination of the debris from the Twin Towers. My colleagues and I 

were engaged in some recovery work, but we were also posted there in the event 

that workers sorting through the debris were injured. The air at the landfill was 

full of dust from the debris and methane gas from the decomposing matter in the 

landfill. 

A week after 9/11 is when I began to cough. The cough continued for several 

months. In April 2003 my supervisor sent me to an FDNY doctor, Dr. Prezant. At 

that time I was placed on sick leave. When I was examined I was told that my pulmonary function had dropped 25 percent, in comparison with a test done prior to 

9/11. Eventually, I was diagnosed with obstructive lung disease. 

In the fall of 2003 I returned to work on light duty. However, I was also experiencing frequent pain and swelling in my legs. In February 2004 I was diagnosed 

with connective tissue disease, an auto-immune disease that is related to the toxins 

I was exposed to at Ground Zero. As a result of this condition I am sensitive to sunlight. I become disoriented and experience cramps if I am exposed to too much sun. 

Due to the nature of my condition, I was unable to continue on light duty. A physician with the Fire Department determined that I could no longer work, prompting 

FDNY to begin termination of my service. At that time, in November 2004, I applied 

for a disability pension. A panel of three physicians with the New York City Employees Retirement System, which is not connected with FDNY, determined that I 

was not ill and not eligible for a disability pension. At that time I also applied for 

workers’ compensation. I was awarded a payment of $285 per week. After a 2-year 

delay, I was then awarded the maximum payment of approximately $400. 

I have also applied for Social Security Disability, but my application has been denied, despite the fact that the workers’ compensation program has declared me completely disabled. 

Luckily, I did not perish in the 9/11 attack as many of my colleagues did. But 

I am also a victim of that attack. I used to be what some call a gym rat, once able 

to press 250 pounds. Today, I cannot carry my 2-year-old grandchild but for a short 

period of time. I can no longer play golf. I live with constant pain in my legs, which 

occasionally flares up to the point that it is almost unbearable. I become winded 

from walking. I can no longer spend much time outdoors when the sun is out. I see 

four physicians on a regular basis; a rheumatologist, cardiologist, pulmonologist and 

Dr. Prezant at FDNY. I take seven prescription drugs a day. 

I also have financial worries. I had to take out a home equity loan to keep up 

the payments on my mortgage. That money will run out in 4 months. My wife and 

I may now need to tap into her retirement annuity in order to stay in our home. 

We live a modest life. We do not go to movies or eat in restaurants, except for an 

120 

occasional burger. I feel very insecure about my future and the future of my family. 

I am also angry that the safety net systems, which are supposed to protect people 

like me, have failed. 

I am one of the many who responded to Ground Zero and became ill because of 

my service. I was a Karate instructor, athlete, businessman and father of three. My 

health has continued to spiral downwards after my exposure to the toxic cocktail 

at Ground Zero. I struggle each day now. I am being treated by Dr. Levin at Mt. 

Sinai and find each and every day a challenge. My life was always about helping 

others, so now I find myself in a very uncomfortable position, one in need of help. 

Senator Clinton has been very helpful to me and my family in ‘‘inspiring’’ Social Security to pay benefits that were being delayed for extended periods of time. While 

our health continues to fail we are being made to feel like beggars. We need to make 

sure we can take care of our families and ourselves with some level of dignity. I 

believe that there should be a fund in place to allow for us to at least enjoy our 

days for what we did, but more importantly, allow us to take care of our families 

with some pride and confidence in tomorrow. I ask you to please not forget the 

brave citizens who did the right thing without thinking of the consequences. Please 

visit our Web site for more detailed information on my family, myself, my service 

and the consequences of my actions. 

God bless you and yours always. 

Remember, doing the right thing is always the right thing! 

VINNY FORRAS. 

DEAR SENATOR CLINTON, SENATOR KENNEDY, SENATOR ENZI, and members of the 

HELP Committee: THANK YOU FOR HOLDING THIS HEARING! 

Athough my health and finances (or lack thereof) prevent me from attending this 

hearing, I would like to submit testimony, which includes documentation of my current medical status and diagnoses from the New York City Department of Health 

and Mental Hygiene. I only learned about this hearing on March 19, so please excuse the lateness of this submission. 

I am a 36-year-old female recovery worker who, prior to September 11, 2001, was 

in excellent physical health, and I’d volunteered on-site after numerous natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, and fires. Prior to September 11, 2001, I had 

no chronic physical conditions. 

After September 11, I worked at the World Trade Center site and the surrounding 

area in a variety of different capacities—from search and recovery on the Pile, to 

apply delivery and distribution from as far north as Spring Street. All of us were 

coughing. Our eyes stung from the dust, and I developed a skin rash so severe that 

it required the highest dose of cortisone my doctor had ever prescribed. But on the 

WTC site, even for responders searching on low ground, there were never enough 

respirators. 

We were told that the air was safe, simply because the levels of asbestos were 

considered acceptable. Yet, the WTC site was still burning, still changing, and still 

releasing airborne particulates. I have worked numerous other disaster sites enough 

to know that asbestos isn’t the only potential health hazard. My brother, who has 

a Ph.D. in chemistry from Harvard University, informed me that we should all be 

wearing respirators. 

Now, since working at the WTC site, I require three different prescription medications, for which I have no insurance. Like many of my WTC colleagues, I am unemployed, and suffer from PTSD. 

Some of us have already died. Many of us will succumb to conditions that take 

years to manifest, but are a direct consequence of our exposure to the World Trade 

Center site. 

We need on-going health monitoring and treatment. Please hear us. 

Yours very sincerely, 

ZXY (‘‘ZEE’’) ATIYWARIII. 

DEAR SENATOR CLINTON: I first of all would like to thank you for the efforts you 

are making in seeking funding for the 9/11 health effects’ monitoring & treatment 

programs. 

From 9/17/01 until 6/3/02, I volunteered at the WTC, first as a ‘‘spontaneous volunteer,’’ then with the Red Cross (9/24/01–12/1/01), and then with the Salvation 

Army (12/01–6/02). I was there an average of 3 days per week during the 9 months. 

During that time, both my sons volunteered with me at one point. My oldest son, 

Wynter Galindez, was with me in November 2001 at the Red Cross Respite #1; 

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housed at St. John’s University on Murray & West. He had just graduated Duke 

University that May and was in the midst of the job searching process when the 

towers fell. My younger son, Javan Galindez, was with me in May 2002 at the Salvation Army tent on Murray & West. Javan had just returned from completing his 

freshman year at Binghamton University, and volunteered the last 2 weeks in May 

of that year. 

While I was a ‘‘spontaneous’’ volunteer, I worked along West Side Highway from 

Canal Street to Chambers (where the entry to the ‘‘Red Zone’’ began and only 

credentialed personnel could enter). Once I joined the Red Cross, I was part of the 

first shift that staffed the respite when it opened its’ doors on 9/24/01. I generally 

worked in the dining area inside and also manning the boot wash area outside; a 

place where workers entering the building would have to ‘‘de-contaminate’’ their 

boots by rinsing them with the water from hoses we had available for this purpose. 

I was part of the last shift, which staffed the respite when it closed at midnight 

on 12/1/01. 

At the Salvation Army tent, the EPA manned the boot washing area, which was 

a more ‘‘professional’’ version than the one we had with the Red Cross at St. John’s. 

Volunteers were not required to go through the decontamination area when reporting for our shifts at the tent, something we did have to do at St. John’s. We generally entered through the back of the tent. 

Part of my volunteer responsibilities at the tent was again in the food service 

area. I would also do ‘‘gator runs’’ around the perimeter of the pile/pit, bringing 

snacks, drinks, and supplies to those locations where workers could not leave their 

posts for long periods of time. There were also two small tents set up on West and 

Liberty, and on Church and Liberty, where workers could come in for a short break 

and have a snack, warm up, or get some needed supplies. Between these two onsite facilities, and the frequent gator runs, workers would not have to wait until 

their dinner breaks before having some nourishment. 

I’d often spend my down time at St. Paul’s Chapel. Although I never formally 

signed up for a volunteer shift there, I spent a good portion of time there and would 

often help out as much as needed. Those entering St. Paul’s were not required to 

decontaminate their bodies in any manner. 

Toward the end of April I started to do a few shifts at the Medical Examiner’s 

Office at Bellevue Hospital when they were short on help, in addition to my shifts 

at the tent. The Salvation Army closed their cafe at the ME’s on 6/3/02. 

My initial bout with sinusitis occurred in the latter part of October 2001. Next, 

I developed the ‘‘ground zero cough.’’ I was on antibiotics every few months. 

The episodes grew more frequent. Within the first year after ending my volunteering, I was chronically suffering with sinusitis, bronchitis, and other upper respiratory ailments requiring me to be on antibiotics, nasal steroids, and cough medications. As time passed other drugs were added, including: pain killers, sleep aids, 

digestive aids, antidepressants and thyroid hormone. 

Aside from the various respiratory ailments, I was diagnosed with a repetitive 

motion injury and LPR/GERD (reflux disease) related to my volunteering at the 

WTC. I was also diagnosed with multinodular thyroid, which means I have multiple 

nodules growing on my thyroid. This condition has not yet been linked to exposure 

at the WTC site. 

Then there is the entire mental health aspect. I began seeking counseling in the 

fall of 2002. I was diagnosed as being clinically depressed in the summer of 2003, 

and put on medication, which I am still taking. 

Fortunately, through physical therapy and treatment under a rehabilitation physician, my motion injury symptoms have been relieved. In addition, as of 10/03, I 

began a detoxifying Ayurvedic herb program being offered free of charge to those 

involved at the site. I thank God that these herbs have significantly mitigated my 

respiratory ailments. The program is called ‘‘Serving Those Who Serve,’’ and many 

of us in the ground zero community have been helped by them. 

My son Wynter had allergies before 9/11, so I cannot be sure to what degree his 

exposure at the WTC has compromised his respiratory health. He nonetheless seems 

to have more frequent episodes. However, my son Javan never had any problems 

of this nature, and since then he’s had chronic respiratory issues such as allergies, 

bronchitis, and numerous other upper airway infections. He developed pneumonia 

in 1/05, missing the first 2 weeks of his last college semester. He had been home 

for the holidays and developed the pneumonia shortly before he was to return to 

college. He started treatment here at home, and then he returned to Binghamton 

as soon as he had gained enough strength to minimally function. He had to be followed up by a doctor. Can you tell me how a robust, buff 21-year-old can come down 

with pneumonia when he had been healthy up until his involvement at the WTC 

site? 

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Since graduating, he has had a job within the realm of his environmental science 

college major, mostly working outside. Since this is not a permanent job with benefits, he has no medical coverage. Of course, after his pneumonia, I’m very concerned 

of his coming down with it again. While he was in college, he had medical coverage, 

so his treatment was paid for by insurance. Now he has nothing. I thank God that 

we learned of a program at Bellevue that offers treatment for those involved at the 

WTC who may not be eligible for the Mt. Sinai program. His health is now being 

monitored. 

I’m a freelance simultaneous oral interpreter. I need my voice, throat and ears 

for my livelihood. When I was in the thick of my battle with respiratory symptoms, 

how could I do my job? I could not qualify for unemployment because I was selfemployed. I literally went through my savings and borrowed money to keep myself 

afloat those first couple of years. 

Since 7/03, I’ve had workers’ compensation to cover the 9/11-related illnesses. I 

have Healthy NY coverage as my primary insurance, for which I self-pay out-ofpocket monthly premiums. 

Senator Clinton, we’ve never had anything like 9/11 happen in the United States, 

so we have no precedent to go by. 

Consider the lingering mental and emotional effects of the Oklahoma City bombing, which I’ve heard about first-hand from firefighters there, whom we met when 

they came to help their FDNY brothers after 9/11; all of which I still stay in touch. 

Many years after that tragedy people are continuing to struggle emotionally. Imagine how exponentially devastating the event of 9/11 was in comparison. Not only do 

we have the psychological trauma of the event itself, but also the toxic exposure, 

which is increasingly affecting the men and women who not only worked and volunteered in the clean-up effort, but those who live and have their jobs in that area. 

If you were to ask those of us who served at the site if we had to do it over again 

the majority of us would answer with a resounding: Yes! I do not regret it, my sons 

do not regret it, and my sister Denise Villamia does not regret it. She has been battling numerous respiratory conditions since then, and she has not been able to get 

them under control. Her conditions are worsening. Most of us who are part of this 

unique ground zero community are people who just wanted to help. We are people 

who tried to do what we could to ease the pain of those who lost loved ones and 

be a source of support and respite for those who were searching for their remains. 

Now many of us need help. 

I appreciate you and the other elected officials urging the governing bodies to consider the importance of continuing to fund programs that monitor and treat WTCrelated illnesses. Since the relief effort ended, I personally know three uniformed 

servicepersons who have lost their lives, the latest of which was Cesar Borja. These 

are people that I actually crossed paths or interacted with in the course of my volunteering. There are probably many others whom I may not have known by name. 

Everyone involved, whether resident, office worker, First Responder, uniformed 

serviceperson, construction personnel or volunteer, are suffering in differing degrees. 

Please, I ask that our government give us the support we now need, whether it be 

financially or in whatever other aspect is warranted. Thank you. 

Sincerely, 

RHONDA VILLAMIA. 

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: I received this email and all of the line requests you 

mention below. As a volunteer at ground zero during the first weeks after September 11, and as an office worker who returned to work in the smog filled downtown area because we were told the air was safe, I am a survivor who has been 

battling serious health issues since September 11. All of my doctors, along with the 

Mount Sinai hospital 9/11-treatment program doctors, have diagnosed the multiple 

health complications I have with my exposure to toxins on September 11. I have 

been told my chronic symptoms are due to chemical asthma and a low-functioning 

immune system. I can send you more details regarding the symptoms and diagnosis 

as per your request and most of my doctors I am sure would be willing to confirm 

the chronic symptoms. 

I have constant painful sores that don’t heal on my scalp, face, arms, and other 

areas of my body, which all started the first day after I was volunteering at WTC 

on September 12, 2001. I get chronic fevers, and my immune system is very weak. 

I have chronic bronchitis, laryngitis, pneumonia, and infections (bladder/kidney, 

blood). I have trouble breathing and can’t do much exertion as I once did. I never 

know how much energy I will have to participate in normal life function as I once 

did. 

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I would hope I could be of help to getting the information out about how many 

people are suffering with serious health issues, and also I would be grateful for any 

medical help I could find to get me feeling well again and back to my normal life: 

working and healthy. 

I want to do more than be a survivor, I want my life back, I want to live. Any 

help is greatly appreciated. 

Sincerely, 

RACHEL HUGHES. 

I am here to discuss an issue that I believe is being ignored. While everyone 

seems to be focusing on only the health needs of 9/11 recovery workers, I have not 

heard anyone testify about the financial needs of those brave individuals who were 

part of the rescue, recovery and clean up effort at the World Trade Center. While 

health concerns are a very important issue, we need to take a holistic approach to 

the problem at hand. We must consider the physical health, mental health and financial concerns. By addressing only one of these concerns we are robbing them of 

their future. 

I am not here to place blame, embarrass anyone, or throw money at the problem 

and call it fixed. I am here to share with you what I have seen, the complexity of 

the situation and how together we can begin to create a reasonable and comprehensive plan that addresses these growing needs. 

It does not matter what political party the responders are affiliated with, their 

occupation, the color of their skin, or religion. The only fact that we should be concerned with is that they are all sick. These individuals responded when America 

needed them most. Why are we turning our backs on them now? 

We are talking about individuals who contributed to charities and placed money 

in the poor box at their house of worship. They were not the ones to ask for help. 

They are the individuals everyone else came to for help. That is why when they 

started to feel the effects of the toxins they were exposed to, they still continued 

to work so they could feed their families and keep a roof over their heads; to do 

less would be unacceptable. Even when the reality of their situation began to set 

in, they still continued to believe that some day they would eventually return to 

work and become productive again. Due to this belief, they continued to spend down 

their savings to meet their financial obligations. Now, they are in dire need. Many 

of them now have little or no income. The mortgage companies started foreclosure 

proceedings, the utilities companies sent disconnect notices, and some have had 

their automobiles repossessed. What do I tell them when they sit down across from 

me? Do I tell them you can receive medical monitoring and possibly continued medical treatment but your family will have to go hungry tonight and tomorrow you 

might lose your home? Or will I be able to tell them that we will work together to 

create a recovery plan that includes not only health care, but also have a mental 

health component and financial assistance while they wait for workers’ compensation, and/or social security disability. Remember, to make this plan work we need 

the ability to address the needs of the entire family, not just the responder. This 

is not an easy task as we move farther away from September 11, 2001. The issues 

become even more complex. We cannot begin to address the future needs of these 

responders by only addressing their health needs. 

COMPASSIONATE CARE FOR THOSE WHO ARE STILL STRUGGLING WITH THE

EFFECTS OF 9/11

Many times I have seen individuals return to work against doctor’s orders because 

of financial obligations with disastrous effects. When given the choice between financial obligations or health concerns, everyone I have spoken with would return 

to work no matter how serious their health issues were. While we can understand 

why they made this decision, it can make long-term goals impossible to attain. 

I have also seen families where the responder was bedridden. With mounting debt 

the spouse would return to work or work overtime and the children, some as young 

as 13-years old, would return home from school and become responsible for the care 

of their ailing parent. These families deserve better and more importantly these 

children need to be children and not health care providers. This should be our responsibility not theirs. 

We need to send a strong message to those still suffering and to the rest of the 

Nation. The message is ‘‘you will not be forgotten, we will come to your aid just as 

they did for us on September 11, 2001.’’ You must appropriate funding in order to 

create a reasonable and comprehensive plan that addresses the much-needed financial assistance so these responders will not become hungry and homeless. 

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For those who are not well enough to work, while they are waiting for their Social 

Security Disability Benefits, Workers Compensation and possibly other compensation to be approved, we need to provide bridge funding so they do not accumulate 

increasing debt that they will never be able to recover from. 

For those who can no longer work at their present job but are able to find alternate employment, we need to provide career training, continuing education, and job 

placement specific to their needs. While they are preparing for their new careers 

once again, we need to provide bridge funding. Over and over again they explained 

to me they do not want a handout. They just want the opportunity to provide a living for their families and once again become tax-paying citizens. 

For those brave individuals who are terminally ill because of what they were exposed to while they took part in the rescue, recovery and clean-up effort at the 

World Trade Center, let them die with dignity! We owe at least that to them and 

their families. 

If you should have any questions or need further information please contact me 

at your earliest convenience. 

Sincerely, 

MICHAEL J. ARCARI, 

Director. 

DEAR SENATOR CLINTON, SENATOR KENNEDY, SENATOR ENZI, and the members of 

the HELP Committee: My name is Mary Ellen Dobrowolski. In September 2001, I 

was pursuing my career planning and operating international incentive group travel, meetings, and events. In fact, on September 11 of that year I was home, having 

just returned from working a program in France. I watched the horrific events of 

the attack unfold on TV, the same as so many people did around the globe. 

I am not sure where the idea came from, but I felt that I had no choice but to 

get into Manhattan and help. I was very determined to do this. In fact, nothing 

could stop me. I started by calling and e-mailing everyone I knew, asking if they 

knew of anyway I could volunteer my time. Through all this, I was put in touch 

with a group called ‘‘Cross Cultural Solutions’’, based in New Rochelle, NY. They 

made a connection for me with the Salvation Army. In November 2001 I had my 

first volunteer assignment working for the Salvation Army at the Piers on the West 

Side of Manhattan, distributing financial aid to people affected and displaced by the 

attacks. 

The day before I was to start my first volunteer assignment, I lost my job. Business travel, in general, and international travel in particular took a big hit. In fact, 

in New York, I’m not sure those areas have ever fully recovered. 

Working at the Piers was life changing. It was emotionally draining and overwhelming. Sometimes I would visit some of the pictures on the walls of those who 

were missing. I would ask them for the strength to continue. At the same time, this 

was one of the most rewarding experiences I have ever had. After that, I decided 

I had to do more because I could help. 

I had no income coming in. So, I packed up my belongings and put them into storage. I stayed first with a friend, and then with family, sleeping on their couch so 

that I could go back to volunteering. There weren’t any jobs to be had doing what 

I do. 

I contacted Cross Cultural Solutions again and through them I found the warehouse on Spring Street. The warehouse collected donations of all kinds of supplies 

and materials that were sent into the city, but the city had no mechanism to collect 

or distribute. They also solicited donations of items that were needed. All of this was 

for the rescue and recovery workers at the site. We also filled and distributed duffel 

bags with gear to the FDNY members who were assigned to work recovery at the 

site. There was a new group of firemen assigned every month. I started working at 

the warehouse in January 2002. 

One day we had a visitor, the wife of someone who wanted to know more about 

the work happening at the warehouse, and who might possibly become a donor. She 

also wanted to go to Ground Zero to see how the work at the warehouse supported 

the workers there. That day, no one at the warehouse had a driver’s license but me. 

We had a rented box truck, and we had a request for some supplies at the site, from 

the 10/10 firehouse on the corner of Greenwich and Liberty Streets, which is located 

right at Ground Zero. It was up to me to drive the supplies and take our guest to 

the site. 

I had never driven a truck before, and I had only been to see the site with the 

rest of the general public, from a distance and from behind barricades. Without 

thinking it through, I looked at a map to determine a route to take which would 

involve as few turns as possible so that I wouldn’t hit anything with the truck. The 

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route chosen was West Side Highway to Vesey Street to Church Street to Liberty 

Street. It looked good on paper. However, without thinking, I drove right along one 

side of the actual site. I can’t begin to describe what I saw or the feelings that arose. 

We made it to the firehouse without mishap, unless you count the bump into the 

temporary fence erected on Liberty Street, just off Church Street. I could not believe 

what I saw when we arrived there. Everything seemed gray, everything was filthy 

covered in dust. (In fact, to this day, in my mind’s eye the memories of this place 

are never in color.) And the people I saw working there broke my heart. They were 

so determined to do their job, to do their duty to bring the remains of every last 

victim home. They pressed on no matter the harm to themselves—physically or emotionally. 

The experience moved me more than you can imagine. I could not get the people, 

the sights, the sounds, the smell of all that I saw out of my head or out of my heart. 

From that day forward, from January 2002 until June when the clean-up and recovery was completed and the site closed, I spent almost everyday there. I worked with 

supply requests, inventory and distribution for those working at the site, mostly 

with Fireman Tommy Fenech (now retired), who handled supplies at the 10/10 firehouse. I spent time soliciting food donations, and cooking and serving many meals. 

Sometimes on the weekends, we would put together a meal for everyone working 

on the site that day. It was good for camaraderie among the diverse group of people 

working there. On way too many days we stood as honor guard on the ramp from 

the pit as remains were brought out—person by person, piece by piece. And most 

often, every day there, we would be good listeners for the workers who spent all 

the energy they could muster to bring their family member, their friends, and coworkers remains home. And we would welcome to the site the family and friends 

of those who perished. There were days I continued to put in some time at the 

Spring Street warehouse as well, but most of my time was at the firehouse. 

That’s the story of how I came to be at Ground Zero. The thought—the motivation 

was to do my duty and to help wherever and however I could. There was no thought 

to what the experience was doing to me physically or emotionally. It didn’t occur 

to me that there would be any repercussions to me. 

Some of the symptoms started while I was still volunteering. I lost the ability to 

sleep—either to fall asleep or stay asleep. Feelings of sadness and depression also 

started. But all of these seemed natural and explainable under the circumstances. 

The serious problems started in July 2002, right after the site closed. The sleep 

problems got worse and worse (and continue to this day—5 years later). The depression and feelings of sadness continued to grow. I became irritable and emotional. 

All this crept up on me in stages. I don’t think I could see the effect it was having 

on me—until the end of that July. 

One day I walked into a Home Depot. The Home Depot has rows and rows of 

metal shelving. It was the same type of shelving used in the firehouse that held 

our supplies. When I walked into the store, at first I felt physically ill. I felt lightheaded, I felt nauseous, my stomach tightened into a big knot. I started sweating 

and could not catch my breath. And that’s when it happened. I felt like I was time 

traveling, for lack of a better description. From moment to moment—first I knew 

where I was, then I didn’t. My mind went back and forth, back and forth. I got very 

confused. And then I started seeing people from the site that I knew, intellectually, 

were not there. I was a mess. I ran out of the store, confused and in tears. 

I could not believe this had happened. But when I went back to the Home Depot, 

it happened again. I was upset and had no idea how to handle this. It was time 

to see a therapist and get help. Thankfully, there were places to go in NYC and 

find help. I called Project Liberty and they referred me to a therapist to be evaluated for treatment. I ended up at the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services, where I was taken in immediately. I believe originally the program was written 

to cover 8 weeks of counseling. I was in therapy there for 16 months, my diagnosis: 

PTSD. Metal shelving is just one of the many triggers I have to find a way to live 

with. 

Not long after I found out about the programs at Mt. Sinai. They offered free 

checkups and chest x rays for Ground Zero workers and volunteers. As part of this 

program, there is an option to allow the results of your examinations to be part of 

a study which looks at the after effects of being at Ground Zero. I joined the program to have the medical evaluations and have joined the study as well. 

My experiences at Ground Zero have changed my life forever. Some changes are 

for the better, others not so. In helping to assist after one of the worst acts by man, 

I had the privilege of working beside some of the finest human beings imaginable. 

I learned that I could make a difference. These volunteer experiences lead a friend 

to recommend me for a position that is a bit outside my career path. I relocated 

to Washington, DC. a year and a half ago and work in a military support position, 

126 

planning professional development programs, among other things. It is very rewarding work. 

Physically, while my health suffers, I am not nearly in as bad shape as so many 

of those whom I met working at Ground Zero. My knees are arthritic, the sleep 

problems have become permanent. An endoscopy has indicated that my very painful 

heartburn is really ulcers. 

Mentally I am not doing as well. After my initial 16 months of therapy I was convinced I could go on my own. After all, I am a reasonably successful career woman. 

Six months after my first round of therapy ended, I was back in counseling—this 

time at the Mt. Sinai program—which also offers mental health support: This time 

for both individual and group sessions. Now that I have moved to Washington, DC., 

I have been unsuccessful in finding mental health support that specializes in PTSD 

and takes my insurance. Partly because I cannot find the same resources here that 

are available in NYC. Partly because one of the worst symptoms of this condition 

is getting overwhelmed: Too overwhelmed to be successful at work and to do all that 

is necessary to properly take care of myself. While I was still in NYC I had an appointment to go for a Workman’s Compensation Claim, set up by my doctors. I 

missed the appointment because I was too overwhelmed to find the papers necessary for the hearing. 

I still walk into triggers. Some of them are subtle, and the associated symptoms 

are a sense of hopelessness or irritability that just seems to creep up on me (although I bet the people around me would describe it differently.) Some of the triggers are much more potent. I accidentally walked into an exhibit at the Women’s 

Memorial at Arlington, featuring pictures of women lost in combat in the war on 

terrorism. That upset me to the point where I was all but bedridden for 3 days. I 

can’t get images of people carrying pictures of their loved ones lost that day out of 

my mind. Those images, or anything that reminds me of them are unbearable to 

me. 

I would do anything to see that we workers and volunteers from Ground Zero get 

the help and support we need to go on with our lives. We need help. Those of us 

who shared this experience have an amazing bond between us. Among us, no 

amount of explaining is necessary to describe what this experience has done to us. 

And to the outside, no amount of explanation is possible to recreate the horror. 

MARY ELLEN DOBROWOLSKI. 

I don’t regret the 9 months I spent as a volunteer to support the Rescue and Recovery effort at the World Trade Center site and at the New York medical examiners office. New York was my home—the missing and injured were my neighbors. 

I do regret that our current Administration violated our trust and refuses to take 

responsibility for the lies they’ve perpetuated (‘‘I’m glad to reassure the people of 

New York that their air is safe to breathe.’’ Christine Todd Whitman, September 18, 

2001) 

The current Administration has not only failed to protect us as Americans and 

as New Yorkers, they are allowing the September 11 terrorist attack to continue— 

people are still dying, people are still injured. The death toll from the World Trade 

Center is still rising. 

We asked what we could do for our country—we did the best we could for our 

country and our city and now it has been demonstrated to us over and over that 

to the leaders of our country and this Administration, the sick, injured and dying 

WTC rescue and recovery workers, along with the injured and sick Iraqi and Afghanistan war vets, are nothing more than acceptable collateral damage. 

Respectfully submitted, 

LYNNETTE E. MILLER, 

WTC Volunteer. 

I am a postal employee and I was caught in the disaster of 9/11. My health has 

been affected tremendously. I have asthma which I never had before. I have a 

cough, respiratory distress, and sinusitis from breathing in the contaminants of 9/ 

11. Senator Hillary Clinton came to my rescue when I needed assistance in getting 

two operations on my sinus because they were totally blocked from the contaminants of 9/11. I am being treated by the doctors from Mt. Sinai Hospital, they saved 

my life and continue to do so. Every 28 days I have to be injected with Xolair in 

order to function. This medication allows me to breathe, without it I will have to 

127 

go to a hospital every day for treatment of asthma. My doctors can verify my illness 

which is a direct result of 9/11. 

CYNTHIA SHEPHARD, 

WTC Survivor. 

MARCH 18, 2007. 

DEAR SENATOR CLINTON: I was a volunteer at the World Trade Center site 

throughout the duration of the recovery and relief efforts. My first time on the site 

as a volunteer was on October 8, 2001. I volunteered at the various respite centers 

stationed around the perimeter of the pit and near the FDNY West Hut Command 

Center on West and Liberty Streets. In May 2002, standing on that sacred bedrock, 

side by side with my fellow volunteers, uniformed officers, construction workers and 

steel workers, we all witnessed the final beam ceremoniously being cut down to 

mark the ‘‘official’’ completion of the recovery effort at the former World Trade Center site. 

Senator Clinton, in the years that have followed the end of the recovery and the 

urgency of rebuilding and moving forward, the agencies, policies and agendas involved in declaring the recovery complete, turned out to be wrong after all. The remains of victims have been left behind well beyond the 5-year anniversary, and they 

are only now finding their appropriate place of rest. 

It was only a week after the attack of September 11, 2001 on the World Trade 

Center that NYC was told by then acting administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Christine Whitman, that the results of their monitoring of the air 

and drinking water conditions in both NYC and near the Pentagon were encouraging. She reassured the general public in or near the areas of the World Trade 

Center and the Pentagon that ‘‘the air is safe to breath and the water safe to drink.’’ 

It is now 5 years later. One only has to connect the dots in order to see the big 

picture. 

Senator Clinton, I have worked in the NYC public school system since 1989. In 

all those 11 years prior to September 11, the only health problems I encountered 

were the usual stomach virus or colds I would get from working around sick elementary or middle school youngsters in an environment where germs easily spread. I 

was on no medications prior to September 11. 

Since May 2002, I have been diagnosed with a number of ailments, conditions and 

disorders that I cannot attribute to anything else but my exposure to toxins at the 

WTC site. These ailments include Vitiligo, IBS, GERD, asthma, and Obstructive 

Sleep Apnea: All of which has never been a part of my medical history. There is 

also, of course, the emotional and PTSD factors that chronically affect me. No one 

can explain to anyone who did not spend time at the site, what being there did to 

you emotionally. 

At a time when I feel I should be recovering, instead, I am becoming more vulnerable to further illness because of my respiratory ailments. I am currently on more 

medications now, than I have ever taken in my entire 47 years of living. As of my 

last pulmonary function test, I was put on steroid-based medication. I am frightened 

for my future. I may have to take a leave from my job and the children I serve. 

A middle school of nearly 2,000 students can be very demanding on the mind and 

the spirit. If my body is not taken care of and healthy, how will I be able to continue 

to guide these young people. 

I am a Social Worker in the NYC public school system, in Queens County. On, 

September 11, we were in our school building when the attacks occurred. I could 

not just sit back and do nothing. I had to do something, anything. I went to the 

site on my own time, and wanted nothing in return, except for families to find some 

kind of peace and closure at the end of it all. I would not hesitate in a second to 

do it all over again. 

I have a mission to serve the students I work with in my middle school. Because 

of my health which continues to make it more difficult for me to breathe, walk up 

and down steps, and makes me more easily fatigued, I may have to leave this position. Senator Clinton, who is looking out for me? Who will help me? 

All I want is for the funding to continue, so that I can continue to be monitored 

and treated. I want to continue to give back to my community by being there for 

my students. 

I cannot be there on March 21 to testify on my own behalf. Senator Clinton, I 

urge you to please speak and testify on my behalf at the Senate HELP Committee. 

Respectfully, 

DENISE E. VILLAMIA. 

128 

Hello everyone, I am honored to have been asked to give testimony today to the 

experiences I have had with the September 11, 2001 tragedy. 

My name is Jonathan Sferazo, I am a disabled Union Iron Worker from local 361, 

Brooklyn, New York. We have created the Metropolitan Area’s Skyline. I responded 

to the disaster on the morning of 9-12-01, the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel was our avenue of approach. We opened up West Street, with the removal of collapsed cars and 

trucks to the South Tower, I am typical of others who stayed approximately 29–32 

days at the site, and my medical and psychological conditions are Reactive Airway 

Disease, Restrictive Airway Disease, Sinusitis, Continual Lung Infections, P.T.S.D., 

Anxiety, Depression, Sleep-apnea, and Gastroesophageal Reflex disease . . . none of 

this you would have expected from someone who ran a 5-minute and 30-second time 

in the mile when I was in school. l never had a pulmonological problem before 9/ 

11 or I would have never been certified by the N.Y.S. Department of Environmental 

Conservation for Wild-Land Search and Rescue. I went to Ground Zero because I 

wanted to help find and save human life. 

If I am to be the voice for the responder, then know that I am outraged by the 

lack of responsibility and loss of obligation this Administration has taken toward 

us—we are clearly being shown that we are expendable. George Bush came to the 

Trade Center site and told us, ‘‘We Will Never Forget’’ . . . Well we feel he forgot. 

We want to know if those of us who are so severely afflicted have to lose all we 

have worked for before we are eligible for Social Services or will we ever be given 

what we were promised? 

We have heard too many times, ‘‘Why weren’t you wearing a mask?’’ Now hear 

the answer loud and clear—because we were given paper masks that clogged up 

very easily and that was if you could get one, and we believed in our Mayor [at that 

time], members of the CDC, members of the EPA and Christy Todd Whitman who 

represented government telling us the air quality was ACCEPTABLE. Also I ask 

you to put yourself in our place, fighter jets flying overhead periodically with their 

sonic boom, helicopters hovering atop the skyscraper’s, emergency whistles going-off 

every time an engineer saw a building shift . . . then thousands of responders 

would run from the pile toward you, rescue and emergency vehicles making use of 

their sirens so others could hear over the loud equipment noises, military and police 

personnel all around you, smoke as thick as pea soup . . . and then you find a body 

part—do you really think you are concentrating on your health? Especially when 

your Government has given the message all is acceptable and OK? 

Americans have reacted to this treatment of then in the last election because of 

the history this Administration has shown. History has repeated itself over and over 

with 9/11, Katrina, Wilma and Rita—there has been this total lack of commitment 

by the Administration to those they are supposed to represent. America will probably react the same in the next presidential election. We demand public-elected officials who think inside the box and the box is the United States of America and all 

the citizens inside her boundaries. We are tired of empty promise politicians who 

used the Trade Center disaster to make commitments they never kept. 

The Responders are not comfortable with the rebuilding of the Trade Center site 

until 9/11’s gaping wound in our society is repaired. How do we move forward when 

the people of this epidemic are still stuck in the past? Do you put a $25-million band 

aide on a wound that requires so much more to surgically close-up and heal? The 

mere pittance that this Administration has thrown us is a disgrace, and our President continues to prove this to us . . . still to this day, 5 years after the disaster 

he still has not met with a Responder and has avoided it even with every letter Congress has sent him requesting one. 

Workers Compensation in New York State is in desperate need of repair and our 

Governor has just signed away permanent partial disability—how can he do this 

when not only are these symptoms latent in showing up but also long-term afflictions? We need our medical, pharmaceutical, and psychological needs covered with 

proper monitoring. We need financial assistance—based at $400 a week this cannot 

sustain a family that has had much more brought in by the working member, and 

when you have financial difficulty it accentuates the rest of your problems; We need 

to address the Reserve Units and The National Guard who were assigned to this 

disaster—far too many have been coming to us for assistance and some type of aide, 

Those of us whom are disabled due to 9/11 need to be compensated with a better 

system then the Victims Compensation Fund, with broader parameters to nip those 

who are victims of all the inadequacies. We need to change the 9/11 disaster to the 

9/11 epidemic so it expresses the real problem. We need a presumption law on a 

State and Federal level to stop the manipulations with legitimate cases being filed 

for Workers Compensation and Social Security and we need allocations to fund case 

managers and social workers to prevent fraud. 

129 

I am here today because I care and have been through the system in trying to 

get my much-needed benefits. Marvin Bethea and I co-founded the Unsung Heroes 

Helping Heroes along with several others in 2005 because we knew the donations 

were going to run-out and we saw our Government doing very little. 

Sincerely, 

JOHN SFERAZO, 

lenajohn@optonline.net. 

MARCH 19, 2007. 

SENATOR CLINTON, SENATOR KENNEDY, SENATOR ENZI, and members of the HELP 

Committee: I worked during the aftermath of 9/11 as a humanitarian aid worker 

for the American Red Cross for 81 days (September 2001, October 2001, January 

2002, and February 2002). In December 2001, I worked 10 days in Virginia on a 

hotline handling cases of victims and assisting families. I then flew back to Manhattan and was reassigned to south of Canal Street. With long working hours and intense exposure to unknown chemicals and bad air around the ‘‘pit’’ and in semi-destroyed apartment buildings and on the streets as an outreach worker many of us 

began to get sick. I never had any health problems before that assignment. I am 

very grateful for receiving assistance from the Ground Zero Workers’ programs and 

Workers’ Compensation for NYC. 

Medical specialists and medications have little effect on my ‘‘World Trade Center 

cough.’’ Recently diagnosed with acid reflux having 39 episodes in a 24-hour period, 

RAD, and asthma, I can no longer sing in church on Sundays and have an asthma 

attack if I try to go for a fast walk. I suffer from PTSD and have been in therapy 

for 5 years and struggle to get my life back. Therapy and medication have helped 

me but I still have nightmares and other symptoms. 

I published a book on my work there and wanted to send the Senator a copy. It 

is a daily log of what the relief workers did and saw. 

If not for individuals like all of you and your caring for the workers we wouldn’t 

be able to cope with the circumstances feeling forgotten. Called heroes by our communities and by our country, yet we live with the EPA’s lie about air quality and 

we—the fact is that we received no appropriate protection and now are suffering 

and request that you continue to fight for us. 

JUDE PATCH GUGLIELMINO. 

My name is Judith Day. I am a 9/11 victim. I was inside the building in tower 

one, 49th floor when the plane crashed into tower one. I was working. Since September 11, 2001 I have developed health issues. As a result of 9/11, I am left with 

respiratory problems. I did seek treatment from the past. As of 2006, I could not 

seek treatment anymore because my coverage was terminated. 

I have been seeing a psychiatrist and a therapist. Since I have no coverage, my 

therapist does not even care, nobody seems to care. I can’t even afford to buy a new 

pair of sneakers. I go to work in rags, I have a hole in my sneakers. I used to have 

a lifestyle before 9/11/2001. 

Health issues since 9/11/2001: I have a cough that never goes away. When I wash 

my hair I have to take the inhaler, advair, regardless of the season. I feel something 

is stuck in my throat. I have to keep clearing my throat to the point where I would 

get a headache. Every morning for the past 6 years, I have to pull mucus from my 

throat. The flashback and nightmares would not go away. I stay away from crowds. 

I have applied for social security disability since 2003 and my case was denied. 

My attorney requested an appeal. In November 2006 the Judge denied my case. My 

attorney requested for a review from the appeal council. I am still waiting. While 

I am going through all these problems, I could not pay my bills. I got myself a parttime job in September 2006 because I had nowhere to turn. I have been forced to 

work in dusts and the freezer to earn a few dollars, which gets me sick due to my 

condition. Recently, I could not pay my rent. I decided to go for a one-shot deal to 

pay my rent. $5,300 was granted to me. I have to pay back this money to the city. 

This was the only way for me not to be out of the apartment. 

JUDITH DAY. 

I worked as a volunteer at the World Trade Center site from September 2001 

through May 2002 when the site closed. In those 9 months, the only piece of protecVerDate Aug 31 2005 16:08 Jul 30, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00133 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 S:\DOCS\34458.TXT SLABOR1 PsN: DENISE
130 

tive gear I was offered was a hard hat. I was never once, in 9 months, offered a 

respirator. 

As a result of exposure to ‘‘toxic dust,’’ I have been diagnosed and currently suffer 

from extrinsic asthma, chronic rhinitis, gastroesophageal reflux, prolonged post 

traumatic stress disorder, chronic cough, shortness of breath, fatigue and chronic 

headaches. (All of these medical issues were diagnosed at Mt. Sinai in October 2003) 

As of July 2005 I became too ill to work. Since that time, I have been forced to 

leave New York and live with family in Missouri. I’ve tried to maintain my end of 

the Workers Comp claim but have just this week retained an attorney as the stress 

of dealing with the Workers Comp Board is significantly delaying my recovery. Although I found this to be a necessary step in ongoing dealings with the New York 

Workers Comp Board, I am appalled that I’ve been forced into an adversarial relationship with the State of New York in order to receive basic medical care. In addition, the fact that I have been receiving $400 a week (less than a quarter of my 

pre-9/11 weekly income) and now must share that with an attorney is beyond belief. 

Dealing with the State of New York Workers’ Compensation Board has been difficult and problematic. Because of delays, miscommunication and lack of followup 

on their end I am currently receiving NO medical treatment. 

Since I initiated a claim with the board in October 2003, the people administering 

this fund have consistently complained of being overworked. There seems to be a 

general lack of understanding pertaining to this fund—as recently as last week I 

called them to ask what the reimbursement rate is for mileage related to medical 

visits and no one could answer this question. A very simple question—And NO ONE 

could answer. This is a basic example of the responses that I, and my doctors, have 

received in response to inquiries regarding this fund. 

My only desire is to receive the medical care I am entitled to and to return to 

some kind of new normal life where I can work and support myself as I am accustomed to doing. Under the current circumstances I don’t see that happening in the 

near future. 

These medical issues have significantly changed my life. Before my health was affected by the long-term effects from the WTC exposure, I lived and worked in Lower 

Manhattan, ran three miles a day four to five times a week, practiced yoga three 

to four times a week, volunteered for a variety of causes, traveled frequently and 

had an active social life. 

Now I’m chronically ill, isolated and forced to fight for basic heath care. I just 

went over 6 months without an inhaler because of mistakes made by Workers 

Comp. We need more treatment options. Monitoring is important but IMMEDIATE treatment is essential. 

On the morning of September 11, 2001 I arrived at my office unusually early. I 

was 8 months pregnant and working in Long Island City, two trains and a bus ride 

away from my home in Lower Manhattan. During my pregnancy, I often wouldn’t 

arrive to work until around 11 a.m., but this particular morning, I had reached my 

office by 8 a.m. I saw the first plane hit the Towers through the floor to ceiling bay 

windows of my company’s engineering department. The first thing that I did, thinking there had been an accident, was contact my children’s school to encourage them 

to close early and send the children home. Once the second plane hit, I could no 

longer reach anyone by phone and instead waited at my office for as long as I could. 

At around 4 p.m., when it became clear that I was not going to hear from my children to confirm their well being, I decided to get home. 

It took me several hours to just about walk home from my office in Queens. By 

the time that I arrived, I was covered in a think layer of dust from head to toe, 

as were my children who had walked home from The Village and my father who 

had thankfully walked to and from Bleeker Street to pick them up. We had no 

power, water or phones but at daybreak when the sun shone brightly again, we 

could see that our home was also covered in that same thick white dust, dust that 

we were soon told was safe to remove. I, at 8 months pregnant, got down on my 

hands and knees and pulled up the carpet in my children’s room. I cleaned the rest 

of my house as well. I don’t recall, but my children may have helped. My father certainly did. He vacuumed. 

All three of my children including the 5-year-old born just 1 month after 9/11 take 

daily treatments including Zyrtec, Allegra, Sinulair, Asmonex, Albuterol, Rhinocort, 

Q-Var and Advair for allergy, sinusitis and asthma-related symptoms. Additionally, 

my son was prescribed Prevacid for GERD caused by postnasal drip after a visit to 

the ER. We keep steroids, a nebulizer, and associated medications on hand in the 

event that any of the children should reach the red level of their ‘‘asthma action 

plans.’’ They miss more school than the average healthy child of their ages and even 

the 5-year-old knows how to load the nebulizer with treatment and to administer 

that treatment to herself. My son once, not long after 9/11, upon another visit to 

131 

the ER, was diagnosed with a virus called Herpes Angina, which means bumps on 

the inner chest area (down his throat and on his chest). Both of my daughters have 

had strange rashes at various periods and my middle daughter has also been treated in the ER for strange viruses that I was unable to treat at home. 

Just about every month, so long as I can afford to do so, I pick up a month’s worth 

of medications for my children and myself at a cost of $360. I am also supposed to 

take the children to the doctor on a monthly basis at a cost of $40 each. That is 

an additional $120. That’s $480 per month in copays without my visiting any doctors for my own personal healthcare. 

Immediately after 9/11 in addition to increased sensitivity, coughs and allergy 

eyes, I began to develop cysts on various parts of my body, one near my genitals, 

several under and on my eyelids, one on my abdomen and one just above my upper 

lip. The one on my lip was reoccurring, became an open sore that returned persistently over a period of about 2 years and was subsequently; post three biopsies, diagnosed to be a skin cancer that according to my doctor should not have developed 

in skin as dark as mine. Presently, I have what feels like a cyst in my mouth. I 

have not yet visited a physician for a prognosis. 

My healthcare costs recently increased beyond those, which I have already described due to a change in my company’s medical coverage and I can barely afford 

to provide my children with the care that they need. As of February 1, 2007, a visit 

to the ER will cost me a $500.00 copay as opposed to the $75.00 it cost prior. When 

and how am I going to the doctor for myself? 

MARIAMA JAMES, 

NYC, NY 10038. 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF THOMAS K. EPPINGER, PRESIDENT, UNIFORMED EMS 

OFFICERS UNION, LOCAL 3621 AND MARIANNE PIZZITOLA, PRESIDENT, FDNY EMS 

RETIREES ASSOCIATION, PENSION & BENEFIT CONSULTANT, UNIFORMED EMS 

OFFICERS UNION, LOCAL 3621 

Honorable Chairman Edward Kennedy, Ranking Member Mike Enzi, Senator Hillary Clinton, Senator Sherrod Brown, Senator Tom Coburn and other members of 

the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. On March 21, we had the 

pleasure of attending the U.S. Senate hearing on 9/11 Health-Related problems 

hosted by all of you for the first time. We were joined by two members and 9/11 

survivors, Retired EMS Lieutenant William Gleason and EMT Stephen Hess. 

These gentlemen and many like them suffer from a myriad of often life-threatening health problems, including hyper reactive airway disease, asthma, GERD, 

bronchitis, nodules in their lungs and in sinus cavities, skin rashes and growths, 

pulmonary hypertension, sarcoidosis, pulmonary fibrosis and scarring, enlarged 

heart, hypertension, autoimmune diseases such as lupus (or lupus like symptoms) 

and Rheumatoid arthritis, leukemia, and other types of cancers. 

In the years before 9/11, our members typically faced orthopedic injuries, and occasionally TB or Hepatitis. Today, members come to us with health problems falling 

within the cluster of illnesses above with alarming frequency. The common denominator with each is the same; the member responded to the terrorist attacks at the 

World Trade Center in New York. 

Ms Pizzitola, is a retired member of FDNY EMS, and assists Local 3621, the Uniformed EMS Officers Union as the Pension & Benefit Coordinator and founded the 

FDNY EMS Retirees Association to help our mostly disable and retired EMS workers. Together with the Uniformed EMS Officers Union, Local 3621, these organizations partnered to ensure that our members are aware of the World Trade Center 

Tracking and Treatment Center Programs available in New York and nationwide, 

as our retirees are leaving New York for warmer climates and still need medical 

care. Unfortunately, responders and volunteers from other States are not being 

given the appropriate information as was identified at the Senate hearing on March 

21, 2007 on 9/11 Health Problems. 

In fact, we would like to correct NYC Mayor Bloomberg’s answer to Senator 

Sherrod Brown when asked how almost 200 people from Ohio that responded after 

9/11 could get treatment. Mayor Bloomberg’s response that volunteers from other 

States could come to NYC to seek treatment if they had health insurance, and his 

statement that the NYC Department of Health Registry was closed since 2003, were 

accurate, but not the best advice. 

In reality, the best course of action any volunteer should be advised to take is 

the following: 

132 

1. Complete a NYS Workers’ Compensation Notice of Participation form (a WTC 

12 form). NYS Workers’ Comp forms can be found at www.wcb.state.ny.us under 

‘‘common forms.’’ 

2. Have the form notarized and sent by certified mail to the NYS Workers’ Compensation Board by the deadline of August 14, 2007. Keep a copy for their records. 

3. Call the WTC hotline and register for treatment at the toll free number 1–888– 

702–0630. 

4. Visit www.wtcexams.org for more information. 

5. If the volunteer resides outside the NY/NJ area they will be referred to a clinic 

within AOEC, the Association of Occupational and Environmental Clinics in their 

home State, and treatment is free as it is NIOSH-grant funded. 

A second inaccuracy concerns the issue of insurance and the amount of funding 

Mayor Bloomberg requested to fund the 9/11 programs. 

The Mayor’s Task Force Report mentions the DOHMH WTC Guidelines. (See attached). These guidelines are so vague that they serve to limit pensions and Workers’ Comp cases being awarded and thus city liability, rather than provide medical 

practitioners a framework. Our responders and volunteers are receiving diagnoses 

that fall beyond the listings in this document. The limited scope of the guidelines 

bind medical practitioners from identifying and treating 9/11 health-related illnesses. The DOHMH guidelines need to be updated every 6 months, or at least once 

a year, to include increasing rates of diagnoses within the cluster of illnesses, to provide doctors with a full and accurate picture of the evolving framework. 

The guidelines simply mention GERD, depression, anxiety and PTSD, upper airway cough syndrome, (formerly termed post nasal drip), Asthma, reactive airway 

disease (RADS), and chronic cough. Yet our members and thousands in other treatment centers are being diagnosed with skin rashes, tumors on their thyroid glands, 

nodules in the lungs, pulmonary fibrosis, sarcoidosis, sinus tumors, skin growths, 

growths in the stomach or esophagus, autoimmune diseases, sleep apnea, leukemia’s 

and cancers and more. Given the amount of toxic chemicals that were in Ground 

Zero that were inhaled or ingested, these people are and will continue to develop 

these illnesses and their doctors should be on the look out for more than is described 

in these ‘‘guidelines.’’ One member has advised us her doctor mentioned he has 12 

patients that were 9/11 responders now diagnosed with leukemia. Such a reporting 

should be taken into consideration and investigated among other 9/11 workers. Adding these illnesses to the guidelines informs medical practitioners treating 9/11 

workers to be more thorough in physical examinations so patients do not face long 

periods of time undiagnosed or misdiagnosed accidentally. Preventative health is 

simply a sound health practice, but for the practitioner to be that thorough in his/ 

her examinations, she/he should know what they are looking for, especially when 

this is not routine. 

Senator Coburn asked the Mayor why the Senate should fund the 9/11 programs 

if there is a duplication of insurance programs. Let us clarify, as the answer he received was not accurate. All NYC workers and contractors are covered by NYS 

Workers’ Compensation. Under the law, an employer with one or more workers 

must carry insurance for their workers. It is all too common however, that an employer fails to adequately cover or report all of their workers and pay the State the 

appropriate premium. In addition, the city of New York often challenges injury 

claims, delays or ignores doctors’ request for authorization for treatment, delays 

payment of bills, and most tragically limits how often disabled workers can receive 

symptomatic treatment. In the end our 9/11 workers are literally fighting the city 

of New York for medical treatment and their doctors are fighting to get paid. Many 

refuse to see us as the NYC Law Department Workers Compensation Division simply does not pay their bills timely, or at all. 

In the Mayors Task Force Report, ‘‘Addressing the Health Impacts of 9/11 Report 

and Recommendation of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’’ co-chaired by Deputy Mayors 

Linda Gibbs and Ed Skyler, we refer you to page 74–78. On page 75, halfway 

through the first paragraphs it states, 

‘‘. . . the city is obligated to challenge a high proportion of Workers’ Compensation cases as late and/or lacking medical evidence and employees do not 

get the benefits they seek. Until we have better medical evidence of the health 

effects of 9/11, or the State changes the Workers’ Compensation scheme, to better address later emerging 9/11-related claims, this unfortunate tension will 

continue.’’ 

While the law was changed to remedy the late emerging illnesses, the ‘‘unfortunate tensions’’ still continue. 

In Ms. Pizzitola’s case alone, we have three file folders of red tape we have had 

to wade through in an attempt for her to receive medically necessary treatment and 

133 

get her medical providers paid after 3 years. The Law Department Workers’ Compensation Division is limiting disabled workers to medical visits only 1–2 times per 

month based on its independent definition of ‘‘symptomatic treatment.’’ The NYC 

Law Department Workers’ Compensation system, which Mayor Bloomberg oversees, 

has ignored direction by the NYS Workers’ Comp Board that they are interpreting 

the State law incorrectly, however, they continue to do so and frustrated injured 

workers must resort to using their union health plans to receive treatment. Because 

the city is inadequately covering members under the Workers’ Compensation Plan, 

these workers depend on NIOSH-funded WTC Treatment programs for their treatment. 

Workers are not supposed to use their private health insurance for work-related 

injuries or illness. Claims should be paid for by the State Workers’ Compensation 

System. For uniformed workers like NYC Fire, Police and Sanitation workers, and 

some Board of Education pedagogical employees do not receive Workers’ Compensation. NYC Firefighters upon retirement must use their own health insurance for 

their line of duty injuries and they are subject to copays and caps each year that 

can be expensive. Out-of-pocket medical expenses related to 9/11-related illness has 

become overwhelming and these members as well depend on NIOSH-funded WTC 

programs for their treatment. 

In addition to the problems with health benefits, our members also face mounting 

difficulty on the pension side. The Mayor also oversees the Pension system and their 

own DOHMH WTC guidelines again has caused 9/11 workers like EMT Stephen 

Hess who submitted testimony for the hearing through AFSCME to be denied his 

line of duty-related pension twice. Following a lawsuit, the Court advised the New 

York City Employees Retirement System (NYCERS) Pension board to review EMT 

Hess’ medical evidence again, as it appeared it was not given proper weight and he 

should have been approved (the Court has no jurisdiction to grant pensions over the 

decision of a medical board). Today, that same pension board still refuses to see Mr. 

Hess or reopen his case. Please refer to page 75–78 of the Mayors Task Force Report 

on Addressing the Health Impacts of 9/11. On page 76 the second paragraph states 

that the city pension boards are using the New York City Department of Health and 

Mental Hygiene WTC Guidelines as a basis for denying workers their 9/11 pensions 

and states, 

‘‘This tension is an unfortunate by-product of the Presumption bill which, 

though generous to its beneficiaries, makes categorical determinations that cannot yet (and may not ever) be attributed to the 9/11 attacks.’’ 

Mr. Hess must use his wife’s health insurance because there are no doctors in the 

State of New Jersey where he lives that will accept Workers’ Compensation from 

the city of New York due to their poor payment history, and no doctors that are 

approved for his medical conditions. This bureaucratic nightmare has tragic implications for the health and well-being of Mr. Hess and his entire family. This is another reason why our workers depend on grant-funded WTC programs for their 

treatment. These ‘‘unfortunate tensions’’ described by City Hall are being suffered 

by real people who depend on these benefits to take care of themselves and their 

families and we must find a way to fund these programs so they can take the 

science from treating and tracking our 9/11 health problems and put an end to our 

members dying fighting for their benefits and pensions. 

We are seeing an increasing number of medical professionals refusing to take on 

9/11 patients. In fact we are finding mental health professionals and pulmonologists 

refusing to take on new 9/11 patients because they are inundated with 9/11-related 

cases and/or having difficulties getting paid via Comp. The list of approved physicians in these areas of practice and in close proximity to the injured worker is also 

limited. Mr. Hess was terminated by the FDNY under Civil Service Law section 71. 

This means that although he was out sick due to a work-related illness (9/11), the 

FDNY fired him because he was out for more than 12 months. He has no health 

insurance or benefits. He has been refused his pension twice because the city pension system refuses to find him disabled even though the FDNY finds him unfit for 

duty as a result of 9/11. Mr. Hess’ only resort is the NIOSH-funded program, and 

ironically he is in the FDNY program, the same organization that fired him for the 

disability that prevented him from working there in the first place. 

While the Mayor requested $393 million per year to cover ALL workers from 

ALL States, a more accurate estimate of the funding required could be determined 

by a review of NIOSH grants and Workers’ Compensation System actual payments 

over a period of time, including both medical and administrative costs. With this 

average we can more accurately estimate both current and future costs to the system. 

134 

Epidemiologists and medical professionals tell us that the FDNY, Mt. Sinai and 

Bellevue Programs are providing the foundation for the identification of direct causation in 9/11 health-related illnesses. Without this baseline and ongoing tracking, 

9/11 illnesses will be further obscured, denigrating our ability to understand and 

treat these workers. In fact, if we had access to the statistics and data from the 

FDNY 5-year history alone, it could shed light on the situation and help us to more 

effectively treat 9/11-related illnesses as for the first time we heard at this hearing 

Dr. Kelly testify that the FDNY is seeing some ‘‘unusual cancers.’’ 

And finally, we would like to address Congressman Nadler’s important question 

about respiratory protection and when workers received masks at Ground Zero. 

Masks were not given to workers until October 2001, and more importantly, replacement filters for those masks were not made readily available. As you can imagine, 

the filters quickly became clogged with dust and debris. After working long hours, 

breathing through the clogged filter became impossible—at this point, the masks 

were unless. When you discuss the issue of masks and respiratory protection we 

MUST remember to discuss the availability of filters—this one forgotten issue is 

crucial to understanding the severity of our current predicament. It is imperative 

that we speak of emergency preparedness that we ensure that we have masks for 

responders and a sufficient supply of replacement filters to last through the emergency. 

In closing, Marianne and I respectfully thank you for the time to offer testimony 

on the health-related experiences of 9/11 workers and responders. NIOSH-funded 

programs like FDNY, Mt. Sinai and Bellevue are necessary to effectively serve the 

thousands of 9/11 workers and responders with treatment and tracking. Our emergency responders depend on these programs. This worthy mission will provide us 

a more effective means addressing 9/11-related illnesses and establish a framework 

for health care in future disasters if ever required. For this mission to be successful 

there must be both complete accountability and transparency so that our 9/11 workers and responders are not left fighting alone for the health and pension benefits 

and care they have undoubtedly earned. We also must ensure that these worthy 

programs are funded so that tracking of illnesses from these centers can develop 

preventative medicine programs that can help other 9/11 workers and volunteers 

later. 

The Federal Government needs to establish a special disaster fund that if there 

is a national disaster like that of 9/11 again in this country, there is a fund that 

can be implemented to care for the rescuers and volunteers. Americans are resilient, 

and in times of crisis we band together and pull each other through. After 9/11, New 

Yorkers, and those that felt our pain brought this beloved city back to its feet. For 

this valiant effort, we must take care of the people that took care of New York. 

[Editor’s Note: Due to the high cost of printing, previously published materials are not reprinted in the hearing record. Please refer to the report, 

‘‘Addressing the Health Impact of 9/11,’’ by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and 

Co-Chairs Deputy Mayors Edward Skyler and Linda Gibbs on the 

Mayor’s Web site: http://www.nyc.gov/html/mail/html/mayor.html or 

http:www.nyc.gov/htm/om/pdf/911lhealthlimpactslreport.pdf. The report 

‘‘City Health Information—Clinical Guidelines for Adults Exposed to the 

Workd Trade Center Disaster can be found at http://home2.nyc.gov/html/ 

doh/downloads/pdf/chi/chi25-7-pdf.] 

RESIDENT SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIALS

PREPARED STATEMENT OF TANIA HEAD, PRESIDENT, WORLD TRADE CENTER

SURVIVORS’ NETWORK

Chairman Kennedy, Senator Enzi, and members of the committee, I thank you 

for this opportunity to testify today regarding the long-term health impacts from 

September 11. 

My name is Tania Head and I am the President of the World Trade Center Survivors’ Network. We are a nonpartisan, not-for-profit 501(c)(3), formed in 2003 to 

serve the needs, and advocate for, the survivors of the attacks of September 11, 

2001. Our members are World Trade Center evacuees, workers from nearby buildings, Lower Manhattan residents, witnesses of the attacks, rescue and recovery 

workers and volunteers. 

We were very pleased to learn that the committee is looking into the growing 

problem of non-responders falling victim to 9/11-related illnesses because there has 

been a disparity to date between the resources devoted to rescue and recovery workers, as compared with the health and financial resources available to other groups. 

135 

This is especially of concern because many of the residents, students, and workers 

who returned to Lower Manhattan after the September 11 attacks are also experiencing a number of health ailments. Their medical problems have largely been overlooked as officials focus increased attention on the responders who were exposed to 

the hazards of the cleanup and recovery effort at Ground Zero. 

The sad fact is that a large number of non-rescue survivors are also suffering from 

respiratory, gastrointestinal and mental health problems as a result of the September 11 attacks. However, until recently there has not been a single medical monitoring and treatment program available for neighborhood residents and other nonrescue survivors. It was not until this past January, more than 5 years after the 

fact, that the Bellevue Hospital WTC Healthcare Center was started to meet this 

need. It is clear that this vital program will require additional funding to stay open, 

especially as more time passes and further health complications arise as a result 

of the exposure to September 11 trauma and toxic contaminants. 

Additionally, survivors who were in New York on business on September 11, and 

those who have relocated since, have also been largely overlooked by the medical 

community. They have had little access to support services dealing with trauma and 

health issues in their new communities, and have continually been turned down for 

financial assistance from service providers in New York. 

Illustrative of these facts, we recently polled over 1,000 of our members and found 

that for the overwhelming majority, almost 75 percent, their No. 1 concern today 

is ‘‘Health Issues Affecting Survivors.’’ 

Health issues affecting non-rescue survivors are not limited to physical problems 

alone. A large majority is still suffering from various degrees of trauma, and has 

been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Alarmingly, just when 

the need for counseling and support seem to be growing, many of the programs providing free mental health counseling are closing down for lack of funding. This includes the invaluable services provided by St. Vincent’s World Trade Center Health 

Services. 

To make matters worse, the problems affecting survivors are not limited to health 

ailments. Health problems have compounded other problems arising directly as a result of being in the line of fire during the attacks of September 11. Many survivors, 

for example, are suffering from unemployment or underemployment. Many lost their 

jobs on September 11 and have been unable to find work due to job discrimination. 

Others are unable to return to their place of employment in Manhattan or are too 

traumatized to return to work at all. 

As a result, many survivors’ are finding themselves in substantial financial difficulties because they are experiencing mental and health problems, all of which do 

not allow them to hold steady jobs while the bills keep piling up. Financial problems 

lead to legal problems and the situation only worsens. It’s a vicious cycle that’s very 

hard to escape, and to date there has not been enough resources or willingness to 

help this situation. 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF ANN WARNER ARLEN, IMMEDIATE PAST CHAIR, 

ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE, COMMUNITY BOARD #2, MANHATTAN, NY 

My name is Ann Warner Arlen. I live just south of West Houston Street on Sullivan Street, in the South Village, an area west of SoHo and east of Sixth Avenue. 

Before September 11, 2001, the sky plane looking south on Sullivan was dominated 

by the World Trade Center, an easy walk south. 

I live in an apartment on a garden that is part of the open core of our block. On 

the morning of September 11 my back was to the garden when I heard the roar 

of the first plane go over, too low, gunning its motors, and then the crash. A friend 

called; we were watching on TV as the South Tower was hit. 

In the street a group of us watched the towers burn. When one of the towers 

turned grey and slid down the horizon, people screamed. A man appeared at the 

edge of the group, eyes red, face chalky with dust. He tried to speak but made little 

sound. Finally he said he had been in a building where people jumping from the 

towers fell so close by he could identify them. He wanted to tell the families so they 

could know. He came to my place to call his family. On the TV the second tower 

fell. 

The next day the air was filled with the dust. Going to a community Board #2 

meeting at Bleecker and West Broadway, I had a bandana around my nose and 

mouth, yet was grinding the dust and grit between my teeth. The following day the 

dust was still in the air. The police had Houston Street cordoned off. We had to 

prove we lived there to get onto the block. An officer gave me a mask. 

After that the smoke rising from the World Trade Center site during the day settled as a pall over our area at night. The central core of our block held the smoke 

136 

in place, and that allowed it to seep into the rear-facing apartments. Every morning 

for 31⁄2 months I woke to an apartment filled with smoke, head aching with sinusitis 

and chest bubbling with bronchitis. These symptoms went away only after the 

smoke abated. 

A combustion scientist friend described the smoke as a combination oil fire, crematorium and mass burn incinerator. Altogether, it was an assault of airborne particulates and caustic fumes laden with a witches brew of unknown toxins. During 

the day, when the smoke lifted, the smell of burning flesh persisted. It was a relief 

when someone wrote about it or mentioned it. Most of the time nobody did. 

In October 2003, I did jury duty in the Supreme Court building on Foley Square, 

in a courtroom facing the WTC site and still smelling of WTC smoke. As we were 

seated, noses and eyes began to run. It was as if the jury as one had a cold. My 

sinusitis and bronchitis returned and got steadily worse. After many weeks the 

bronchitis became acute, and my doctor sent me for a chest x ray. The radiologist 

made a diagnosis of obstructive lung disease. My doctor said she would not recommend a pulmonary function test because there would be little to be done about 

it anyway. She prescribed for the mucous in my chest. Now when I get a cold or 

sniffle, I often get bronchitis. I take homeopathics and immune system strengtheners to avoid colds. 

I was haunted by the cataclysm that destroyed uncounted innocent lives close by, 

and especially by the passengers on Flight 11, passing overhead seconds before they 

crashed into the North Tower. 

But the source of greatest trauma was the venality of our leadership and the 

health agencies: in issuing deceptive reassurances about the air quality; in deciding 

not to follow the better-safe-than-sorry ‘‘precautionary principle,’’ not to warn people 

to protect themselves and their children, to stay out of the area; in deciding not to 

close contaminated schools while they truly were decontaminated (instead students 

at Stuyvesant were compelled to return on pain of losing much-prized places); in 

conducting improper test-and-clean programs that resulted in people made ill by returning to contaminated buildings. 

And now we face the demoralizing risk that the Bellevue WTC Healthcare Center, 

a most important ‘‘center of excellence,’’ the one treatment center open to all suffering 9/11 exposure impacts, will be forced to adopt a politically-generated, geographically-based restriction regarding who it will accept for treatment, rather than 

to be allowed to continue with its admirable symptom-based triage system. It is devoutly to be hoped that Bellevue will be allowed to continue along its health-based 

path of integrity, untroubled by the political tinkering that is so demoralizing to 

those who seek to contain and reduce the harm done on 9/11 and—most regrettably—subsequently. 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF VICTOR FUSCO, ESQ., MANAGING PARTNER, 

FUSCO BRANDENSTEIN & RADA, P.C. 

SOME PROPOSALS

If it may please this Honorable Panel: My name is Victor Fusco. I am a member 

of the New York bar who has practiced in the varied areas of disability law since 

1976. I am a past president of the National Organization of Social Security Claimants’ Representatives, and past-president of the New York Social Security Bar Association. I am a member of the Workers’ Injury Litigation Group and the New York 

Injured Workers’ Bar Association. I am presently the pro-bono general counsel to 

the Unsung Heroes Helping Heroes, Inc., a not-for-profit organization whose mission 

is to assist and advocate for the responders of the 9/11 attacks, and other national 

disasters. 

In my more than 30 years of practice, I have become familiar with both State and 

Federal Workers’ Compensation plans, Social Security Disability, and ERISA plans, 

all of which deal with disabled workers. I am honored and delighted to have an opportunity to share some of my observations, and discuss problems and solutions. 

With respect to 9/11 workers, it is no secret that they were exposed to a ‘‘toxic 

brew’’ of pollutants, poisons and toxins as they worked in the rescue, recovery and 

clean up efforts, so I will not reiterate facts that you have heard many times from 

the doctors treating these individuals. I will stress that many of these workers are 

expected to develop later onset diseases, which have not yet manifested themselves. 

Some of our medical professionals are bracing for an epidemic of 9/11-related diseases. 

State Workers’ Compensation Programs across the country have been decimated 

in recent years due to the influence of businesses and insurance industry in State 

governments. 

137 

Up until last week, New York has the third lowest Workers’ Compensation rates 

in the country, with a maximum payment of $400.00 per week. Now the maximum, 

for new cases, has been raised to $500.00 per week . . . still less than half of some 

of our neighboring States in the Northeast. To make matters worse, especially for 

9/11 responders, under the so called ‘‘reforms,’’ New York has adopted a most glaring ‘‘anti-worker’’ provision found in the laws of many other States, that is a cap, 

or maximum benefit payout on the amount of partial disability payments a permanently disabled worker can receive, to maximum of 525 weeks of benefits. (However, 

if you were to only have a 50 percent disability, you’d only get 300 weeks of benefits.) In the past, New York did place time limits on some types of injuries (schedule 

loss of use), i.e., those that would heal with varying degrees of permanency, and 

then stabilize. Typically these would be extremity injuries, arm, leg, wrist, etc., for 

which ‘‘scheduled loss of use’’ awards would be made based on a percentage of functional loss. However, in progressive, non-stable type conditions: spinal injuries; cardiac; pulmonary; brain, and such, a permanently partially disabled worker could receive benefits for as long they continued to suffer wage loss medically related to the 

impairment. And, make no mistake, virtually all such workers would be considered 

‘‘partially disabled,’’ (and further categorized as mild, moderate or marked) if they 

weren’t bedridden. 

In fact, in New York it has always been near impossible for workers to be classified as ‘‘totally disabled’’ unless they met the statutory standard of loss of two arms, 

two legs, and arm and a leg, both eyes, etc. It was never sufficient for a worker 

to show that they could not realistically do any work. They basically had to be bedridden to establish medical total disability. 

A small number of workers have been found to have ‘‘total industrial disabilities,’’ 

but such cases are also quite rare. New York’s standard of ‘‘total industrial disability’’ has been sparingly applied, and then only to workers who were uneducated, 

functionally illiterate, with limited facility in English, and who had performed a lifetime of heavy unskilled labor. Most workers will never qualify for total disability 

under this standard. (For example, a typical ‘‘total industrial disability’’ claim might 

succeed for a 58-year-old brick layer, with 2 years of education in Italy, who does 

not read or write English, and speaks it haltingly with a back injury who can not 

longer be a brick-layer), 

New York’s recent ‘‘reform’’ does little to better the lot of injured workers other 

than a slight rate increase. In fact, New York has done away with permanent benefits in cases of permanent partial disabilities, which by any other reasonable standard, including those of other States, would be considered ‘‘total disability for work’’ 

standards. 

This change in the historic bargain between labor and business portends major 

implications for the health of 9/11 responders. As their conditions worsen, their benefits get cut off. Lung conditions such as pulmonary fibrosis, for example, don’t improve; they become progressively more debilitating, then they kill you. 

Workers from across the river can’t expect much better treatment, as our sister 

State of New Jersey also has lifetime caps on the amount of benefits a workers can 

receive. 

The workers of 9/11 have been particularly vulnerable to the vagaries of the 

Workers’ Compensation system. Although, from the outset, medical professionals 

have cautioned that the workers were exposed to a toxic stew, they also have gone 

on record as admitting that it will be years before many impairments, including 

lung diseases and cancers manifest themselves, and it will take years more still for 

the medical professionals to have the statistics to make the necessary causative 

links. 

Initially, 9/11 workers who found themselves taking ill beyond 2 years of their 

last work at Ground Zero and related sites, found themselves barred from filing 

compensation cases by New York’s 2-year statute of limitations. 

The workers, through their advocacy organizations, asked for a ‘‘presumptions 

bill.’’ The bill listed a number of conditions that doctors had anecdotally related to 

World Trade Center exposure. It was proposed that if and when 9/11 workers ever 

were to come down with any of those enumerated conditions, such illness(es) would 

be presumed related to their work at Ground Zero and related sites, and their cases 

would be treated like occupational disease cases, so that the worker would have 2 

years from the date of diagnosis of a 9/11-related disease in which to file a claim. 

Although the bill received widespread legislative support and passed both houses, 

Governor George Pataki, would not sign it and insisted on a watered down bill. 

So, how did New York decide to deal with 9/11 workers? By setting up a trap for 

unwary workers (residing in or out of New York), which requires them to ‘‘register’’ 

with the New York NYS Workers’ Compensation Board on or before August 14, 

138 

2007. If they fail to register and later get sick, they can not file a claim. Only the 

filing of a registration statement extends the statute of limitations. 

In the meantime, well meaning Federal officials sought to bring in funds for much 

needed medical treatment. Those funds are needed and appreciated and more 

money is needed. But those funds will never benefit all the workers affected by 

9/11. Unfortunately workers don’t just need medical benefits. Some are too disabled 

to work and because the Workers’ Compensation system has largely failed them, 

they find themselves losing their homes, and all their assets. In short, they need 

a legitimate, worker friendly Workers’ Compensation program. 

And, as poorly as New York’s working people have been treated, other workers 

have been left out altogether. The Unsung Heroes Helping Heroes, Inc. and other 

organizations that have formed to help 9/11 workers remain at a loss as to how to 

help Federal workers who were involved in the 9/11 effort, who also are outside of 

their statute of limitations; not to mention our national guardsmen who qualify for 

neither Federal or State benefits. New York State tells them they are military and 

eligible for ‘‘Federal’’ benefits. The Feds tell them New York State called you up, 

so you’re New York’s responsibility. And what about those who were working in the 

World Trade Center and environs when the buildings came down? They don’t qualify for Workers’ Compensation benefits as they are not considered ‘‘rescue, clean-up, 

or recovery workers.’’ What are they to do? 

Some workers have approached Federal Legislators with a proposal that the State 

Workers’ Compensation systems be supplanted by a Federal program. Specifically, 

they point to the provisions of the Long Shore and Harborworkers Act (LHWCA) as 

a far more preferable compensation system. The provisions of the LHWCA have already been imported into the Defense Base Act as a means of compensating injured 

private citizens who have worked as ‘‘contractors’’ in Iraq. Benefit levels are far 

higher than those available in New York, or New Jersey for that matter. Secondly, 

such an act could be universally applied across the United States. The argument 

is made that it was the United States that was attacked, not just New York, and 

therefore Federal jurisdiction over the workers who helped in the recovery is entirely appropriate. This is a valid argument, and importation of the LSHA standards 

could go a long way to bettering the lot of 9/11’s responders. 

While this scheme has great merit, there are some shortcomings to which pragmatic solutions are necessary. 

It is no secret that our Federal Government has been continuously applied budget 

cutting to virtually all of our Federal agencies. (Some would call it ‘‘bloodletting.’’) 

Federal agencies that deal with working people such as the National Labor Relations Board, the Department of Labor, The Occupational Safety & Health Administration and the Social Security Administration have never been more backlogged. 

I don’t know of a single Federal agency whose administrators are not complaining 

of increased workloads with reduced staffing. The recent scandal concerning poor 

treatment of our injured Iraq war veterans is symptomatic of what happens when 

Federal agencies suffer from budgetary malnutrition. 

The LHWCA is administered by the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs 

(OWCP) an agency within the U.S. Department of Labor. The OWCP has a small 

number of claims examiners working in each of the major Federal regions. OWCP 

has a smaller core of Administrative Law Judge’s who travel the country hearing 

cases. Unlike the Social Security Administration Office of Disability and Review, 

(formerly Office of Hearings and Appeals) it does not have a dedicated corps of 

ALJ’s in each locality. Additionally that OWCP is charged with administering a second compensation program, the Federal Employees Compensation Act (FECA). 

LHWCA is a far more ‘‘user friendly’’ benefit scheme than FECA. Federal Government employee have tremendous difficulty getting legal representation before the 

Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs, because there are no attorney fee liens, 

and the fees that are typically approved for lawyers’ services are too frequently fixed 

at rates too far below market level, if they are even collectible, to make it feasible 

for attorneys to take on these cases. More lawyers do accept LHWCA cases. There 

are attorney fee liens available, and the fees tend to be closer to market rates. It 

should be noted however that claimants in litigated LHWCA cases are required to 

bear their own expenses of litigation. 

From a political and governmental standpoint, States are very protective, as they 

should be, of States’ rights and loathe to cede authority (and jobs) to the Federal 

Government. Indeed, there are many Federal and State legislators who have protested excessive Federal intrusion into State matters. Workers’ Compensation has 

always been a State matter, but one which has Federal repercussions, as State benefits do impact on Federal programs, in particular Social Security Disability. 

From the advocate’s point of view, the Federal Government is simply not capable 

of running a more vast compensation program than that which it is already hanVerDate Aug 31 2005 16:08 Jul 30, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00142 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 S:\DOCS\34458.TXT SLABOR1 PsN: DENISE
139 

dling. The resources aren’t there. Certainly the Department of Labor does not have 

the manpower. And, if anyone should perhaps think that the Social Security Administration’s Administrative Law Judge’s could take on the function of adjudicating 

these claims, we would point out that there is already a 24-month backlog of hearings in Social Security Disability cases, in most regions. The Social Security Administration can not take on any more work. It’s bursting at the seams with the work 

it does have. In a time of cutting Federal budgets, it is unlikely any public official 

would suggest expanding any Federal agency’s scope (or budget). 

Given the realities of the Federal budget for operating its agencies, couple with 

the failure of State compensation programs to adequately compensate the injured 

workers of 9/11, we propose that Congress devise a ‘‘supplemental 9/11 disability 

program.’’ 

The cornerstone of such proposal would be that similar to what is done with Federal Highway Funds, the Federal Government attach the ability to secure reimbursement to the States’ legislation and implementation of certain federally created 

minimum standards. 

We envision the program would provide supplemental funds to any State plan, 

provided certain Federal criteria are met, so that the combination of State Workers’ 

Compensation benefits plus additional Federal benefits would equal 2⁄3 of the claimant’s salary at the time of onset of disability. For each eligible claimant, the Federal 

Government, through a special fund, would reimburse State plans or private insurers 100 percent of the cost of the ‘‘State’’ portion of the compensation after the first 

2 years of payments. 

In order to be eligible for funds, States would, be required to amend their Workers’ Compensation statutes to provide certain levels of Workers’ Compensation coverage to qualified workers: 

1. For 9/11 responders (first responders, clean-up, rescue and recovery workers) 

certain qualifying conditions shall be presumed to causally related to toxic exposures characteristic of work at Ground Zero and related sites. 

‘‘Qualifying Conditions’’ would include at least the following: 

• Diseases of the Upper Respiratory Tract, such as: Rhinitis; Sinusitis; Pharyngitis; Laryngitis; Vocal-chord Disease; Upper Airway Hyper-reactivity and Tracheobronchitis, or a combination of such conditions. 

• Diseases of the Lower Respiratory Tract, such as: Bronchitis; Asthma; Reactive 

Airway Dysfunction Syndrome (‘‘RADS’’); Various Forms of Pneumonitis Hypersensitivity (granulomatous or eosinophilic). 

• Psychological Conditions, such as: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Anxiety, Depression, or any combination of these. 

• Skin Diseases, such as: Contact Dermatitis; Burns; Infections; Irritations 

whether allergic, idiopathic or non-specific in origin, and caused by or aggravated 

by exposure; 

• New Onset Diseases, resulting from exposure, which may occur in the future, 

such as: any form of Cancer; Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), Asbestos-related Diseases (including Mesothelioma); Heavy-metal poisoning; Musculoskeletal disease; Chronic Psychological diseases. 

2. The claimant shall have 2 years from knowledge that he or she has such a disease and that it is related to 9/11 exposure, in which to file a claim. 

3. The claimant must prove that he or she worked (or qualified as an eligible volunteer under State law) within the first 7 days, either immediately following the 

9/11 disaster at a ‘‘qualifying site’’ for 8 hours or more, or for any length of time 

at a ‘‘qualifying site’’ or ‘‘combination of qualifying sites,’’ during the period 9-11- 

01 to 9-12-02. 

4. The presumption of causality shall be irrebuttable, except for a preponderance 

of clear and convincing evidence to the contrary. It shall not be a defense to the 

presumption of causality that there are no similar cases on record, provided the attending doctor sets forth s reasonable medical basis for his/her opinion that claimant’s impairment is casually connected, either directly or indirectly, to an exposure 

related to the 9/11 rescue, recovery and clean-up efforts. 

5. There shall be no presumption as to the degree of disability imposed by any 

‘‘qualifying condition.’’ The burden of proving degree of disability is on the claimant. 

6. The State must adjudicate such claim within 365 days of its presentation. If 

the claim is not resolved and the claimant is not working, and has medical proof 

of a causally related disability, the Special Fund may pay interim benefits subject 

to reimbursement by the State plan when the claim is approved, plus interest. In 

the event the State fails to adjudicate such claim within 365 days of its presentment, the claimant may petition the U.S. Department of Labor to hold an expedited 

proceeding, before an Administrative Law Judge of the U.S. Department of Labor, 

140 

within 60 days of such request. A claim shall not be considered presented until: (1) 

a claim form has been filed with the appropriate State agency, (2) there is medical 

evidence showing a diagnosis of a qualifying condition, and (3) if the claimant has 

a condition other than an enumerated qualifying condition there is medical evidence 

containing an opinion that such condition(s) are causally connected to 9/11-related 

exposure during the prescribed timeframes. 

7. Medical treatment shall be funded separately, and not be dependent upon the 

status of a worker’s loss of earnings claim, whether or not compensability of such 

claim has been established under any State or Federal Workers’ Compensation plan 

or program, or the status of a temporary or permanent, total or partial disability 

claim. 

8. ‘‘Voluntary withdrawal’’ from the labor market shall not be a defense to payment of benefits. 

9. (1) Reduced earnings and average weekly wage shall be measured against the 

higher of: 

(a) Claimant’s earnings at Ground Zero and/or related qualifying areas; or 

(b) Claimant’s most recent earnings for the 24-month period antedating cessation 

of work due to disability; or 

(c) Claimant’s highest 5 years of contiguous earnings in the profession or trade 

in which he or she was employed at Ground Zero and/or related qualifying areas; 

or 

(d) Such other wage basis as may fairly depict the claimant’s wage earning capacity in the view of the trier of fact. 

(e) The determination of average weekly wage should be liberally construed in 

favor of the worker. 

(2) In the absence of actual reduced earnings, where such claimant is not actually 

employed, the State shall determine a ‘‘degree of medical disability’’ and pay compensation in accord therewith, as governed by existing State statutes. 

10. Following the State determination of the claimant’s degree of disability and 

the appropriate State rate of compensation, a further determination shall be made 

by the State Agency for additional supplemental Federal benefits in an amount not 

exceeding 2⁄3 of claimant’s average weekly wage. If the claimant is working at reduced earnings for conditions attributable to his or her 9/11 service, the Federal 

supplement shall be such amount as is necessary to supplement the State benefit 

so that claimant receives 2⁄3 of his or her actual reduced earnings based on his or 

average weekly wage as determined by the most favorable method. The standard 

defenses to reduced earnings claims shall be available to the ‘‘state’’ except voluntary withdrawal from the labor market. 

11. In States that impose a maximum benefit cap (time limited benefits), upon 

the exhaustion of such benefits, notwithstanding a finding of permanent partial disability, the Federal plan will pay the difference to the claimant upon exhaustion of 

State benefits. In the alternative, the participating States will amend their statutes 

so that there will be no maximum benefit limitation on the State or Federal portion 

of any permanent partial or total disability benefit payable for any 9/11 qualifying 

claim, in which case the Federal Government will reimburse, through the State 

plan, 100 percent of the cost of indemnity payments made under its Workers’ Compensation plan, after the first 2 years, to 9/11 workers. 

12. In the event of a lump-sum ‘‘settlement’’ the Federal fund will pay such 

amount as approximates the amount of Federal benefits payable commensurate 

with the ratio of Federal and State weekly benefits paid prior to the settlement. Example: State plan paying $400 weekly. Federal supplemental benefit of $300 weekly. 

State insurer offers $ 100,000.00 Lump Sum (5 years) Federal supplemental lump 

sum would be an additional $75,000. For cases where there are no State benefits 

currently payable, the State contribution shall be presumed to be maximum State 

rate available at the time based upon claimant’s average weekly wage computed by 

the most advantageous method. 

13. The Federal Supplement shall be free of State, Federal and local income taxes 

and not subject to offset by the Social Security Disability benefits, nor shall it offset 

by any State or local pension plans, private or ERISA disability plans or insurance. 

The Federal supplement shall not have any lien whatsoever on the proceeds of any 

related third party civil action. 

14. There shall be no maximum benefit limitation on the Federal portion of any 

permanent partial or total disability benefits resulting from a 9/11 qualifying claim. 

15. In order to encourage vigorous representation of claimants, a prescribed schedule of attorneys fees will be promulgated by the Federal Government based upon 

factors similar to those used in Social Security Disability determinations, which 

shall be binding on the State and Federal portion of the claim. 

141 

16. The United States shall delegate to State workers’ compensation boards and 

commissions the responsibility for carrying out the mandates of this legislation, in 

the first instance, as they have the resources, manpower and infrastructure already 

in place to carry out the purposes of this legislation. 

There is ample precedent for State’s taking on the administrative burden of administering a Federal benefit. The most immediate example is in Social Security 

Disability adjudications, where the decisionmaking process at the first adjudicatory 

level has, since the program’s inception, been delegated to the States’ ‘‘Disability Determinations’’ agencies. Other examples are block grants. Secondly, such grants of 

authority, do not require Federal agencies to ramp-up for new programs. Third, 

most States, especially New York, already have ample State structures to administer the program. Under former Governor Pataki, extensive modernization initiatives were made at the NYS Workers’ Compensation Board. In fact, in some respects 

the agency became so efficient, advocates complain that there is not enough for the 

judges to do. So there is no doubt the States, particularly New York, are well 

equipped to administer such a program. And, better yet, timing is right. Current 

Governor Eliot Spitzer has indicated he will institute a program for continuing legal 

education for New York’s Workers’ Compensation law judges. 

The objective of the legislation we envision is to utilize existing State agencies to 

administer supplemental Federal benefits, which are modeled after the benefit 

structure of the LHWCA. By compliance with federally suggested models, States, 

and the private insurers therein, can offset a large part of their risk to a special 

fund which will be created for funding these benefits. That model was originally 

used in connection with Federal Terrorist Insurance Funds following the 9/11 attacks. Workers who responded to an attack upon our country will be placed on an 

even footing with other workers whose work benefits ‘‘the country’’ such as Longshoremen or Defense Base Act Workers. 

The fact that many of the workers were paid salaries to perform their jobs does 

not diminish what they did. We pay salaries to our soldiers, sailors, police and firefighters, yet no one would ever diminish their contributions to our public safety and 

security. Just as police and firefighters are eligible for special pensions in virtually 

every State, and just as our military personnel are entitled to veteran’s benefits and 

pensions, these blue collar veterans are also deserving of special financial recognition of their sacrifice of their physical and mental well being for our benefit. 

‘‘Special treatment’’ over and above what most workers receive when injured on 

the job, is not discriminatory. Rather it simply would help make whole those workers, who without regard to their own health and safety, put themselves in harm’s 

way, for the benefit of the United States, and ruined their health in the process. 

Just as police and firefighters are eligible for special pensions in virtually every 

State, and just as our military personnel are entitled to veteran’s benefits and pensions, these blue collar veterans are also deserving of special financial recognition 

of their sacrifice of their physical and mental well being for our benefit. 

MARCH 19, 2007. 

DEAR SENATORS CLINTON, KENNEDY, ENZI and members of the HELP Committee: 

Please find below my written testimony for the Senate HELP hearing on 9/11 in 

Washington, DC. I am the president of the WTCRC—World Trade Center Tenants 

Coalition, a grass roots umbrella organization formed after 9/11 to deal with issues 

of access, landlords, cleanup and downtown information sharing. We reach out via 

our list server, to around 30,000 downtown residents through various tenant associations, condo boards and other resident groups. I am a parent of three young children. 

SUMMARY

Elected officials, the Hall family believes that we were exposed to a toxic cocktail 

of contaminants of potential concern, during and after 9/11. We believe that we were 

deceived by the EPA and others. We were told that it was safe to return downtown 

before a through clean up program had been organized and professionally initiated. 

The haphazard cleanup, that varied building to building, has left us with an uncertain future. We initially got sick like many others, things improved over the years 

but underlying issues remain and may in the future get worse. As first responders 

who worked on the pile or close by have started to die from illnesses experienced 

and residents and students start to get sick, more needs to be done by Congress. 

We believe that we need fully funded monitoring, research and treatment programs 

run by or at least centralized from, centers of excellence such as Bellevue hospital 

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and Mount Sinai. We believe that these have the best experience of monitoring and 

treating for all 9/11 victims. 

To be forced to wait over 5 years for any worthwhile studies to be funded is a 

national disgrace. Pushing this under the carpet is not going to make the issues go 

away. This forces the effected people to get poor treatment and possibly suffer a 

much worse outcome that could have been prevented. We feel we are the forgotten 

people in this attack, left to fend for ourselves. We are lab rats exposed to a toxic 

gumbo, but unlike lab rats, we have no monitoring. We turn to you today to reverse 

this travesty and to look to prevent a similar outcome from any future attack that 

may occur. 

We have fought many years for this, please do not let us down. 

POST-9/11 ILLNESSES WE BELIEVED THAT WE EXPERIENCED

Before 9/11 we were all very healthy and visited the doctors only rarely. After 

9/11, when we returned, we all experienced eye irritation, my wife, Helen Hall, got 

so bad that she was forced to seek specialized help. We experienced nose bleeds and 

general malaise. We got tired and my joints ached when walking. We developed a 

persistent cough that lasted on and off for over a year and it appears to return each 

winter for many weeks. We suffered from headaches and sinus problems, the winter 

was miserable and in the summers I suffer badly from allergies. I had suffered a 

little before 9/11 for a couple of weeks in the summer, but now it has got much 

worse and lasts much longer. I suffer from phlegm all year around, especially in the 

mornings. 

My wife developed an issue with her thyroid gland, a non-cancerous cyst grew and 

had to be drained, we learned of others from community meetings that had similar 

strange issues. I found playing sports more difficult and was quicker to become exhausted and longer to recover. Last summer, I finally was exhausted walking home 

from work and went to see my doctor who performed a spirometry lung test and 

found that I only had 70 percent of typical lung capacity. He explained this was 

probably why I was struggling to keep up with my children when playing soccer. 

He asked me about 9/11 and made sure my records indicated this. 

Most of the above like many others, did not force us to go to our physician. You 

get used to it as normal life and like others with young children, they keep you busy 

and there is little time to stop. We do not know what the years health wise have 

in store for us, I just hope that I have not exposed my children to serious health 

issues down the line. At the very minimum I want to know what the contaminants 

can and have caused in people and what the best recommended treatment program 

that should be followed from our centers of excellence. The only way to do this is 

to track a large percentage of the exposed population downtown. Not just the first 

responders, but the residents, students and workers who were downtown after 9/11, 

in concentric circles away from WTC. There needs to be fully funded studies, monitoring and treatment programs available. These should be available to all, not just 

those with expensive health plans. 

THIS IS MY 9/11 STORY, ONE OF MANY THOUSANDS THAT LIVED AND WORKED

DOWNTOWN IN LOWER MANHATTAN

Introduction 

On September 11, 2001 my family and I lived at 50 Battery Place in Battery Park 

City two blocks south of the World Trade Center site. I worked downtown on Wall 

Street for JPMorgan Chase at 75 Wall St. That fateful morning was the first week 

back to school for many downtown children and I had walked my daughter 

Rhiannon who was just 5, to PS89 in North Battery Park City and then taken my 

son Alex, who was 2, to TriBeCa Montessori nursery on Harrison and Greenwich. 

I then proceeded to walk south towards the World Trade Center. The first plane 

flew into the north tower as I left my sons nursery building and I saw the damage 

moments later as I walked down Greenwich. At Greenwich and Murray I walked 

across the Westside Highway deciding that the debris flying down and the crackling 

of the fire 80 stories above me was too dangerous to proceed any further. 

I walked down to the AMEX building, not wanting to think of a terrorist act, but 

of an accident of a malfunctioning plane or pilot who may have had a heart attack. 

It initially seemed someone, maybe the copilot, had tried a last ditch effort to turn 

the plane away from the tower. As I talked to a police officer outside the AMEX 

building across the street from the South tower trying to make my way back down 

to cross safely into Wall St., I heard a roar from the second plane watched in horror 

as it accelerated down West St. and turned towards me, full throttle into the south 

tower. I immediately realized the danger I was in and looking backwards watched 

the buildings windows bend and flex from the tremendous force but some how did 

143 

not explode onto West St. but into the Plaza, one of the engines sailing past the 

North tower landing somewhere in TriBeCa. I ran north screaming at people to run 

North with me, I felt that the tower was going to collapse at any second, how could 

any building survive such destructive force. I watched people falling helplessly to 

their deaths, wondering how bad it must have been for them to have to have jumped 

rather than await rescue. Police helicopters hovered overhead, why couldn’t they 

lower ropes or ladders for those poor souls or land on the roof, there must have been 

survivors up there above the fires. I felt sick to the pit of my stomach, how could 

this happen here, it was surreal and reminded me of the film towering inferno. 

I ran to PS89 and asked the Guard what the evacuation point was, he did not 

have a clue, there was no evacuation plan. I begged him to get the children north, 

they were only two blocks away and the tower was over 100 stories high. If it fell 

their way, they could all be killed. I ran to my child’s PS89 classroom, the teacher, 

dazed, did not know what to do; parents were being called. The West side highway 

was already full of police, fire, and ambulances; there was no way for them to get 

through. I begged her to evacuate the children north to some meeting point, then 

to call the parents to pick them up. I took my daughter Rhiannon and ran across 

the Westside highway to get my son Alex. I called my wife and we agreed to meet 

back at our apartment. Things were calming down a little; the buildings had not 

come down. My wife was at the U.N. I wanted her to leave straight away as that 

could be the next target. No one or place was safe now. 

We walked back over the highway where a sergeant said it was fine to walk along 

the esplanade into South Battery Park city. We stupidly agreed and proceeded to 

walk South with my young son in the stroller and Rhiannon holding on. We got to 

the back of the winter Gardens and I heard another explosion. I looked up. Had another plane gone into the South tower? I saw the top 20 floors fall into the Plaza 

and then to my horror, the ground shook and the building started to pancake. There 

were thousands of us, all the workers from the financial center. There was sheer 

panic as high-heeled shoes were thrown off, handbags and brief cases tossed; I headed for the water and safety of the Merchantile Exchange building. I screamed at 

Rhiannon not to let go of the stroller as we sprinted a full pace to try to escape 

flying debris. The last thing I wanted to do was to jump in the water with two 

young children, but decided if we were caught in any fire, then it was our only option. Others in front of us did jump over the railings, the esplanade was packed. 

We ran around the metal exchange and across the parks field, which amazingly was 

clear. The wind blew strongly south and as the plume blocked out the sun, it rolled 

over our heads. We were only lightly exposed compared to those that ran south; our 

apartment building disappeared into the thick rolling dust blanket and day became 

night. We ran with the others to Chelsea Piers, we watched the mast of the North 

tower wobble and collapse, sucked into the center of the building. The building pancaked, the corners opening like the petals of a flower, there was no sweet smell. The 

stripped bare metal structure of the first 20 or so floors survived, for a few moments, before it too fell across West Street into the AMEX building and Winter Gardens. 

We continued to walk north to Midtown, the only hotel that would put us up was 

the Waldorf on Park Avenue and I had to beg the manager to give us a room. I 

paid the high rate just to know my family would be safe while I went to work across 

the street. We had no where else to go; our friends were scattered around and we 

had lost contact. We didn’t know if they were alive or dead. That week, the WTC’s 

putrid, burning, indescribable smell and bitter taste in the mouth flooded the hotel. 

We were told that it was coming up from an underground subway tunnel. In the 

street, if the wind, changed direction, the smell wafted into Midtown. I ventured 

down to Wall Street a week later to try to recover and protect servers we had at 

75 Wall St. The heat, smell and dust was overwhelming. There was no protection 

as we waited for our ID’s to be verified, allowing us past the numerous armed 

checkpoints. 

Returning Home for the First Time 

After staying in Midtown working crazy shifts to help JPMC recover their infrastructure, on the Sunday I learned that they were allowing people into their apartments to get essentials. We had only what I stood up in, we left so quickly that 

Alex didn’t have any shoes. My wife walked to Bloomingdales to get shirts and 

pants for us and the children to allow us to continue working. Many other stores 

were closed down. On 9/11 it was gloriously sunny with no clouds in the sky, like 

many other residents I opened all of our windows, they only opened 3–4 inches due 

to the child safety locks. Our apartment on the second floor faced the river away 

from the WTC. I returned, finally allowed to pass with no bills or id linking me to 

our building, it was only when our Superintendent came out that the armed NaVerDate Aug 31 2005 16:08 Jul 30, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00147 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 S:\DOCS\34458.TXT SLABOR1 PsN: DENISE
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tional Guard allowed me 10 minutes to collect what I could. I rushed upstairs with 

a run down torch, feeling my way in the pitch blackness I found our apartment and 

walked in. The scene was soul destroying. There was grey, sometimes fluffy, dust 

every where around 1 inch at the windows and less toward the back of the rooms. 

Everything was coated. The book case on the higher shelves had a bright yellow 

power coating. The children’s brightly colored bedspreads were grayed out. I collected what I could from cupboards and closed draws and left, the young National 

Guard guy hollering, my time was up. 

We stayed in an apartment in Midtown for 6 weeks and then an apartment near 

the U.N. for another 1 week. In that period I would leave some evenings and wander downtown to try to begin the cleanup. I took some samples of the dust and collected them in a sealed jar. I was a Physics major and knew how to take samples; 

I took several scrapings from the front to the back of each of the rooms and mixed 

it up in the jar. We paid red hat workers to help us cleanup. They didn’t even have 

the flimsy masks we had been given from the Red Cross. FEMA visited but they 

said there was little they could do for us, especially as we were foreign nationals. 

I cleaned off the children’s plastic toys in the bath tub and threw their favorite soft 

toys down the garbage shoot. We were told by the EPA that the air was safe at a 

meeting on Wall St., in a hotel ballroom. Thousands of us were told to cleanup our 

homes with wet rags and mops and HEPA vacuums that none of us had. I went 

out and bought the best HEPA vacuum cleaner and Air Purifier I could get. The 

burning smell was still there when we returned 8 weeks after 9/11, even with the 

air purifier full on, it was intense. We did not dare open the windows. The outside 

of our building had not been cleaned despite our begging to the management company to do so. Our HVAC had not been cleaned and it probably had sucked down 

that cloud of debris and contaminants on 9/11. 

We formed a tenants association as the building refused to clean common areas, 

citing that an air test (taken when there was no people in the building), showed 

just less than the limit set by EPA <1 percent. They refused to paint my apartment, 

the ceilings were pop corned and very difficult to clean. I wanted any debris to be 

sealed before my children returned. The red hat workers left piles of dust behind 

furniture and appliances but I cleaned it up the best I could. We had just signed 

our lease agreement for a further year in May 2001, which Dematis and RY Management (the management company) refused to release us from the lease, explaining 

that as EPA had said that it was safe. Their insurance firm had refused to pay out 

and thus they were holding tenants to their contracts. We were forced to return, 

unable to pay two NYC rents. We went to housing court and put our rents in escrow. The judge explained as these were unique circumstances there was no precedent and he did not want to set one, he told us to work it out with Dematis and 

RY. They had won, testing of the dust I had collected by Criterion labs showed 1 

percent asbestos, we decided for the children’s sake, to leave. We were forced to lose 

our deposit and 2 months rent, pay moving costs and moved to 200 Rector Place 

down the street, to an apartment and building that we were told had been cleaned 

top to bottom by outside cleaners. Even though it was closer to the WTC we felt 

committed to stay and help rebuild our neighborhood and after all, maybe the contamination was not all that bad! Little did we know of the CoPC’s (Contaminants 

of Potential Concern), the Dioxins, heavy metals—lead, mercury etc., pulverized concrete dust, insulation—glass fibers, Polycyclic hydrocarbon’s, we were only aware of 

asbestos. 

Our apartment overlooked the WTC, we saw the fires burn until well after February. The debris was slowly removed from the pit and spontaneously erupted from 

time to time glowing white hot. The trucks billowed WTC dust as they drove to 

north battery park to the hastily set up 24-hour barge operation, glowing red hot 

at night. The streets were covered with electricity cables protected with wooden coverings. The winter weather washed away WTC dust from the streets, but it collected 

under the wooden coverings. When finally the coverings were removed, the dust 

once again blew around our neighborhood, freshly contaminating our homes, carried 

on clothing shoes and sucked up by the HVAC units. This continues to this day as 

there are still buildings in our neighborhood that are heavily contaminated and remained open to the elements for a number of years (Deutsche bank, Fitterman hall 

etc.), others were quietly demolished. It was only after Congressman Nadler’s office 

forced the release of the multimillion dollar investigation of contamination of the 

Deutsche bank building, did we find out the true extent of what was in the debris 

cloud and how we had been deceived by the EPA. 

145 

If we had known then what we know now, we would not have returned, certainly 

not until the contamination had been cleaned up. 

Regards, 

THE HALL FAMILY, 

Craig Anthony Hall (38); Helen Mary Hall (39); 

Rhiannon Ciara Hall (10); Alexander Rhys Hall (7); 

and Ciaran Joseph Hall (3). 

MARCH 18, 2007. 

DEAR SENATORS CLINTON, KENNEDY, ENZI, and members of the HELP Committee: 

My name is Nina Lavin and presently as well as on September 11, 2001 I have resided in a building situated seven blocks directly north of the World Trade Center. 

All the windows in my apartment and two individual HVAC units directly face the 

former site. My building was built in the early 1990’s and therefore can be presumed to have been constructed free of asbestos containing materials. I was home 

on September 11 and witnessed the collapse of both towers. I closed the windows 

and the HVAC flu vents before the buildings fell because I was aware that I did 

not want the burning fuel and glass filling the sky entering my apartment. Nonetheless, enter my apartment the 9/11 dust did. As we know from particulate measurements taken by scientist Thomas Cahill (Cahill is a specialist in nano-particulate 

matter) beginning in October 2001, the collapse created particulate matter so ultra 

fine that essentially it behaved like a gaseous vapor, easily seeping indoors as does 

air. A fine, glittery dust settled all over every surface inside my apartment. Additionally, in the ensuing months I was repeatedly sickened inside the apartment by 

the noxious fumes of burning industrial materials such as office furniture and fuel 

emanating from the pile. I was nauseated and experienced burning in my eyes, 

nose, throat, and developed a painful hacking cough. 

Testing of surface dust in my apartment was first done in late 2001 by the Department of Health, which found highly elevated levels of crystalline silica, commonly found in concrete and glass, and a known cause of silicosis, cancer and a respiratory irritant. In July 2002 I privately had testing done inside my apartment for 

asbestos. Due to the extremely cost prohibitive nature of such testing, I tested for 

asbestos alone as it has regulatory standards, with the understanding that if asbestos was found, it could be fairly assumed that other WTC toxins were also present, 

including ones which could cause respiratory and other symptoms. What I found, 

as stated, was that the ultra-fine dust had wafted right through the closed windows 

and flues in my apartment. I used certified industrial hygienist Ed Olmsted, who 

was hired by EPA to test their Region 2 headquarters at 290 Broadway (cattycorner 

across the street from my building) and who headed oversight of the air monitoring 

at the Fresh Kills site in Brooklyn, where a lot of 9/11 debris was moved to. 

Olmsted found highly elevated concentrations of asbestos inside my windowsills, inside the two HVAC units, and even in dust clumps formed in the front doorway of 

my apartment which opens into an interior hallway of the building. The doorway 

finding is significant because the way the air is engineered to flow through my 

building, it means the debris entered vertically from the roof, passed down through 

the building’s 52-story central air supply duct and then passed horizontally through 

to my fifth floor hallway, through my door frame, and into my apartment (and presumably into other apartments as well.) 

By July 2002 I was diagnosed with chronic bronchitis by a leading pulmonologist 

at NYU Medical Center, a diagnosis corroborated by my primary care physician. 

With a doctor’s letter, I was finally moved out of my apartment for almost 10 

months with funding from FEMA. (I should add that even with this letter, it took 

the intervention of Congressman Nadler’s office to get FEMA to comply and relocate 

me.) By the time I was moved out I had an uncontrollable racking, painful cough 

and my sinuses and esophagus were chronically inflamed. I also developed acid 

reflux. I had none of these problems prior to September 11. 

In 2002 I had health insurance and saw a pulmonologist, ENT and gastroenterologist at NYU Medical Center, all of whom took my exposure very seriously 

and carefully examined me using state-of-the-art medical equipment. They were 

sympathetic but saw individual patients like myself only occasionally, and they 

could only examine my symptoms individually in relation to their specialty, without 

working in collaboration—consequently, the inter-relationship of the symptoms I 

was experiencing, a battery of symptoms which have since been linked to exposure 

to the dust, was not fully grasped. 

The opening of the Bellevue WTC Clinic by Dr. Riebman has made a world of difference for my treatment. These doctors are seeing enough patients with individual 

146 

variations of WTC symptoms every day that they know what to look for and are 

careful to explore the symptoms as a grouping as well as individually, which is important for treatment. Finally for the first time, 5 years later, I am receiving the 

treatment I need for sinusitis, esophagitis and acid reflux, and am beginning to experience some relief and diminishment of symptoms. It is unknown whether my 

symptoms (and those of others like myself) are here to stay, but feel certain that 

the best shot I have of being cured or at least of having these symptoms managed, 

is to continue being in the care of doctors who are experienced at evaluating and 

treating patients who suffer from similar conditions and hopefully they will make 

advances in treatment due to their growing expertise. Also a centralized treatment 

center may prove important in terms of collecting health data, so that they can 

track exposures in a consistent and statistically meaningful way. 

It is also important from a financial standpoint that treatment continues to be 

funded. Due to the nature of my employment I am currently without health insurance and without the Bellevue WTC Clinic would have gone without treatment of 

any kind. 

Senators and members of the HELP Committee, I implore you to implement longterm funding for post 9/11 health care so that all of us who need it will have a center of excellence dedicated to the treatment and study of WTC-related health effects 

to turn to in the coming years. 

Sincerely, 

NINA LAVIN. 

To: Whom It May Concern 

From: Charles Littman 

Re: 911 Health Issues of Charles, Madeline, Tara and Ryan Littman 

We live in Independence Plaza, located a few blocks from Ground Zero. 

Madeline Littman.—In March 2005, my wife, Madeline, was diagnosed with 

lung cancer. It had already spread to her brain. After a noble fight, she died in August 2005. The only possible cause of this illness it would seem was the contaminated air from 9/11. She was a non-smoker, and there was not a proper cleanup 

in our area. Several other cases of lung cancer have been documented in this area. 

Charles Littman.—Since 9/11, I have been on several respiratory medications. 

I have been diagnosed with asthma. A CAT SCAN after 9/11 showed pleural plaque, 

whereas a CAT SCAN prior to 9/11 did not show anything. I have been under the 

care of a pulmonary specialist. On 9/11, I was outside my building witnessing the 

event. There was neither a proper cleanup of the area, nor of our apartments. The 

mayor encouraged everyone to go on as normal, not considering the health effects 

of 9/11. 

My children, Tara Littman and Ryan Littman both have experienced recurring 

sinus problems, including sinus infections and have needed medical treatment. 

Again, this is related to 9/11. 

Thank you for making note of this. 

CHARLES LITTMAN AND FAMILY. 

They always say . . . if you are having this problem, then there are several more 

out there like you. The challenge has always been for me that the institutional 

memory of the events and harm done on 9/11 is short lived. So, resulting mental 

health issues, like severe depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), are 

issues that should have been solved 5 years ago . . . or so I am told . . . though 

I have no personal evidence that this is true. 

My e-mail is not for me for I get paid well and I have afforded the thousands of 

dollars of antidepressants and counseling due to PTSD. My e-mail is for the persons 

that don’t have the means I do. People that sit in their house in pain, that have 

an eroding social life, a damaged marriage, lost a job, or have turned to substance 

abuse as a result of their inability to heal with help. 

If you break a leg, you get an x ray and a cast and in a few months you may be 

healed and you can protect your leg from future damage. 

If you are struck with the debilitating pain of a mental health issue that doesn’t 

have a ‘‘home’’ in the health care system and you don’t have the means to create 

your help, then you never get the ‘‘x ray’’ you never get the ‘‘cast’’ and every time 

you read the news paper or listen to the news, society is jumping on your ‘‘broken 

leg.’’ How do you think that feels? 

My 2 cents . . . for what they are worth. 

BRYAN SUAREZ. 

147 

SENATOR CLINTON, SENATOR KENNEDY, SENATOR ENZI, and the members of the 

HELP Committee: My name is Daniel Lenahan. I have worked as a resident manager of a condominium, and lived in it, two blocks south of the World Trade Center 

site for the past 19 years. In addition to responding to the February 26, 1993 bombing wherein I rendered life saving aid to a couple on the south exit ramp, I responded to the attack on the North Tower. While my service at that moment was 

not as critical it was helpful in that I was directing traffic at the intersection of Albany & West streets directing the vehicles stranded by the flood of escaping WTC 

workers and directing those workers south on West Street. It was during that service that I noticed the blown away torso that landed at that intersection along with 

other scattered body parts. I also witnessed people falling from the North Tower. 

It was during this time that Flight 175 came in overhead just east of our position 

and impacted the South Tower. 

I immediately turned my thoughts to evacuation since the WTC might collapse 

and could fall in our direction crushing everything in its path. It was clear that my 

residents were in grave danger. I set about shutting down all building systems and 

evacuating the residents to the South Ferry Terminal with the instruction to get 

on the ferry and wait it out on Staten Island. During this time, in well known succession, the towers collapsed enveloping us. 

While residents were relocated, two members of my staff, Arnaldo Velasquez & 

Gimbel Yee, and I remained in the building until that Thursday afternoon when 

there was word that the Merrill Lynch building was on the verge of collapse. I returned that Saturday and stayed on without relief during the intervening hegira. 

The immediate task at hand was providing security and access to governmental authorities. During this time I was joined by the aforementioned individuals as well 

as David & Apolinar Liranzo, Rigoberto Lopez and Carlos Mercado. Our secondary 

task was to remediate the talcum powder fine dust that was everywhere inside the 

building as well as the facade and walks surrounding it. We did this, as instructed 

by the EPA, without protection other than ordinary workman’s dust masks. During 

this work Gimbel Yee fractured two ribs. 

In the days and weeks—out to months following, we were constantly subjected to 

the fumes of the smoldering fires that burned deep in the heap. I had a constant 

dry cough, sore throat and occasional asthma-like symptoms. While I was treated 

by my doctor at that time only time will tell what impact that has on my long-term 

health. It should be noted that the dust was impossible to completely remediate for 

well over 6 months since displaced residents slowly returned to clean out their 

apartments over this period. Each return brought up more dust. 

As you are undoubtedly aware, many of our surrounding buildings have, or had 

been, deemed contaminated by the EPA. While I am aware what work was done 

in my building it is impossible to vouch that all work was done competently and 

comprehensively. Certainly the voids behind walls and other spaces that only air 

can reach were not remediated. Given the cornucopia of toxic agents that comprised 

that powdery cloud as well as its force and its density at ground level to 300 feet— 

the answer is apparent. 

We were lied to by the government. Arguably, that lie was necessary as the lives 

of Lower Manhattan’s residents had to be balanced against the overall needs of the 

Nation, and indeed the world. As home to the financial markets, it was almost a 

no-brainer that the entire western world’s economies hung in the balance. All that 

understood, it is incumbent on those very economies and governments for which we 

were held as sacrificial lambs, to pay the debt for their continued health and existence. 

At a minimum, comprehensive funding for medical research and comprehensive 

lifelong medical & mental health treatment approach acknowledgement of that debt. 

It is within your hands whether or not this happens. If it doesn’t, you will have 

condemned this country to a cynicism that will hamstring us all when future tragedy strikes or a need arises. 

Do the right thing. 

Respectfully, 

DANIEL LENAHAN. 

Hon. HILLARY RODHAM-CLINTON, 

Hon. EDWARD M. KENNEDY, 

Hon. MICHAEL B. ENZI. 

Re: Post 9/11 Health Concerns 

Senators, I would like to point to a potential problem related to post-9/11 environmental and health issues that seems to have received little attention. I have two 

148 

sons, one, Conner, who was just over 1-year old at 9/11 and another, Calvin, who 

was born 1 month after 9/11. 

When Conner was 18-months old, he was diagnosed autistic and has been in special services since. Calvin was also speech delayed and required early intervention. 

I have also noted that there are a number of boys in our building of the same age 

as Conner and Calvin who have also exhibited signs of developmental delay or abnormality. I do not know if it can be called a ‘‘cluster’’ but it seems to be an abnormally high concentration. 

Of special concern is that our Lower Manhattan cooperative, Chatham Green, 

which is located only a few blocks from Ground Zero on Park Row, was in the midst 

of a window replacement project when the planes hit. Unbelievably, the building 

continued with the window project as the fires continued to burn and the plume 

hung over our neighborhood for many days. 

Given the unknown quantity of heavy metals and other neurotoxic substances in 

the air and given the known neurological effects of heavy metals on children, I believe that the Senate should look into this aspect of the environmental impact of 

the fallout from the fires and the collapse of the two towers. It is critical that a longterm monitoring program be established so that any trends in emergent health impacts will be recognized and intervened in. 

Thank you, 

DANNY CHEN. 

DEAR SENATOR CLINTON: I want to thank you for all your hard work on behalf 

of the survivors and first responders of the attack on the World Trade Center. 

Back in 2001, I was an executive assistant at Standard & Poor’s at the Mellon 

Bank Building at 55 Water Street and I used to commute from 187th Street via the 

A train. On 9/11, I was at the corner of Fulton and Nassau Streets when the planes 

hit. After I realized that we were under attack, I went to my office but security 

wouldn’t let me in the building—figuring that I would have to walk home, I proceeded to walk north on Water Street. Since I got to the corner of Fulton and Water 

Streets, the South Tower collapsed and I was covered in dust in seconds. We were 

out of work for 10 days and I was treated for minor respiratory problems for a short 

time. Since the area was deemed ‘‘safe’’ again, we were allowed to go back to work 

but, as you know, the site burned for months. Since 9/11, I have been under treatment for PTSD and I have gained 90 pounds. Before 9/11, I would get an occasional 

sinus headache but I would take a Tylenol Sinus and it would go away in an hour. 

Now, I have persistent sinus headaches that last for days and I developed a ‘‘morning smoker’s cough’’ even though I have never smoked. I have thick mucus in my 

sinuses and my throat that sometimes impairs my ability to sleep (at the risk of 

sounding disgusting, the mucus is thick and yellow and sticky). My doctor keeps 

telling me that it’s allergies but I know my body—I get seasonal allergies in the 

spring but the symptoms are not like the ones that I’ve been experiencing since 

9/11/01—this is different and it’s progressive. Lately, I have been getting more head 

colds than I normally do; I’ve had two in as many months and that’s unusual for 

me—I usually get sick two or three times a year. The amount of colds I get has 

increased in the 6 years since 9/11. Economically, I am ruined. On 9/11, I was making over 60K a year as an executive assistant. Between my ex-husband and I, we 

were doing quite well financially. 

As a result of 9/11, my marriage broke up and my income has steadily declined 

because of my PTSD. I have had trouble holding a job and I am currently working 

as a legal assistant in Scranton, PA for $10 an hour. I marvel at how much my life 

has changed as a result of that 1 day in September. Not only does something need 

to be done to help the first responders, the clean-up crew, and the survivors who 

were in the WTC but people like me need to be included as well. I’ve only got $400 

of prescription reimbursement money left in the Red Cross 9/11 Recovery Fund— 

after that money is exhausted, I don’t know how I’m going to afford my Lexapro. 

The copay is $50 and that’s quite a bit of money when you’re raising a child on $10 

an hour. Obviously, there are no easy answers for this situation. My goal in sharing 

my story is to prevent others from having to endure what we have endured and will 

continue to endure. If sharing my story can save a future life then I will share as 

long as someone is willing to listen. 

If you have any questions or if you need any further information, please do not 

hesitate to contact me. 

Sincerely, 

DEBORAH GEARY-AKS. 

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I live in Independence Plaza, an apartment complex located about six blocks from 

Ground Zero. For several months after 9/11 I had a severe and persistent cough and 

an irritated throat. When I’d go to the subway station near City Hall, the odor from 

the fumes made me nauseated. On several occasions I almost threw up on my way 

to work. When I’d go to and from work, I wore one of those ineffective paper masks 

long after other people stopped wearing theirs. I had not gotten a medical check up 

because just going about my daily routine left me exhausted. What stopped my 

symptoms from getting worse was the fact that in May 2002 I had a family emergency that forced me to leave New York for several weeks and allowed my lungs 

to clear out somewhat. 

No research had been conducted on those of us who lived, worked and/or went 

to school around the area, exposed to indoor and outdoor debris from the disaster. 

There should be longitudinal studies and a long-term monitoring program of exposed people, to uncover both the short-term and long-term effects of the exposure 

to the toxic soup of chemicals we’ve been exposed to. 

Sincerely, 

DIANE STEIN. 

MARCH 20, 2007. 

DEAR SENATORS CLINTON, KENNEDY and ENZI: My son Kevin was a student at 

Stuyvesant High School on 9/11, blocks from the World Trade Center. The NYC Department of Education said the air was fine and said new filters had been put into 

the ventilation system, providing the school with 39 percent protection just a few 

days AFTER 9/11. 

As soon as my son, Kevin, returned to Stuyvesant High School, he kept clearing 

his throat, blowing his nose all day long. He had nosebleeds and upper respiratory 

problems. It was especially noticeable when he was reading, e-mailing on the computer, or eating his meals. 

For several months, the Parents’ Association requested the upgrading of the air 

filtration system with charcoal and HEPA filters (ones with the highest efficiency 

possible) be used in all ventilation systems. Stuyvesant’s inadequate ventilation system could not block out asbestos and other toxic dust from Ground Zero. In fact, 

it was later determined that The Department of Ed promised, but did not clean the 

ventilation system, (until 2 years later and under pressure from a group of active 

parents within the Parents Association, calling themselves Concerned Parents) especially the miles of ductwork in the school. 

Another danger was the environmental hazards caused by the barge operation 

where the WTC debris was dumped several times daily. Large trucks, sometimes 

idled for hours, emitting toxic diesel fumes and soot. This barge was just 50 feet 

to the North of the school, right under the window of the school gym! 

I gave my son an herbal supplement to clear the irritation to his throat, lung and 

nasal passages. This worked for about 3 weeks, the cycle began again. He kept 

clearing his throat, nasal passages, blowing his nose and the blood flowed profusely 

at times from the nosebleeds. 

The eye doctor had said his contact lenses were coated with ‘‘protein’’ deposits and 

Kevin had to constantly wear a new pair or his eyes would burn. He finally had 

to stop wearing lenses altogether due to the irritation. 

When we went on vacation and were away from downtown Manhattan, his symptoms improved dramatically. He would blow his nose and clear his nose less. As 

soon as he returned home from school the first day, the symptoms would all begin 

again! 

ELIZABETH LEE, 

Parent of Freshman at Stuyvesant High School on 9/11/01. 

DEAR SENATORS: Hello. My name is Esther Regelson and I live three blocks south 

of the World Trade Center site. I was in the dust cloud on September 11, and moved 

back into my apartment 5 months after being displaced. Even after moving back, 

there were many reservoirs of toxic dust from 9/11 that permeated my neighborhood 

and my home. Many of our surrounding buildings had been deemed contaminated 

by the EPA. To this day I am not certain of the degree to which my apartment and 

the rest of my building have been cleaned. I worry about the dust in my 

windowsills, behind my heater, and in the air ducts. 

Although I had a pre-existing asthma condition, my asthma worsened after 9/11. 

Subsequent tests at the Bellevue WTC Clinic showed that my lung capacity was 

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only 43 percent of normal. During this time I also suffered from severe acid reflux. 

In September 2003 I developed Graves disease, a hyperthyroid condition for which 

I must take a pill every day for the rest of my life. I am now on 5 medications for 

my ailments. I am very fortunate to be getting thorough treatment at Bellevue from 

doctors specially trained in recognizing and treating WTC illnesses. However, my 

condition cannot be cured. Unless the Federal Government is willing to fund WTCrelated health care for residents, I will one day cease to get help from Bellevue. 

The events of 9/11 have made me a victim of a crime. Now my health is suffering. 

I ask the government to support those of us who are suffering from this tragic 

event. 

MARCH 20, 2007. 

DEAR REPRESENTATIVE: I’m Irene Horvath, and I have been living at this address 

for the past 31 years. This area is Zone 2, in line of the WTC, towards the East 

River. 

My health problems at first were breathing difficulties from the very beginning 

and for quite a few months I had this taste that I swallowed gasoline that created 

bronchial irritation and an upset stomach. Later, I became chemically sensitive to 

the most ordinary smells, odors, cleaning products, perfumes, etc. Exposure to these 

would cause coughing spells or shortness of breath. That burning jet fuel was overwhelming. 

I remember that during the cleanup, late at night, the flatbed trucks moved the 

metal remains of the WTC on Water St. I would be sitting on the sofa, and suddenly 

had difficulty catching my breath. I also had skin irritation, itchiness and some lesions. In the winter, I would have double/triple bronchitis, something I never had 

before. 

I continued to investigate my options for cure to all of these conditions, and a visit 

to a lung specialist and the following tests revealed that I have pulverized glass on 

my lungs. From time-to-time I have this sensation that I cannot catch my next 

breath. A more recent test indicates the beginning of emphysema in both layers of 

the lung traversing both sides of the lungs. Asbestos, at this stage, is too early to 

test for. 

I have edema in my limbs, and doctors are not sure if its lymph edema or some 

side effect of heavy metal or other never heard of particles that are causing this condition that keeps getting worst. A full panel of heavy-metal testing is not available 

to the general public, neither is detoxification. 

Just to show you how difficult some issues can be, here is an example. I went 

to Mt. Sinai to deal with breathing problems, and I was diagnosed with asthma, and 

was suggested to go on inhalants. Later, the glass infiltrates in my lungs discredited 

this diagnosis—asthma, I don’t have. 

The long-lingering general-health hazard in this area have affected me physically, 

emotionally and financially. I make every effort to participate in improving my 

health, and I am most hopeful that some attention is given to this long-neglected 

problem. 

Thank you, 

IRENE HORVATH. 

Within 3 weeks of being caught in the toxic dust cloud, my husband, Rich Regis, 

succumbed to an autoimmune attack, which started with a skin rash and led to kidney failure, shock liver, bowel perforations, sepsis and life support by early November. The attack (the media labeled it an allergic reaction) ended after doctors opened 

him up twice, vacuumed him out, replaced his blood, dialyzed his kidneys and resectioned his intestines three times. Five years later they would have to replace 

both of his hips because of the powerful medicines used to cool the HenochSchoenlein they believe was triggered by the toxic cloud. 

His claim was denied despite letters from five doctors on his behalf. At the time, 

our advocate at the Red Cross (the late Peter Cann) told me there were at least 

600 cases in the same position as my husband. The September 11 Victim Compensation Fund simply rejected all of them because they were not hospitalized within 72 

hours. 

Connecting the dots is never easy. My husband could have been laid low by hydrocarbons, the antigens released by burning bodies or another poison but the culprit 

could have just as easily been the freshly fractured silica that made up most of the 

dust cloud. 

151 

The health effects of silica, (which can take form of sand, concrete, glass, wall 

board, rock, asbestos, computer innards) are well documented by the government 

and industry. You can read all about it on the Web site of U.S. Silica Co. I have 

provided the links. http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/02-129A.html, http://www.cdc.gov/ 

niosh/02-129I.html# threesix. 

Health effects include autoimmune disease, renal failure, emphysema, asthma, 

and lung cancer, to name a few. The problem with silica is that it is inert. You cannot test for it. It only shows up in autopsies, like the glass found in one late responder’s lungs. 

My husband is lucky. For now, he is back at work because he was properly diagnosed and got the right treatment. Who knows what lies ahead? It is time to recognize all the different ways the toxic 9/11 cloud sickened people so that the entire 

medical community will be better prepared to treat victims of the next catastrophe. 

JANET BRANDSTRADER REGIS. 

MARCH 16, 2007. 

SENATOR HILLARY CLINTON: I am a World Trade Center survivor from the 92nd 

floor of the south tower. I evacuated via the stairwell but left the stairwell at the 

76th floor when the building was hit. Orange beams came out of the walls with the 

ceiling and debris coming down on us. That is when I feel I inhaled the most. I had 

smoke inhalation, and injuries to my right knee, left leg trauma lymphedema requiring supportive therapy. 

I have been diagnosed with a World Trade Center-induced bronchial asthma 

and chronic irritative bronchitis. Currently I am on three medications regularly, 

however my pulmonary function tests have become significantly worse in the 

last 2 years for which aggressive medications have been given for acute episodes. 

Prior to September 11, I was an avid hiker and distant swimmer taking pride in 

my health. Today I am living with the worries and concerns about a change in my 

pulmonary function test, and an unknown future based on what I inhaled. 

My life has changed with the fatigue of a chronic cough, difficulty breathing, and 

the diminished activity due to my chronic asthma/bronchitis, and difficulty with my 

leg. This impacts the quality of my activities of daily living. 

Five-and-a-half years later, I still require long-term physical and mental support. 

I hope the U.S. Government does the right thing to continue monitoring the exposures and treating those effected by September 11, 2001. 

Sincerely, 

KATHLEEN A. STANTON. 

My name is Linda Belfer. I have been a resident of Gateway Plaza in Battery 

Park City, which is directly across the street from Ground Zero, for the past 24 

years. Some of the windows in my apartment overlooked the World Trade Center 

and I was in the apartment on 9/11/01. 

I witnessed the destruction of the buildings and was blasted in the face with debris as the buildings came down. My apartment was coated with inches of WTC 

dust as the windows were open on a beautiful day. I was evacuated from my apartment and did not return to live about 4 months—although I visited the apartment 

a number of times in the aftermath of 9/11, I didn’t return to live until January 

2002. Since then I have had a number of health problems that I did not suffer before 9/11 including a kidney problem that put me in the hospital for 3 months and 

innumerable upper respiratory infections (including bronchitis, sinuses, colds, shortness of breath) and multiple pulmonary emboli (blood clots). 

The Deutsche Bank Building still stands across the street from my home and my 

apartment is always full of dust. I am concerned that the dust is still contaminated. 

To date, residents have all but been ignored in any federally funded project, except for the WTC HR which does not provide medical monitoring or treatment. Our 

lives are as valuable as any others and we were induced to come back to an area 

that may, in fact, be continuing to put our lives in jeopardy. 

MARCH 20, 2007. 

SENATOR CLINTON, SENATOR KENNEDY and SENATOR ENZI, my name is Linda and 

I am a parent of a former Stuyvesant High School Student (2001–2005). Stuy HS 

is three blocks away from the former WTC site. Stuy is not a neighborhood school 

and students of Stuy came from five boroughs, some with a 2-hour commute each 

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way. I live in Queens within 1 hour from Stuy. My daughter was a freshman at 

Stuy in September 2001. After both towers fell, she and all the students were evacuated in the WTC dust cloud. 

The Stuy students stayed 1 month at a HS in Brooklyn (Brooklyn Tech) and came 

back to Stuy when told the school was cleaned and safe and the outside air was 

safe also. The students and parents were also told the barge right outside the HS 

where the WTC debris and contaminants were unloaded posed no threat to the students’ health. 

Two weeks after my daughter went back to Stuy, she suffered from severe asthma, and she was dependent on the bronchial dilator, steroids and nose spray to keep 

her going. She also had frequent headaches and bronchitis. Before 9/11, this same 

child usually had no respiratory problems and maybe one cold per year. 

Throughout the first year and a half, I noticed a pattern that her asthma was 

milder on Monday, Tuesday and got more severe as the week progressed, and was 

worst on Friday. She got much better on weekends and spring break. 

Some people suggested that her situation was due to stress of attending HS. My 

response is why her asthma didn’t surface at Brooklyn Tech and happened 2 weeks 

after she went back to Stuy. 

Some people may say this is all anecdotal. But my daughter was not the only one! 

I looked at the survey sent out by the Parents’ Association, of the 450 respondents 

to the survey sent to 3,000 students, many of them indicated they had new onset 

of asthma, or their childhood asthma which was dormant for a long time had suddenly flared up; they had unexplained nose bleeding, headaches, chemical bronchitis, sinus problems and coughing. 

I lived through the scary period where my child told me she could not breathe. 

Five years later, rather than needing to be on medication 24/7, my child’s asthma 

situation is much better. She has an asthma attack only a few times a year and 

headaches twice a month. She walks around with her bronchial dilator, and she 

knows her systems are sensitized and she has limitations—things she should avoid 

exposure to. 

As a mother, I want to know what is the long-term effect of my child being exposed to the unsafe air while attending Stuy HS, especially when she was only 14 

in 2001, and how might it affect her for the rest of her life? 

What can I do to keep her healthy? What can we do to keep her and many others 

students like her healthy? All those students at Stuy, the Borough of Manhattan 

Community College, and other schools that were affected. 

We need a treatment program from doctors with the right expertise and we need 

a long-term monitoring program of kids who were exposed. We need to help these 

kids! 

LINDA L. 

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: This letter is intended to briefly recount our experience, as residents of the Financial District in Lower Manhattan, of the attacks and 

aftermath of 9/11. 

My wife, Elisa, and I have lived in our home at 20 Beaver Street for 27 years. 

We were at the World Trade Center’s North Tower at the initial moment of attack 

on September 11, 2001. I was waiting outside with our dogs for Elisa to return from 

shopping in the mall when the loud approach of an aircraft caused me to look skyward, expecting to see a plane fly low overhead. Nothing prepared me for the shock 

of seeing the aircraft plunge into the building instead. I couldn’t know then that this 

was the beginning of the most terrifying period of our lives. 

We stayed, sheltering, in the alcove until the second plane struck and it became 

obvious we couldn’t stay there any longer; we had to move. We took the most circuitous route possible to get back home, taking us east and then south through the 

crowds, out of fear of the towers toppling over. By the time we reached our home 

both towers had fallen and our apartment was filled with the same dust we were 

covered in. 

By some miracle, we still had water and power in our place, and the next weeks 

were spent cleaning our apartment, trying to maintain contact with friends in the 

area, and attempting to learn from the few resources available exactly what was 

going on. As all local radio and television transmission had ended with the Tower’s 

collapse, and all distribution of newspapers had ended, we had, essentially, been isolated from the outside world. What little news filtered in on faint radio signals told 

us that the air was safe to breath, that the debris from the towers posed no threat. 

This condition of suspended life continued for weeks and worsened, as the fires 

beneath the Trade Center burned on and on, spewing out a toxic, choking cloud the 

likes of which, we now know, is unprecedented. This cloud flowed directly over our 

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neighborhood for it’s entire duration. During this time, we attempted to carry on 

our normal lives, walking our dogs and so forth, and so we exposed ourselves to the 

toxins constantly. 

As the weeks of burning turned into months, my wife began exhibiting what was 

soon diagnosed as World Trade Center cough, which she still has. She also finds 

it impossible to regulate her body temperature, chilling and burning alternately and 

unpredictably; a common symptom of chemical poisoning. Additionally, she has 

floating shooting pains and dizziness. I am rather less affected, but also experience 

shooting pains and dizziness. Neither of us has ever smoked. 

We were among many who were not evacuated (no attempt was made), and who 

did not have an alternate residence to go to. We were here for the entire horrible 

experience and were told there was nothing to worry about. 

I am a musician and my wife, an artist, and as such we did not have (and do 

not have) health insurance. Affordable health insurance is simply not available. 

Likewise, the vast majority of those who stayed in Lower Manhattan following the 

attack, are musicians and artists, the area’s oldest residents, having lived here decades before Battery Park City even existed. We are, generally speaking, without access to health care. 

Local hospitals have balked at performing any meaningful tests of our condition, 

refusing to test for metals and other toxins. Our landlord, like many others, never 

cleaned our building. 

We respectfully urge that legislation be passed to address the health issues of 

ALL those affected by the events of 9/11, First-Responders and residents. This is 

absolutely necessary in light of the fact that all relevant information dispensed by 

the government (at all levels) described a ‘‘safe’’ environment, which encouraged 

people to stay, immersed in a toxic stew of unprecedented proportions. 

Regards, 

MICHAEL DAWE. 

DEAR SENATOR CLINTON, SENATOR KENNEDY, SENATOR ENZI, and the members of 

the HELP Committee: 9/11 was very devastating. Everyone assured us that we were 

ok. We could live downtown. In fact, where I live, four blocks east of the WTC, no 

one came to inform us that we had to get out. That was left to the people living 

west of Broadway. No one told us how to clean our dusty apartments until 2 weeks 

later. Everything was after the fact. 

My son, who was five at the time developed a hacking cough at night before going 

to bed. Two months later we entered the Emergency Room where I was informed 

that he had respiratory distress. I inquired if it was asthma but was informed that 

it was not because he had never been diagnosed with asthma. As the months went 

by, these episodes did not stop. I went to a pulmonary specialist who diagnosed him 

with asthma. She stated she could not relate it to 9/11 because there was no sufficient proof. 

Proof ! What more proof than to know that your child was not asthmatic until 

those buildings came down? What more proof than to say: ‘‘I lived down there and 

no one informed us how to clean; no one evacuated the people living in Southbridge 

Towers; that he developed one of these severe asthma attacks walking to school (on 

the day the school returned to their original site), and the site continued to burn; 

that none of my family smokes!’’ Proof is what the government wants when they 

know they committed a mistake. 

All I want is help for them in the future. We do not know what is going to happen 

to our children. We already know the fireman and first responders are becoming ill. 

I thank God that although I was there at the site the following morning for just 

a couple of hours, I did not get ill. But I worry about the future. Right now all the 

studies conducted are for adults, everyone seems to be abandoning our children. I 

worry that one day we will wake up and we will have another Chernobyl Case. 

Sincerely, 

ALICIA SCHWARTZ. 

MARCH 19, 2007. 

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: I am a resident of downtown New York, living only 

several hundred feet (approx. 700) from The World Trade Center. I was at home 

during the attack on 9/11/01 and did not escape (along with several other residents) 

until after the collapse of the South Tower. We were caught in the dust clouds for 

a considerable amount of time, our building was saturated with dust and debris inside and out, and we were continually exposed to the toxic atmosphere on our freVerDate Aug 31 2005 16:08 Jul 30, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00157 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 S:\DOCS\34458.TXT SLABOR1 PsN: DENISE
154 

quent trips home to retrieve valuables, etc. In my case, I also worked only a block 

away from the ‘‘pile’’ and was also consistently exposed to smoke and fumes from 

the fires that burned for months. We were finally allowed to resume living in our 

homes several months later and found our building had not been adequately 

cleaned. In our case specifically, our cleanup consisted of just one man, the superintendent, shoveling piles of dust and debris. No one involved with any cleaning of 

our building (including the various ‘‘cleaning specialists’’ privately hired by tenants) 

had any ability to properly and safely clean and decontaminate the toxins proven 

to exist after 9/11. 

We remain convinced we are not the only building improperly cleaned and that 

there are still many pockets of toxic dust in the surrounding buildings that we continue to be exposed to. I currently suffer from the following: chronic headaches, persistent sinusitis, upper respiratory irritation/bronchitis, frequent nosebleeds and 

acid reflux. In the recent past, I have also had severe dizzy spells, facial/eye twitches, and unexplained rashes. I have NEVER had any of these symptoms BEFORE 

9/11 and am currently on the waiting list for the Bellevue Hospital WTC clinic. 

There are very few health resources for residents and without Federal help we will 

continue to suffer ill and worsening health. I believe the government needs to stand 

up for its citizens and protect them from further harm as victims of a crime. 

Sincerely, 

NANCY KEEGAN. 

Hello, my name is Richard Pecorella. I lost my fiance ́e, Karen Juday, at the WTC 

101st floor Cantor Fitzgerald on 9/11. 

From that day forward I was at Ground Zero approximately 3 weeks including 

October 28, 2001 which was the first large memorial service given by the city. I was 

at the site numerous times as it was still burning. The stench was horrendous. I 

was there on my own the first 2 days showing missing person pictures to anyone 

who would look. Then the second week of 9/18 Mayor Giuliani was bringing family 

members by boat from the pier on 58th St. to show us the devastation. We walked 

through the ruins while it was still burning all with no masks or protection. We 

were given teddy bears and flowers to lay down. I would walk as close as I could 

get everyday hoping for a miracle. Since then I developed a cough. The following 

year 2002 I came down with severe bronchitis. I had several bouts throughout 2002 

and 2003. Then in 2005 I developed a severe case of pneumonia, all the time never 

connecting it to Ground Zero. The end of 2006 one night at 2 a.m. I couldn’t catch 

my breath. I was gasping while I called 911 and was taken to the hospital. I was 

treated and given a battery of tests when it was determined that I had COPD. I 

now am on Oxygen 24-hours a day and my life has once again changed dramatically. 

I refuse to give up working so I have bought equipment that allows me the freedom 

to move about, however my insurance would not pay for it. I truly believe that my 

exposure to Ground Zero without the proper protection is the reason for my illness. 

I am sorry to say that many, many more people will be getting sick down the road. 

Just the memorial service on October 28, 2001 there were over 10,000 men, women, 

and children! We were all put at risk that day and we were all lied to! There cannot 

be a timeframe set on what has to be done. This is only the beginning of the tragedy. Please get the help that is needed. We have paid enough with the losses of 

lives. 

Angry and afraid for my children, 

RICHARD A. PECORELLA, 

Fiance ́e/Domestic Partner of Karen Juday, 

Murdered 911, WTC 101st Floor, Cantor Fitzgerald. 

DEAR SENATORS: My name is Rosalie Joseph and I live one block west of the 

World Trade Center site. I was in the dust cloud on September 11, and moved back 

into my apartment 5 months after being displaced. Even after moving back there 

were many reservoirs of toxic dust from 9/11 that permeated my neighborhood and 

my home. To this day I am not certain of the degree to which my apartment and 

the rest of my building have been cleaned. I worry about the dust in my 

windowsills, behind my heater, and in the air ducts. 

As residents we have been the forgotten people in this nightmare and we need 

our government to deal with the health issues we may suffer after being exposed 

to 9/11 toxins. We are asking for funding, for research, and long-term monitoring 

and treatment programs where required. We want this to be co-coordinated by the 

current centers of excellence that is Bellevue and Mount Sinai hospitals. Since the 

Mayor at the time insisted that buildings in my community re-open as soon as posVerDate Aug 31 2005 16:08 Jul 30, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00158 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 S:\DOCS\34458.TXT SLABOR1 PsN: DENISE
155 

sible, even before they were deemed safe, I and many of my neighbors and business 

owners have had health problems we did not have before. 

The events of 9/11 have made me a victim of a crime. Now my health is suffering. 

I ask the government to support those of us who are suffering from this tragic 

event. 

Yours faithfully, 

ROSALIE JOSEPH. 

I live at Independence Plaza North, about 6 blocks north of WTC and on Harrison 

Street, where the barges containing the ruble from WTC were loaded. For more 

than 6 months the trucks hauling the debris from WTC came, uncovered up West 

Street and turned around after dumping their cargo to go back to the site. This 

went on 24-hours a day for months on end. The dust spewing from the trucks permeated the air around our neighborhood. Not one soul living here escaped breathing 

this deadly airborne cocktail. Indeed many of us would not have returned had not 

the EPA declared the air safe. My family and I fled to our friends in Virginia and 

would have stayed there had we not been assured by Whitman that the air was safe 

to breathe. Despite NYC’s efforts to wash the streets several times per day, this 

dust permeated our homes, autos, walkways and almost every facet of our lives. 

My mother and father-in-law live in Southbridge Towers on Fulton Street in Manhattan. They are or were four or five blocks due west of the WTC site. The prevailing winds on 9/11 directed everything straight into there development. We 

begged them to leave with us but as they were in their late seventies at the time, 

they felt that the trip would be too tiring for them. Within 18 months of 9/11 my 

father-in-law was on oxygen 24-hours per day, having developed COPD. By 9/11/05 

he was dead. It is hard to believe that to just be coincidence as he was fine just 

before 

9/11/01. Again, the problem was exacerbated by this government’s assurances that 

the air was safe. By the time we were told the truth we had already been over exposed and future problems from the WTC site eliminated. 

As an observation, I would like to include one more note. In the 2 days before 

my wife, children and I fled the city, I made numerous trips to my in-laws, stocking 

them up with radios, a cell phone, a portable TV, gallons of bottled water, food, a 

dry ice cooler and batteries. The trip was made by foot across the island on Chambers Street to City Hall and then down Beekman Street to Gold Street. On this trip 

for those 2 days I observed police and National Guard Troops on every single corner, 

most of whom had no inhalant protection and no eye wear protection. This was during the time that the WTC site was still burning profusely and spewing huge 

amounts of smoke and dust. The work glasses that I was wearing were plastic and 

just from rubbing the dust out of the way to see, the lenses were scratched beyond 

usefulness before the 2 days was over. The masks that I wore were worthless after 

one round trip as they became clogged with debris. With the few exceptions of the 

kids who had and used gas masks, every one of those young people were exposed 

to death. Maybe not immediately but if asbestos kills, those kids will be dead because of it. 

STEVEN VORILLAS. 

DEAR SENATOR CLINTON: I would like to add my name to the many people who 

live and work in Lower Manhattan that now suffer from different illnesses since 9/ 

11 and more specifically, from bronchial asthma. 

I work at 74 Warren Street at the Church Street School for Music and Art, four 

blocks from Ground Zero. Before 9/11, I did not have asthma, nor was it in my family. Now, with every cold, every sinus infection, every cold day, I suffer with breathing problems. This is my greatest fear: feeling like I can’t get enough breath, feeling 

like I am suffocating. 

In addition, my son now suffers from allergies and asthma attacks that send him 

to the doctor’s office for treatment with a nebulizer, and necessitate that he carry 

albuterol around in his backpack for attacks that catch him off guard. 

It pains me to see that our government is choosing to act as if this is not happening, and that Ground Zero workers, volunteers, and people that stayed in the 

area to help restore the neighborhood are continuing to suffer without any acknowledgement of their health impacts. 

156 

There are many of us who feel helpless and are suffering without knowing that 

there are ears to hear us. I, for one, will let people I know who suffer with health 

effects that they should write to you. 

Thank you for the opportunity to have my voice be heard. 

SUSAN DUNCAN. 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF THOMAS S. GOODKIND

THE LONG-TERM HEALTH IMPACTS FROM SEPTEMBER 11: A REVIEW OF TREATMENT, 

DIAGNOSIS, AND MONITORING EFFORTS

INTRODUCTION—9/11—THERE WAS NO GOVERNMENT GUIDANCE FOR

EFFECTED RESIDENTS

Thank you to Chairman Kennedy, Ranking Member Enzi, and the committee 

members for this opportunity to participate in today’s hearings on the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee’s meeting on the long-term health impacts 

from September 11. 

I greatly support your efforts to review the health impacts of 9/11, especially on 

those who live in the area. As our government, I ask you for guidance and leadership in helping those of us who lived through 9/11 and came back to support our 

neighborhood. 

My family and I have lived blocks from the World Trade Center Site since 1989. 

At the time of the attack, I was at work at 26 Broadway, approximately five blocks 

south of the World Trade Center, my two daughters were at PS/IS 89, approximately two blocks north of the Center. My wife, after dropping my children off at 

the school was on her way to the subway in the World Trade Center. 

When the buildings collapsed, the cloud of debris surrounded all of us. The debris 

entered our living space through our open windows at 375 South End Avenue, my 

work space at 26 Broadway, and my children’s school at 201 Warren Street. We 

breathed in the debris as it clung to our bodies and clothing as we ran for our lives 

out of the area that day. 

And the ensuing fire, filling our neighborhood with the awful smoke from the Site 

for months, filled our home, my workplace and our lungs for many months to come. 

We needed guidance. In Florida, when there is a hurricane, the government 

guides its citizens to shelter. There was no such guidance on 9/11 for those thousands of displaced residents. After 9/11, my family and I lived wherever we could. 

In 1 week, we moved five times. There was no government guidance as to where 

we might find shelter, as the NYC hotels were all booked. After a month of traveling 

from place to place, the four of us finally settled into a studio apartment a few miles 

from our home due to the good will of a friend who was out of town. Our neighborhood was shattered. There is a difficult story for every one of my neighbors. Our 

public schools would not be available again until mid-winter—they were being used 

by our government to manage WTC cleanup. We had to find time to bring our children to other schools while trying to keep our focus on our jobs. 

We were four of the many thousands of residents displaced on 9/11. My question 

was always: ‘‘Where do we live?’’ Without any government recognition of the displaced residents, we were on our own. We were not asking for money: we were asking for guidance. 

I returned to our home daily to try to collect needed belongings for my family to 

live. Military blocks made this nearly impossible as we—displaced residents—were 

often told that our journey home was not allowed because streets nearby were restricted to ‘‘family’’ members only. These were the families of those who were 

searching for loved ones. With many of our children in strollers, we were turned 

back to walk the many miles home to wherever we were staying. There was no public transportation to and from our apartments—and there were no cars allowed for 

miles. 

There was one guideline: we were told how to damp clean our apartments. With 

this assistance, a week after 9/11, I cleaned my apartment of 9/11 debris, sweeping 

the dust into a pile in my apartment (my apartment was filled with 1 inch of dust 

as the windows were open) and damp cloth cleaning. We had no electricity, no running water, and no phone lines. Then the owners of our apartment building told us 

that I could sign up for a cleaning service, and I did. This required keeping my front 

door unlocked—something I was cautious of, as many of my neighbors had had robberies where all of their valuables were stolen—even their children’s toys—during 

the first few weeks after 9/11. I don’t know whether or not these cleaning services 

157 

were conducted with any kind of professional guidelines. All debris was left in the 

hallways, which smelled. The entire neighborhood smelled for months—a rotten egg 

type of smell. 

In late November, our family was told by the owners of our rental apartment at 

375 South End, that we could return, and we did. The air was still foul. One family 

visiting our apartment from Connecticut immediately turned back to Connecticut 

when their son experienced his first asthma attack in years when entering our area. 

Our skies were often grey with smoke. My then 5-year-old daughter called me at 

work to tell me that it was snowing. I told her that it wasn’t snow, but ashes falling, 

and that she should only play inside. By mid-January, the schools reopened, which 

was about the time our phones came back as well. There was a school Web site parents could view which monitored testing of the school’s air. It appeared to indicate 

nothing irregular. 

My family and I returned home in late November. I was placed on our local Community Board 1 by our Manhattan Borough President in 2003. 

OUR CURRENT HEALTH—MARCH 2006

Similarly, there appears to be no guidance from our government over the continued health of our effected 9/11 residential community. 

I am 53-years old, eat well, exercise, and never experienced any feelings of ill 

health in the years before 9/11 when I lived near the World Trade Center. 

Since 9/11, in the summer of 2004, and again in the summer of 2005, I contracted 

double pneumonia. In late September 2005, my heart stopped while I was on a subway home from uptown, and I was given a pacemaker. And last month, I was informed I have a nodule on my vocal cords that will restrict my speech. I am a 

Grammy nominated singer, and was hoping to continue my career upon my retirement. My doctor at Cornell University feels that the pneumonia and the vocal cord 

ailment could be 9/1l-related, but not definitively, as there have been no 9/11 studies 

he can refer to. 

In 2004, as the anniversary of the attack was approaching, I found myself lying 

in bed with this case of double pneumonia. The diagnosis had surprised my doctor 

because I’d never had serious chest ailments before. ‘‘Look,’’ I said to my wife as 

I turned on the television in our Battery Park City apartment. ‘‘It’s Christie Whitman at the Republican Convention!’’ Was this a cough-medicine induced hallucination or was it indeed the former head of the Environmental Protection Agency, 

who had assured us in the days following 9/11 that the smoke-filled air of Lower 

Manhattan was safe to breathe? We wondered whether it was really OK for our 

young children as they slept at night across from the fires that burned for months 

at Ground Zero. Were the thick noxious clouds nothing to worry about? My wife assured me that Whitman was not a vision brought on by my reduced lung capacity. 

I believe that, if it weren’t for 9/11, I would be in good health. I am not in good 

health. I have not been able to walk up a set of stairs without feeling winded. I 

can no longer participate in sports with my children. 

My wife constantly complains of acid reflux and has also not been well since 

9/11. 

My daughters appear well but at least my younger daughter, still surrounded by 

children living in our area is noticing health problems. 

In October 2005, my younger daughter asked me for an inhaler. 

‘‘All the other girls have them,’’ she commented. Alarmed, I took the register book 

of PS89 4th graders in her class and asked her to circle the students in her class 

of 24 children that used inhalers—there were 8 of 24 or 1⁄3. I asked my daughter, 

‘‘prior to 9/11, did any children use inhalers?’’ She said that only one did. To my 

knowledge, no one is even monitoring our children. 

The ventilation system in our apartments have never been cleaned of 9/11 debris. 

Our building was covered in 9/11 debris, and much of it obviously wound up in the 

central ventilation system. Even though our apartments might be free of debris, we 

could be re-contaminated through our vents which tend to back up and blow air out 

into our apartments and into our hallways. 

When a visiting doctor from an east side health clinic came to our Community 

Board to discuss 9/11 health effects, she asked if we had been experiencing anything. I was shocked when I found that many neighbors, my own age, had also had 

double pneumonia. Many of us on the Board appear to have illnesses that could be 

9/11-related. 

No one is monitoring. 

When I ask my own doctors, they sometimes comment that they have recently 

seen many patients from downtown living near the World Trade Center Site with 

illnesses. 

158 

No one appears to be collecting this data. 

CONCLUSION

Although I’ve read about a small 9/11 clinic near Midtown, my family and I see 

our own doctors. This is true of nearly everyone I know who lives near the World 

Trade Center Site. It is my understanding that this clinic is for those who cannot 

afford doctors, and fortunately, my wife and I both work and can afford to see our 

own doctors. We would not want to take advantage of something set up for those 

in need. 

Most all of the residents living around the World Trade Center Site are working 

and have the ability to pay, and prefer their own doctors. 

We are fortunate, but are in need of your assistance. 

We need you, our leaders to wrap your hands around the 9/11 community and 

offer guidance to those of us who are sick due to the debris and fire. We need your 

guidance. 

It could start by simply acknowledging that there were thousands of residents 

who were displaced who came back to rebuild. 

We may be sick, but we are solid citizens, who believe in our leaders, and are 

trying our best to remain in good health. 

MARCH 19, 2007. 

SENATE COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, EDUCATION, LABOR, AND PENSIONS, 

Washington, DC. 

Re: The Long-Term Health Impacts from September 11: A Review of Treatment, Diagnosis, and Monitoring Efforts Hearing, March 21, 2007. 

SYNOPSIS

Honorable Senators: I am a witness to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the 

World Trade Center in New York City. At the time, I was a resident of Minneapolis, 

MN and had arrived in New York on September 10 for a business meeting scheduled for the 11th and 12th. I became stranded for several days in the city when the 

airlines were grounded. After returning home, I continued to suffer from the mental 

effects of my experience, eventually losing my job and my marriage due in large 

part to the effects of the trauma. Because no experienced professionals were available locally, I reached out to New York city-based organizations for assistance and 

found I was ineligible due to location. I eventually moved to New York City to obtain assistance. I currently am receiving free and low-cost assistance and have recovered enough to return to work. 

I am requesting that the Senate Committee consider that thousands of people 

from across the country were visitors to New York City that day and became caught 

up in the September 11 attacks as I was. Many others have since moved out of the 

area for various reasons. However, these people, who suffer from the mental and 

physical effects of that day as much as New Yorkers did and still do, have little or 

no access to professionals experienced in treating the symptoms of this specific 

event. I believe only federally funded awareness and treatment programs can reach 

across State and local boundaries to assure that people, regardless of geography, 

have access to the care they need to fully recover from the trauma of September 

11, 2001. 

DETAILED STORY

On the morning of the 11th, around 9 a.m., just as my meeting was about to 

begin, someone came into our conference room to tell us a plane had flown into the 

World Trade Center. Although the office I was in was in Midtown Manhattan, our 

conference room had a clear view of the north tower, the first tower hit. We watched 

for about a half hour, and not realizing that the other tower had also been hit, resumed our meeting. 

My presentation was first on the agenda, and I went through the entire set of 

slides, all the time watching the fire grow larger, the helicopters unable because of 

the flames and smoke to land on the tower roof to remove people I knew were 

trapped at the top of the building, knowing also that people were jumping although 

I was too far to see that clearly. By the end of the presentation, the office was in 

chaos as word spread that both towers were hit along with the Pentagon, and that 

one tower had already collapsed. I was watching through the conference room window when the second tower finally went down. 

159 

By noon, co-workers who had been in or near the towers or in our offices in the 

World Financial Center across the street from the World Trade Center had begun 

to arrive in our mid-town office. One man told of how he ran over dead bodies as 

the first tower was going down, feeling the heat of the fire on the back of his neck, 

knowing the police and firefighters who were urging him to run were almost certainly crushed in the falling tower. We were told we could leave for the day since 

we were on a high floor or we could stay if we weren’t sure about the potential for 

toxic air or radiation or bombs outside. Outside was an endless line of stunned dustcovered workers making their way up Broadway, masks on their faces and sometimes bottles of water in their hands. 

Our meeting resumed the next day, nominally, at 9 a.m. Most of the attendees 

were from out of town so we spent most of the time frantically chasing down rumors 

of local buses and trains running, rides with cousins of friends of friends, trying to 

get onto the jammed Web sites for information about Amtrak and Greyhound, trying 

to find a way out of Manhattan. I was lucky; I rounded up an Amtrak ticket from 

a colleague for the next day. That night I fell asleep in my hotel while the smell 

of burning jet fuel, pulverized concrete, and burning bodies permeated the room. 

I arrived back in Minneapolis near midnight on September 14. While I was grateful to be home, I immediately felt isolated. While friends, neighbors and co-workers 

were understandably affected, their experience was indirect and they appeared to 

almost be afraid to even talk with me. The following Monday, September 17, I was 

back at my desk in the Minneapolis office attempting to work but mostly sitting and 

staring at the computer screen, terrified to even be in an office setting again. It was 

all I could do, day after day, to walk into the office. I couldn’t concentrate or think 

clearly. Although we lost one colleague in the first tower and our offices in the 

World Financial Center were heavily damaged, my company did not do anything to 

assist those outside the New York City area who were also affected. I spoke to my 

pastor and a therapist who, not having any experience in this type of trauma, could 

do little to help me. They appeared uncomfortable even hearing my story. 

I began trying to get information about services being offered in New York for 

people affected by the attacks but most initially focused on the families of those who 

were killed. Gradually, as my mental state did not improve, my job performance and 

marriage began to suffer. A year after the attacks, I was put on probation at work 

for lack of productivity. Again, I was lucky because a number of people had recommended that I be fired. No one had spoken to me about my situation the entire 

time. 

I kept my job and kept struggling to find support. I got in touch with organizations but the answer was always the same: I did not qualify for assistance either 

on the basis of being too far from the trade center at the time of the attacks or because I was currently out-of-state. I e-mailed with counselors from Project Liberty 

for a while which was helpful but eventually they stopped responding. When I 

asked, I was told that they preferred face-to-face contact, and because I could not 

be there in person, they could not help me. By the summer of 2003, I filed for divorce and lost my job within weeks of each other. 

With most of my ongoing counseling now focused on the immediate issues of the 

divorce and job loss, I began seeing another therapist to work on September 11 

issues. Unfortunately, she had no experience with this sort of trauma either. I even 

called the VA hospital, figuring that September 11 was more in line with combat 

situations and although they were understanding, they could not see me or recommend anyone in the area who had the appropriate experience. I continued to call 

New York-based organizations which again turned me down. Several of them accused me of purposefully leaving New York after the attacks and seemed not to comprehend that thousands of people like me had just happened to be visiting the city 

that day and had gotten caught up in it. Several said that they couldn’t accommodate me because their therapists were uncomfortable with phone or e-mail contact, 

or because they weren’t licensed to practice outside of a specific State and talking 

with me would be considered out-of-State. 

I did eventually find peer support through the World Trade Center Survivors’ Network and Voices of September 11. Both were enormously helpful but I was still 

struggling to focus enough to look for a job, let alone interview and land one. In 

the meantime, I was paying for my health insurance out of pocket, as well as the 

weekly visits with both of my therapists. 

Finally in early 2005, it occurred to me that it might be better for me in the long 

run to simply move to New York to get the specialized treatment I needed. I made 

the move in August 2005 and now live in New York City. I am now able to get free 

and low-cost treatments through specially funded September 11 programs, which 

have helped enormously. After 21⁄2 years of unemployment, I am back at work, in 

160 

a job comparable to the one I had on September 11, 2001. Just last week, I celebrated my first anniversary with this company. 

In the long run, I was lucky. I had enough savings to weather long-term unemployment plus the hardship of refinancing the house and paying the mortgage and 

utilities on my own after my husband moved out. Without a job or family to consider, I was able to move across the country to seek the assistance I needed to recover. Because I had a house that had appreciated in value, I was able to finance 

the move to a city with a higher cost-of-living without having a job in place because 

I could live off the proceeds of the sale. Most people are not in this position. 

I would urge the Senate committee to consider that New York City attracts people 

from all over the country (and world) on a daily basis for business and pleasure. 

On a day, such as September 11, 2001, thousands of non-residents were in the city, 

indeed, 3 World Trade Center, one of the buildings destroyed was a hotel. Yet once 

these people disperse back to their homes, there are little or no services available 

for them locally and no effort that I am aware of to make services currently based 

in the New York City area available across the country. Many people, like me, have 

suffered for years without proper medical and mental health treatment, simply because they are left to rely on local professionals who do not have the experience or 

training to treat them properly. I would ask that the committee consider that funding be extended not only time-wise but across geographies. Now, as much of the 

funding is winding down for programs, there are still people all over the country 

who have not received any treatment at all and perhaps are not even aware that 

symptoms they have could be related to their experience on September 11. In my 

former company alone, there were two others from the Minneapolis office who were 

in New York City that day, one of whom escaped from the towers. But I know from 

first-hand experience that both of them will encounter the same problems I ran into 

if they decide now or in the future to seek treatment. I am aware of others in other 

States who similarly were visitors in New York City on that day, or have since 

moved to other States. 

I believe only federally funded awareness and treatment programs have the ability to reach across the boundaries of local and State geography to reach all those 

affected by the attacks of September 11, 2001. 

Thank you for your time and attention to this important issue. 

Sincerely, 

LISA FENGER, 

Member of the Steering Committee of the 

World Trade Center Survivors’ Network. 

(Witness to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center) 

DEAR SENATOR CLINTON and other members of the HELP Committee: Fortunately 

for me, at this time I don’t have major, documented medical illnesses related to 

WTC contamination. Not yet, anyway. Many others haven’t been so lucky. Oh, I 

have serious coughing spells at times, severe nasal congestion, etc. (none of which 

I ever experienced before 9/11), but so far that’s been manageable. It’s the future 

I worry about, having been thoroughly inundated by that cloud of toxic dust that 

swept through Lower Manhattan on September 11. That, and having lived in the 

closest residential structure to Ground Zero, has made me concerned and apprehensive ever since. 

I worked for an entire year to clean out my apartment of the dust and debris that 

visited us through the broken windows following the towers’ collapse, trying to make 

that place habitable again, until EPA finally came in to help clean, 1 year to the 

day after 9/11—and that, largely due to the lobbying efforts of myself and many others, through the aegis of 9/11 Environmental Action. I personally removed and discarded over 2.5 tons of contaminated (and treasured) personal property there. This 

is documented in a small book I wrote about my experiences of it all, which includes 

photographs of what my home looked like on September 15, 2001—and what it 

looked like a year later, in September 2002. 

Because I do not have any health insurance (as I cannot afford it, being either 

self-employed or essentially unemployed since then), I have not been able to pursue 

the diagnostics needed to evaluate what my risk-factors may be, nor even to get 

treatment for the symptoms I have experienced: the chronic periods of coughing and 

congestion, sinusitis, nasal congestion, obviously reduced lung capacity, etc., and 

PTSD (which I have been clinically diagnosed with). But this is something extremely important to consider in regard to future appropriations for WTC health 

clinics in New York City, because these effects for so many will just escalate over 

161 

the years. Of that I have no doubt. To a large degree, for myself, I just don’t want 

to know. 

But for reasons of being unable to afford medical care, a great number of people 

will pursue a similar course of denial in their medical symptoms too—which will 

just exacerbate the problems when they finally are diagnosed. They (we), the residents downtown, are among the most vulnerable population, and if the Federal Government cannot provide funding of clinics for first responders, residents, office workers, and students exposed, we may get ill and even die from that exposure, for lack 

of adequate medical care, as so many others already are/have, even in a relatively 

short timeframe. 

Yet I can assure you that we will ‘‘not go gentle into that good night,’’ as more 

and more of us succumb to WTC-related medical conditions, because we are not people who will easily accept being ignored by Washington. This attack was not 

something we asked for. And it is not solely the responsibility of New York City 

to provide medical oversight and treatment for this, either. This was an attack upon 

America, not an attack on New York City only, nor even an attack on the World 

Trade Center, or Wall Street, or merely the residents downtown. Yet we are all suffering as a result. That needs to be addressed and responded to by the Federal Government. Only you have the resources available to adequately fund the medical attention that so many of us need—and will require, in the future. 

I must say that in regard to proposals floated by the Bush administration recently 

to gut funding for Centers of Excellence for treatment, to eliminate or reduce funding for the collaboration of sound medical research, collection of data, and intervention—in lieu of paying some private physicians to treat the affected population, this 

would be a horrendous mistake, and seems more a mendacious, disingenuous attempt at ‘‘sleight-of-hand’’ than anything else—to push off victims of this debacle 

onto their own increased co-payments for coverage—and should not even be considered. 

At a time when I was incapacitated by coughing fits and illness (probably due to 

the ingestion of potentially deadly spores while cleaning up black mold in my apartment in the spring of 2002), I contacted the Mount Sinai Hospital group for some 

treatment possibilities, only to learn that I was not eligible for that. Please don’t 

leave the recent efforts of the Bellevue Clinic here to wither. Funding for such facilities should be increased now, not cut off. They are doing an important job, and one 

that is sorely needed now. The work that is ongoing there is critical to address this 

problem, but has been largely, if not exclusively, financed only through the resources of the city of New York—and this needs to change to an infusion of funding 

for it on a Federal level. These kinds of community resources can make a world of 

difference to people like myself, and/or those who may find themselves in a similar 

situation before long. 

I hope for the best in my case, and am reluctant to ‘‘project’’ anything. I do not 

want to become ill, nor appear before your committees some months from now, carting an oxygen canister, just to be able to speak to you. I implore you to do the right 

thing now: Provide adequate funding for the people who have already suffered 

enough from this, as well as those who will likely experience these effects in the 

future from that attack on our Nation on September 11. I know from personal experience that far too many people are in my situation. 

Sincerely, 

MICHAEL COOK. 

MT. SINAI SUPPLEMENT MATERIALS

Hon. EDWARD M. KENNEDY, 

Chairman, 

U.S. Senate HELP Committee. 

DEAR SENATOR KENNEDY and members of the HELP Committee: Please allow me 

to submit on behalf of the Mount Sinai—World Trade Center Medical Monitoring 

and Treatment Center—the following additional information for the record, to be 

joined with information already submitted by Dr. Robin Herbert for your Wednesday, March 21, 2007 committee hearing in Washington, DC. focusing on the ‘‘LongTerm Health Impacts from September 11.’’ 

The following statistics supplement information provided as to the ongoing resource needs of both our federally funded WTC Medical Programs and WTC responders. 

The Mount Sinai WTC Program’s treatment arm currently documents a wait of 

up to 13 weeks for new patients coming in for their first treatment appointments 

and 15.8 weeks for patients returning for follow up visits. While the wait for new 

162 

patients was recently shortened from what it had been owing to recent program 

staff additions (enabled by recent Federal funding, supporting treatment services for 

just the balance of this fiscal year), there remains a considerable wait for follow up 

appointments, which are also critical for patient care. Most patients require follow 

up visits every 45 to 60 days, which places great demands on resources. 

Another important issue is that treatment program resources have always been 

carefully planned and allotted, based more on available resources than need, given 

funding uncertainty and the time-limited nature of our funding to date. As a result, 

we have not placed as great an emphasis on outreach, making program availability 

more well known, as we would like. It is certainly clear that there is far greater 

need for treatment, based on scientific findings and the number of medical monitoring program participants, than all our treatment efforts for responders have been 

able to accommodate to date. 

Finally, there is an approximate 90-day wait for new patients to enter the monitoring program for their first medical screening examination, as at least 400 new 

responders enroll each month. 

Sincerely, 

JACQUELINE MOLINE, MD, MSC, 

Director and Principal Investigator, Mount Sinai 

WTC Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program Clinical Center. 

RESPONSE TO QUESTIONS OF SENATORS KENNEDY, ENZI, AND CLINTON

BY ROBIN HERBERT, M.D. 

QUESTIONS OF SENATOR KENNEDY

Question 1. The Mt. Sinai Consortium and its clinics collect vital information 

about the number of patients seen, their conditions, treatment, and other information. Please provide the committee with the aggregated data that you have received. 

Answer 1. The World Trade Center (WTC) Medical Monitoring and Treatment 

Program (MMTP) that this Congress has so strongly supported is made up of two 

principal components: 

1. The WTC Clinical Centers, which are funded to provide comprehensive medical 

monitoring examinations for WTC responders as well as treatment for covered WTC 

conditions; and 

2. The WTC Data and Coordination Center, which is funded to provide clinical 

and logistical coordination of the multi-site program as well as to collect, analyze, 

and report on data from these examinations. 

We and our partners in the Mount Sinai-coordinated New York/New Jersey WTC 

MMTP Clinical Consortium have now provided medical examinations for, and collected clinical data on, 20,000 non-FDNY WTC responders. These include police officers, construction workers, transit and communications workers, EMTs, building 

cleaners, and volunteers. A full set of reports on these examinations for the past 

year is included in the enclosed binder. The reports include: 

1. A table summarizing the total number of initial examinations (Visit 1), and 

first and second follow up examinations (V2 and V3) conducted, with a breakdown 

by year and type of examination and location of examination (this includes National 

Program examination numbers). 

2. A table showing the number of newly-registered responders deemed eligible for 

examinations by month for the past 6 months. 

3. A table showing the language monitoring examinations were performed in. 

4. Detailed information on visit rates, retention rates and waiting times for baseline and monitoring examinations by Clinical Center. 

To maximize the efficiency of this data collection system and to enhance our ability to detect emerging patterns of disease in WTC responders, the New York/New 

Jersey WTC MMTP Consortium, which is coordinated by Mount Sinai, has recently 

developed a web-based system to capture more extensive data about diagnoses, visit 

types, services provided, and referrals from both the Monitoring and Treatment Program. This new system was instituted after the federally funded World Trade Center Treatment Programs began in November 2006, and it has been phased in by the 

Clinical Centers over the past few months, as they were also phasing in their expanded treatment activities. Based on this system, we present in the enclosed binder a series of tables summarizing the information we received from the Consortium 

clinics about: (a) diagnoses, (b) visit types and numbers, (c) types of medications ordered, and (d) diagnostic and therapeutic procedures ordered. While this data has 

only been collected for a short time, it provides a stark snapshot of the health probVerDate Aug 31 2005 16:08 Jul 30, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00166 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 S:\DOCS\34458.TXT SLABOR1 PsN: DENISE
163 

lems WTC responders are experiencing as well as the intensity of clinical care needed. 

Question 2. In addition to what you stated in your testimony, do you think there 

are other steps that need to be taken to ensure that research into the conditions 

and treatment of 9/11-related health problems continues? 

Answer 2. A major gap, to date, is that there has been neither Federal nor other 

funding to support the analysis of the vast and vitally important set of data that 

is collected by the Mount Sinai WTC Consortium and the FDNY program. The Data 

and Coordination Center at Mount Sinai has developed databases for, and entered 

data on, more than 20,000 examinations of World Trade Center responders. Similarly, the FDNY Bureau of Health Services has collected extensive clinical data on 

over 14,000 New York City firefighters who responded at Ground Zero. Yet neither 

of our two programs has been funded to perform any analyses beyond basic descriptive statistics on these extensive data. This lack of funding is extremely unfortunate, because the data that are being collected in the Medical Monitoring examinations include extremely detailed information obtained at the time of examination on 

exposures related to the WTC attack, other occupational exposures, physical health 

(both symptoms and conditions diagnosed), mental health and socio-economic information. Additionally, we collect high quality data from extensive physical examinations, chest x-rays, blood tests, and breathing test (spirometry) results. 

In summary, if we are to conduct research on the conditions being experienced 

by WTC responders, and if we are to identify and evaluate the most effective measures that will allow for the treatment and prevention of disease in these brave men 

and women, dedicated Federal funding is needed. By analyzing data from the largest post-disaster medical monitoring program ever developed, lessons will be learned 

that will benefit both current responders and those who may be called upon to respond to attacks and other disasters in the future. 

We are deeply grateful for your interest in these programs. Please do not hesitate 

to ask any additional follow up questions. Thank you. 

QUESTIONS OF SENATOR ENZI

Question 1a. Did most patients with very severe respiratory illnesses get sick by 

working for a prolonged period of time at Ground Zero? 

Answer 1a. The following paragraphs present the summary/abstract of our recent 

paper on the health effects of the WTC disaster. It was published in the fully peerreviewed medical journal, Environmental Health Perspectives: 

Approximately 40,000 rescue and recovery workers were exposed to caustic 

dust and toxic pollutants following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World 

Trade Center (WTC). These workers included traditional first responders, such 

as firefighters and police, and a diverse population of construction, utility, and 

public sector workers. 

To characterize WTC-related health effects, the WTC Worker and Volunteer 

Medical Screening Program was established. This multi-center clinical program 

provides free standardized examinations to responders. Examinations include 

medical, mental health, and exposure assessment questionnaires; physical examinations; spirometry; and chest x-rays. 

Of 9,442 responders examined between July 2002 and April 2004, 69 percent 

reported new or worsened respiratory symptoms while performing WTC work. 

Symptoms persisted to the time of examination in 59 percent of these workers. 

Among those who had been asymptomatic before September 11, 61 percent developed respiratory symptoms while performing WTC work. Twenty-eight percent had abnormal spirometry; forced vital capacity (FVC) was low in 21 percent; and obstruction was present in 5 percent. Among nonsmokers, 27 percent 

had abnormal spirometry compared with 13 percent in the general U.S. population. Prevalence of low FVC among nonsmokers was 5-fold greater than in the 

U.S. population (20 percent vs. 4 percent). Respiratory symptoms and spirometry abnormalities were significantly associated with early arrival at the site. 

In conclusion, WTC responders had exposure-related increases in respiratory 

symptoms and pulmonary function test abnormalities that persisted up to 2.5 

years after the attacks. Long-term medical monitoring is required to track persistence of these abnormalities and identify late effects, including possible malignancies. Lessons learned should guide future responses to civil disasters. 

A key finding in our study, and in virtually all studies of WTC responders, is that 

time of arrival at the WTC site has a very strong and consistent relationship with 

prevalence of respiratory illness. Total duration of exposure, while also related to 

164 

risk of respiratory disease in some studies, has been less strongly related than time 

of arrival. 

Time of arrival at the WTC site has generally been categorized as follows: 

• Those who arrived on 9/11/2001 and were engulfed in the dust cloud; • Those who arrived on 9/11/2001 and were not engulfed in the dust cloud; • Those who arrived between 9/12/2001 and 9/13/2001; • Those who arrived between 9/14/2001 and 9/30/2001; and • Those who arrived on or after 10/1/2001. 

In our EHP paper, we reported that early arrival at the WTC site was significantly associated with an increased reported prevalence of both newly incident and 

worsened respiratory symptoms. We observed the highest prevalence among those 

who arrived on September 11 and were exposed to the dust cloud (54 percent lower 

respiratory and 66 percent upper respiratory symptoms). We also found a statistically significant relationship between time of arrival at Ground Zero and some 

lung function test abnormalities. It is important to note, however, that higher than 

expected rates of illness were also seen among less highly exposed workers, including those who did not begin their WTC-related work until on or after October 1, 

2001. 

While time of arrival and duration of exposure has been related to disease risk 

on a population basis, we have individual patients who have developed severe WTCrelated disease after sustaining less intense exposure. This is because susceptibility 

to disease almost always varies among individuals, regardless of whether the exposure is to an infectious agent or an environmental agent. 

Question 1b. How then did Manhattan residents acquire these illnesses? Hasn’t 

prolonged exposure, not brief exposure, to the dust been linked to severe cases? 

Answer 1b. Many Manhattan residents, office workers, students, and others were 

engulfed by the plume created by the collapse of the Twin Towers and would therefore be considered to be highly exposed. However, as mentioned above, the degree 

of exposure (highly exposed vs. less highly exposed) is not the only factor affecting 

whether or not an individual manifests WTC-related health effects. Some people 

may be more likely to experience WTC-related adverse health effects than others 

for a variety of reasons. 

Question 2a. Given that you say many of your patients are uninsured, whom is 

responsible for paying for their care? 

Answer 2a. Until November 2006, funding to provide outpatient treatment for responders experiencing WTC-related illness was provided by a number of philanthropic organizations, including the American Red Cross Liberty Fund September 

11th Recovery Program, the Bear Stearns Charitable Foundation, the September 

11th Fund, the Robin Hood Foundation Relief Fund, and many others. 

For responders eligible to participate in the WTC Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program, the cost of treatment for certain covered conditions is now covered 

by either the Workers Compensation system or the Federal funding which was 

made available in November 2006. 

Question 2b. To what extent do physicians within the consortium bill private or 

public insurance or worker’s compensation before paying for care out of Federal 

funding? 

Answer 2b. Everyone served by the Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program 

(MMTP) has to have performed either paid work or volunteered for WTC recovery 

work to be eligible for the program. Therefore, medical care for any WTC-related 

condition is supposed to be paid for under either Workers Compensation or Line of 

Duty Injury Programs. In the consortium, Workers Compensation/LODI is supposed 

to be the payor of first resort for treatment provided by the WTC Treatment Programs. Consortium physicians and social workers assist patients with Workers’ 

Compensation claims and physicians bill Workers’ Compensation for WTC-related 

care whenever possible. However, many patients have experienced great difficulty 

in receiving care paid for through a Workers’ Compensation claim. Therefore, 

MMTP funding is used to provide the vast majority of diagnostic testing and treatment for responders with WTC-related conditions. 

The MMTP is now authorized to use Federal funding to cover the cost of selected 

inpatient procedures and hospital visits in addition to covered outpatient services 

and medications. To date, NIOSH has approved 20 hospitalizations (not including 

responders seen in the FDNY program). Of these, 9 were for mental health conditions, 1 was for a musculoskeletal condition, and 10 were for physical health conditions (including asthma, GERD, interstitial lung disease, pulmonary fibrosis, throat 

irritation, and vocal cord lesion). Nine patients had their hospitalizations preVerDate Aug 31 2005 16:08 Jul 30, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00168 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 S:\DOCS\34458.TXT SLABOR1 PsN: DENISE
165 

authorized; 11 patients were admitted on an emergency basis. Costs per admission 

ranged from $4,000 to 28,000. The most expensive procedure to date was a biopsy 

of a mediastinal mass. 

Question 3. Keeping the cohort of affected individuals intact seems to make sense. 

Could you explain then how maintaining a number of different monitoring programs 

for the long-term achieves this goal? Why has there been no effort to consolidate 

the data from the various programs so the cohort of recovery crews, firefighters, law 

enforcement officers and others can be analyzed together, as well as separately? 

Answer 3. At the present time, to the best of my knowledge, there are only two 

federally funded clinical/medical monitoring programs for WTC responders. 

• One is coordinated by the Bureau of Health Services of the New York Fire Department and serves FDNY employees. • The other, coordinated by the Mount Sinai Medical Center, consists of the New 

York/New Jersey Clinical Consortium, which is comprised of Clinical Centers of Excellence located at Mount Sinai, Bellevue/NYU, SUNY Stony Brook, Queens College 

of the City University of New York, and University of Medicine and Dentistry of 

New Jersey (UMDNJ) as well as a National Program. Each of the New York/New 

Jersey Consortium clinics is staffed by clinicians with unsurpassed expertise in 

monitoring and treating WTC responders; data from each clinical center is provided 

to the consortium DCC at Mount Sinai. They serve all other WTC responders who 

meet exposure based eligibility criteria. 

The two programs work very closely together. We meet regularly and use virtually 

identical questionnaires and protocols, which were developed as a collaborative effort between the 2 programs. The two separate but parallel programs are maintained because the FDNY had a pre-established comprehensive Bureau of Health 

Services with pre-existing records from annual exams and ready access to contact 

info for FDNY-affiliated responders, and because WTC monitoring examinations fit 

well with their annual fitness for duty examinations. The FDNY Data and Coordination Center coordinates the FDNY program only. 

In contrast, the New York/New Jersey Clinical Consortium, which is coordinated 

by Mount Sinai, was developed in the months following September 11 in response 

to a growing public health need and therefore has data and coordination needs that 

extend beyond the requirements of the FDNY program. The Mount Sinai Data and 

Coordination Center (DCC) must identify and track a very mobile, heterogeneous 

group of responders that includes law enforcement officers, non-FDNY firefighters 

and paramedics, heavy machinery operators, laborers, ironworkers and others from 

the building and construction trades, telecommunication workers, transportation 

workers, sanitation workers and volunteers, and others from the public and private 

sectors. In order to accomplish this, the DCC must perform outreach in partnership 

with a large number of unions and other organizations representing responders in 

order to maintain the consortium’s cohort. In addition to coordinating patient tracking and retention efforts, the DCC coordinates the clinical activities of the New 

York/New Jersey Consortium clinics which are located at Mount Sinai, Bellevue/ 

NYU, SUNY Stony Brook, Queens College of CUNY, and UMDNJ. Each of these 

clinics is staffed by clinicians with unsurpassed expertise in monitoring and treating 

WTC responders; data from each clinical center is provided to the consortium DCC 

at Mount Sinai. Both the Mount Sinai and FDNY Data and Coordination Centers 

and their clinical partners were selected by a competitive peer-reviewed process. 

The leadership of the FDNY and Mount Sinai Data and Coordination Centers, 

and the Directors and other key staff of each of the Clinical Centers meet on a 

monthly basis in order to discuss programmatic issues and ensure that responders 

receive standardized care of the highest quality. 

Question 4. To what extent do you know which individuals in your program also 

signed up for the WTC Health Registry, which is the most comprehensive database 

of those potentially affected? 

Answer 4. Due to Federal privacy regulations, the WTC Medical Monitoring and 

Treatment Program (MMTP) cannot ascertain which of our examinees also received 

telephone interviews or follow up mail interviews from the WTC Health Registry. 

Respectfully, we would disagree with the characterization of the Registry as ‘‘the 

most comprehensive database.’’ The data compiled by the two programs (or three, 

if a distinction between the FDNY MMTP and the NY/NJ Consortium MMTP is 

made) are comprehensive in different ways and should be viewed as supplementing 

each other. A key difference is that, while the WTC Health Registry is comprehensive in that it includes residents and others in addition to responders, the information collected is limited to self-reported data collected via telephone interview and 

a follow up mail survey, which is much less comprehensive information on health 

166 

than that obtained by the MMTP. The MMTP, supported by the National Institute 

for Occupational Safety & Health, provides standardized physical and mental health 

examinations and treatment to all workers and volunteers who participated in the 

WTC rescue and recovery effort. The WTC MMTP data is derived from extremely 

comprehensive medical examinations of over 20,000 individuals who will be followed 

over time. Information obtained from periodic medical evaluations of the responders 

who participated in the rescue and recovery efforts is comprehensive in the detailed 

nature of the information collected. The data is extremely rich in clinical detail because it includes not only data from in-person, extremely detailed medical examinations which include a 65-page interviewer-administered medical questionnaire and 

a mental health examination. The data also include physical examination findings, 

pulmonary function test results, chest x-rays, and the findings from routine blood 

and urine analysis. The New York/New Jersey MMTP Consortium currently maintains a database which contains richly detailed clinical information linked to exposure data on over 20,000 workers including a wide array of other uniformed and 

civilian responders. 

QUESTIONS OF SENATOR CLINTON

Question 1. We understand that the Mt. Sinai Consortium routinely collects and 

reports information on the number of patients seen in the monitoring and treatment 

programs along with additional information, including diagnoses, referral from monitoring to treatment program, type of treatment provided, employment status, occupation, insurance status, and workers’ compensation claim status. Could you provide 

the committee with the most recent aggregate data for the overall Consortium as 

well as each individual clinic? 

Answer 1. As of April 30, 2007, the Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program 

New York/New Jersey Clinical Consortium has provided at least a baseline screening examination to 20,029 participants, and an additional 681 participants have 

been screened through the National Program. Of these, an additional 7,936 participants have received a first follow up (Visit 2) exam, and 347 have also received their 

second follow up (Visit 3) exam. This information is provided in the enclosed binder. 

The patient population is an extremely diverse group of men and women, many 

of whom are still dealing with the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 disaster. 

Indeed, between January 1, 2007 and March 31, 2007, more than 1,100 new patients were referred for additional diagnostic testing and/or treatment for a WTCrelated condition. We are also continuing to observe high prevalences of WTC-related illnesses even now, more than 51⁄2 years after September 11. Indeed, among 

the roughly 1,200 Monitoring Program Participants examined between January and 

March 2007, there were 988 upper airway conditions, 429 lower airway conditions, 

and 502 mental health conditions either diagnosed by WTC clinicians or self-reported by the participants. These findings suggest not only that many responders 

are reporting or being diagnosed with multiple conditions, but also that these conditions are persistent and may require long-term treatment. 

Additionally, the MMTP has recently begun systematically collecting information 

on each patient’s employment status, occupation, and insurance status at the time 

of examination, as well as the referrals made to specialists and the types of medications prescribed. Most importantly, we have found that, among the patients who 

were seen in the Treatment Program from January through March 2007, roughly 

26 percent lacked any kind of health insurance (please note that the rates of 

uninsurance vary over time and by clinic). These patients are dependent on the federally funded MMTP for all diagnostic services and treatment for their WTC-related 

conditions. This information is provided in the enclosed binder. 

Question 2. We also understand that each clinic in the Consortium also reports 

information on the monitoring program on a monthly basis that includes information on the number of people examined, the type of exam (initial, follow up, etc.), 

and the waiting times for scheduling examinations. Could you provide the committee with these monthly reports for the past year? 

Answer 2. The provision of comprehensive, compassionate care remains the primary goal of the WTC Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program, and the clinicians who staff each of the five NY/NJ Consortium clinics continue to serve as primary resource for WTC responders both in the tri-state area and across the Nation. 

As mentioned above, the MMTP patient population is a very diverse group of individuals. Indeed, as of April 30, 2007 12.8 percent of NY/NJ Consortium Medical 

Monitoring Program examinations were conducted in a language other than 

English. In addition, demand for baseline examinations continues unabated; in April 

2007 alone 431 responders who met the exposure-based eligibility criteria were registered to participate in the Monitoring Program. Indeed, depending on the clinic 

167 

and the type and language of the examination required (i.e., baseline, first follow 

up, or second follow up), the wait time for an appointment can be as long as 18 

weeks. This information is provided in the enclosed binder. 

RESPONSE TO QUESTIONS OF SENATORS KENNEDY, ENZI, AND CLINTON

BY JIM MELIUS, M.D., DRPH. 

QUESTIONS OF SENATOR KENNEDY

Question 1. After the World Trade Center attack, tens of thousands of responders 

arrived at the site. While some workers had respiratory protection from the hazards 

on the site, many others did not. In addition, in the days following the disaster, 

thousands of workers sifted through the rubble without respirators and other needed protective gear. It may be that some of the conditions we are now seeing could 

have been avoided, or would be much less grave, if these protective steps had been 

taken. Can you tell us, as an occupational health expert, what steps should have 

been taken, and what steps should our Federal disaster agencies take in the future 

to ensure that this doesn’t happen again? 

Answer 1. Much of the response to the WTC site after the attack was not based 

on a previously prepared and rehearsed response plan. Given the magnitude of the 

disaster and the immediate concern about rescuing possible survivors, the governmental agencies involved at the disaster scene did a remarkable job of assembling 

the necessary equipment and personnel for the rescue and recovery operations. The 

agencies also recruited several key private contracting operations to assist them in 

these operations. Although there was precedent for this in the previous World Trade 

Center bombing, the scope and speed of this operation and the number of construction and other private sector workers needed was many times larger than the previous operations. 

This ad hoc approach proved to be very efficient for the rescue operations and for 

clearing the WTC site to be able to utilize nearby buildings, etc. However, the absence of prior planning and the employment of large numbers of workers immediately after the disaster and in the fast-paced recovery efforts made it very difficult 

to implement a program to provide proper safety and health protection for this 

workforce. As a result there was much confusion about the air quality on the site 

and about the need for respiratory protection for this workforce. An appropriate respiratory protection program was only gradually implemented and enforced. Other 

health and safety measures (such as site specific training) were also delayed. On 

the other hand, the involved agencies and contractors did a remarkable job in preventing serious injuries and fatalities during these operations while working under 

what were potentially very dangerous conditions. 

We must take steps to prevent similar problems occurring in any future terrorist 

incidents. These preparations must include proper planning for the type of personnel and equipment that might be needed to respond to such an incident including the availability of appropriate respiratory protection and other protective equipment for those involved. This plan must also include appropriate health and safety 

requirements and a means for enforcing those requirements (probably through 

OSHA). To the extent possible, we must properly protect people working in these 

operations from both short-term and long-term health and safety hazards. This program and the oversight of health and safety requirements must be integrated into 

the initial response plan and must be implemented immediately. 

Another important part of this health and safety program must be to provide 

proper safety and health training for the potentially large workforce that may be 

needed at these operations. In a given geographic area, those likely to be needed 

immediately at the site should be trained ahead of time including in the use of appropriate protective equipment (e.g., respirators). For those who may be needed to 

work at the site with less urgency, some training on disaster response should be 

provided. Then there must be in place a mechanism to rapidly provide additional 

training and protective equipment needed for working at a specific disaster site before these people are allowed to enter the site. 

Question 2. It is clear that close tracking and monitoring the condition of 9/11 responders and residents is vital to recognizing these conditions and treating them 

early and effectively. Many conditions will require additional research so that we 

may learn how to treat them. How can we ensure that this data continues to be 

collected? Why do you think that continuing and expanding these programs will reduce costs down the road? 

Answer 2. We are very fortunate to have enrolled so many of the rescue and recovery workers from the WTC disaster in the two medical monitoring programs (the 

New York City Fire Department and the Mount Sinai Consortium). Although a sigVerDate Aug 31 2005 16:08 Jul 30, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00171 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 S:\DOCS\34458.TXT SLABOR1 PsN: DENISE
168 

nificant proportion of the involved workforce has not yet participated in these programs, the large number that have provide a solid basis for evaluating the health 

effects and the treatment of those health effects in this population. It is essential 

that these medical monitoring programs be continued. 

In order to ensure that these programs be continued, I believe that Congress 

should pass legislation that provides the framework for the ongoing funding of the 

medical monitoring and treatment programs. Such legislation should include provisions for periodic medical examinations directed at detecting and evaluating conditions associated with the WTC exposures; collection of this medical information in 

a way that allows the involved programs to track the health of the participants both 

as individuals and as a larger group; and provisions for treating WTC-related medical conditions in this population by expert physicians experienced in the diagnosis 

and treatment of this population.. 

As I stated in my testimony, I believe that continuing and expanding these programs will also help to reduce the eventual costs of this problem. Many of the WTCrelated health conditions (such as respiratory disease and mental health conditions) 

are responsive to medical treatment particularly if that treatment is provided early 

in the course of the illness. Early expert treatment can prevent long-term disability 

among these patients. Failure to provide comprehensive monitoring and treatment 

will only lead to more of these people becoming disabled and, therefore, greater 

long-term costs to our society. 

QUESTIONS OF SENATOR ENZI

Question 1. Given your background in epidemiology and overseeing insurance and 

compensation systems, can you give us a brief overview of those systems—both private and public—that are available to cover health expenses of 9/11 responders? 

Answer 1. Health Insurance.—As might be expected in a large population working for many different employers, there is also a diversity of health insurance coverage among this WTC worker population. I will try to briefly describe those plans: 

• New York City Workers.—Workers for the city of New York are all covered by 

a general health insurance plan that offers a variety of options for different health 

care networks operating in the New York City area. These different networks offer 

slightly different benefit packages. The city of New York only provides basic health 

coverage for their employees. Pharmaceutical benefits and other supplemental coverage plans are provided through the union-managed plan. There is considerable 

variation in these plans among the different NYC unions. • Other Government Workers.—Federal and State workers employed at the World 

Trade Center site are covered by their respective government health insurance 

plans which are generally similar to those offered by the city of New York. • Construction Workers.—Health insurance for construction workers is provided 

through trust funds that are jointly run by union and construction contractor representatives and provide health insurance for union members working for multiple 

construction contractors. These funds are administered in a variety of ways. Some 

are self-insured; others buy health insurance from a private insurance company; and 

others are self-insured but hire an insurance company to administer their benefits. 

One important characteristic of these funds is their eligibility requirements. Due to 

the high turnover common within the construction industry, members who are out 

of work for even a few months may lose their health insurance eligibility. • Other Private Sector Workers.—Most of the private sector employers who 

worked in conjunction with the WTC recovery operations provide general health insurance for their employees through a variety of general medical insurance plans. 

Workers’ Compensation.—In general, there are five main categories of workers’ 

compensation coverage for WTC rescue and recovery workers: 

• Self-insured Coverage.—Private or public entities in New York meeting certain 

requirements may be self-insured for workers’ compensation. For example, the city 

of New York is self-insured. In general, self-insured entities then handle the administration of workers’ compensation benefits for their employees as well as all appeals, etc. Oversight is provided by the New York State Workers’ Compensation 

Board, and these self-insured employers must follow the procedures and requirements of the Board. 

• Private Workers’ Compensation Insurance.—Most construction companies and 

other private sector companies working in the WTC rescue and recovery operations 

carried workers’ compensation coverage through a private insurance company operating under New York State Workers’ Compensation Board requirements. 

• Federal Workers.—Federal workers working on WTC rescue and recovery operations would be covered through the Federal Employee Compensation Act or FECA 

and would receive benefits through that program. 

169 

• Disability Retirement.—Fire fighters, police officers, and municipal sanitation 

workers are not covered by New York State Workers’ Compensation but instead 

have a line of duty disability retirement program that covers them if they are injured or become ill on the job. These programs cover their medical costs and wages 

if they become ill due to work-related factors while on duty (not if the illness occurs 

after they retire). They can then become eligible for retirement incentives should 

they be disabled and unable to return to work. • Volunteers.—Workers’ compensation coverage for people who worked as volunteers at the WTC site are eligible for workers’ compensation through a special New 

York State Workers’ Compensation Board program funded by the Federal Government. 

Question 2. In your testimony, you indicated that the New York Workers Compensation may not be well-suited to compensate 9/11 victims. I have been informed 

that New York has made a number of changes, some due to the infusion of Federal 

funding, which would make it far easier for these victims to utilize. Volunteers have 

been made eligible, the statute of limitations for 9/11 injuries was eliminated and 

medical and lost wage benefits are paid for up to 1 year while a claim is adjudicated. 

Why should we not look to this existing system with mechanisms in place to 

evaluate injuries and provide medical care, disability benefits and lost wages, to aid 

9/11 victims? If further improvements need to be made to the system in order to 

provide adequate aid, hasn’t New York shown it is willing to make those changes? 

Answer 2. The State of New York has made a number of changes that were intended to facilitate workers’ compensation for 9/11 workers. These include: 

1. Coverage for Volunteers.—Through Federal funding, New York State established a compensation program for people who worked as volunteers at the WTC 

site after 9/11. This program appears to be operating efficiently for those individuals 

although establishing that a person worked as a volunteer at the site can be difficult 

due to the lack of initial documentation of people present at the site. 

2. Extension of Statute of Limitations.—Last summer, New York State passed a 

law establishing a 1-year time period for WTC workers to register with the Workers’ 

Compensation Board in order to document that they had worked (or volunteered) 

at the WTC site. This registration extended the statute of limitations and allowed 

them to later file a workers’ compensation claim for an illness related to their WTC 

exposures. Several thousand people have already registered with the Board. The 

registration period ends in August. On the other hand, the city of New York has 

appealed this extension of the statute of limitations on claims in at least one individual case. 

3. Medical Costs.—Another law passed by the legislature last year provided a 

mechanism for the payment of medical care costs for individuals with possible WTCrelated conditions while their claim is being adjudicated. Ordinarily, the costs for 

medical diagnosis and treatment are not paid until the claim has been established 

in the Compensation system. This change could help to avoid delays in medical 

treatment for WTC workers. However, this optional payment mechanism must be 

initiated by the insurance carrier, and few companies appear to be utilizing this 

mechanism at present. 

4. Workers’ Compensation Reform.—New York State recently adopted a number 

of major changes in its workers’ compensation system. These reforms substantially 

increase the potential level of compensation by indexing it to the average weekly 

wage and change many other aspects of the compensation system. For example, diagnostic testing should be more readily available without long delays. This and 

other changes when implemented should help WTC workers applying for workers’ 

compensation. However, the changes are not retroactive and thus will not assist 

people who have already filed claims, and the reforms are still in the process of 

being implemented. 

Question 3. What kind of outreach is ongoing through the labor unions and other 

membership organizations to inform response and recovery workers of available 

health programs? To what extent are these individuals covered by health insurance 

or worker’s compensation? 

Answer 3. There has been an extensive outreach effort to make response and recovery workers aware of the available health programs. In addition to the outreach 

conducted by Mount Sinai and the other clinics, most of the labor unions have informed their members of their program through union meetings, newsletters, and 

other direct communication with their members. For example, our union (the Laborers’ Union) urged eligible members to participate in the health programs through 

our quarterly magazine and by sending letters to each individual who we know 

170 

worked at the WTC site. We have also established a weekly outreach session at our 

training school where members can fill out the Workers’ Compensation registration 

and obtain information about the medical monitoring program. We have also held 

outreach sessions where volunteers from the union call other members to encourage 

them to participate. Other labor unions have conducted similar outreach efforts. 

We do not have data on what proportion of our members in the monitoring and 

treatment programs currently are covered by workers’ compensation or the unions’ 

health insurance programs. We know of very few that have received health care or 

compensation payments from Workers’ Compensation Insurance. Many of our ill 

members are using the union’s health insurance to pay for the care of their WTCrelated condition. We are also aware of many individuals in our union with WTCrelated medical problems who have lost their health insurance coverage because 

they can no longer work due to health problems. 

I understand that Mount Sinai Hospital and the other clinics are now collecting 

more comprehensive information on the available health insurance and workers’ 

compensation coverage for people in the monitoring and treatment programs. These 

data may better address these questions. 

QUESTIONS OF SENATOR CLINTON

Question 1. In your testimony, you mention your survey of major union groups 

to evaluate their health insurance and disability coverage. While the information is 

not yet complete, we would appreciate a detailed preliminary analysis of this survey, 

including an analysis of the ways in which 9/11-related conditions are or are not 

covered by such plans. In such analysis, please detail the various components of 

care that may be covered, including prescription drug coverage, inpatient and outpatient care, and mental health coverage, and the ways in which each group provides these benefits. 

Answer 1. The WTC workers are covered by a variety of different health insurance programs as described in the answer to Senator Enzi’s question. The attached 

table describes two of the health insurance plans covering the WTC workers: 

a. The Mason Tenders District Council plan is a typical construction trades’ plan 

offered by Aetna USHealthcare. The benefits program is administered through a 

joint labor-management trust fund. Members are entitled to this plan only if they 

have worked at least 400 hours in the previous 6 months. Other construction trades 

unions have similar plans. 

b. The New York City health care benefits over a variety of coverage plans. I used 

the GHI plan as an example. These plans are available to all NYC workers (including the Fire and Police Departments). Pharmaceutical coverage is not provided but 

is offered through individual unions. I used the District Council 37 plan which covers a large number of city workers not in the Uniformed Services. The drug plans 

are collectively bargained with the city by each union. 

As I mentioned in my testimony, these health insurance plans do not provide coverage for work-related illnesses. All claims are administratively reviewed, and those 

found to be due to work-related illnesses or injuries are denied. 

Mason Tenders Health Plan NYC Health Plan (GHI as example) 

with DC37 Drug Plan 

Annual Deductible .................................. None ($200 if out of network) .............. None ($200 if out of network) 

Coinsurance ............................................ 100 percent (80 percent if out of network).100 percent (80 percent if out of network) 

Out-of-Pocket Limit ................................ N/a ($1500) ........................................... N/A ($500) 

Lifetime Maximum .................................. $1,000,000 ............................................. $2,000,000 

Office visits, medical care, etc. ............. 100 percent after $20 copay ................ 100 percent after $15 to $20 copay 

(more if out of network) 

Surgery, inpatient care ........................... 100 percent (80 percent after deductible if out of network).100 percent after $300 deductible 

(more if out of network) 

Emergency Room .................................... 100 percent after $25 copay ................ 100 percent after $50 copay 

Mental health ......................................... 100 percent after $20 copay up to 30 

visits per year (80 percent if out of 

network).

100 percent after $15 to $20 copay in 

network 

Prescription Drugs .................................. 100 percent after $10 copay generic 

and $30 copay for brand name 

drugs.

$100 percent with $5 to $70 copay depending on drug list and mail order 

171 

QUESTIONS OF SENATORS KENNEDY, ENZI, AND CLINTON TO THE HON. MICHAEL R. 

BLOOMBERG

QUESTIONS OF SENATOR KENNEDY

Question 1. New York City’s report, ‘‘Addressing the Health Impacts of 9-11,’’ provides an estimate for the treatment and monitoring costs for 9/11 related illnesses 

of $393 million per year. In addition, the National Institutes of Occupational Safety 

and Health estimates costs of $257 million per year to continue operating the Mt. 

Sinai Consortium and Fire Department of New York programs. Yet, elsewhere, the 

city has also stated that the funds needed to continue operating the current programs will be approximately $150 million a year. 

Question 1a. Please account for the difference between these two estimates. In 

particular, please enumerate what you believe the total cost will be to treat and 

monitor affected populations, not simply the costs to the City. 

Question 2. Please explain how you arrived at the ‘‘treatment rate’’ estimates provided in your report. Were these data drawn from the World Trade Center Health 

Registry Initial Enrollment survey? Do they incorporate information from NIOSH, 

Mt. Sinai Consortium, Bellevue Hospital, and FDNY programs for that survey? 

QUESTIONS OF SENATOR ENZI

Question 1. After reviewing the report you outlined at the hearing, it is clear you 

are asking for a great deal of Federal funding for a number of different programs 

and initiatives. Given these requests, can you delineate for us how much you would 

request for each program and describe the overall outer limit of your funding request? 

Question 2. Are you seeking Federal funding to treat any New York City resident 

requesting mental health services based on 9-11? How would you prioritize funding 

to ensure that those most in need receive care first? What evidence-based treatment 

protocols would you follow in providing this care? 

Question 3. With your background in financial information technology, you certainly understand the benefit of consolidating diverse data under a single roof. What 

is the rationale for maintaining 5 or 6 different monitoring programs? 

Even if these different programs are maintained, what is the rationale for not providing a single point of access for all the aggregated data? Without it, we seem to 

miss a global perspective of the health effects that could be illuminating and residents and recovery workers have difficulty help and services. 

Question 4. Why should monies for treatment go to the City and the Centers for 

Excellence instead of into funds that can be tapped by the victims themselves to pay 

for care as they need it? 

Question 5. You recommend reopening the 9/11 Victim’s Compensation Fund to 

compensate individuals for possible 9/11 related illnesses. How would you suggest 

this direct, lump sum system be used to provide for long-term care for those with 

chronic conditions or to take emerging conditions into account? 

Question 6. In your testimony, you indicated that the New York Workers Compensation may not be well-suited to compensate 9/11 victims. I have been informed 

that New York has made a number of changes, some due to the infusion of Federal 

funding, which would make it far easier for these victims to utilize. Volunteers have 

been made eligible, the statute of limitations for 9/11 injuries was eliminated and 

medical and lost wage benefits are paid for up to one year while a claim is adjudicated. 

Why should we not look to this existing system with mechanisms in place to 

evaluate injuries and provide medical care, disability benefits and lost wages, to aid 

9/11 victims? If further improvements need to be made to the system in order to 

provide adequate aid, hasn’t New York shown it is willing to make those changes? 

QUESTIONS OF SENATOR CLINTON

Question 1. In ‘‘Addressing the Health Impacts of 9-11,’’ the total projected annual 

costs for treatment and monitoring programs is $393 million per year. However, at 

the hearing, you noted that the funds needed to continue to operate and expand the 

current World Trade Center health-related programs are approximately $150 million per year. 

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Could you please outline in greater detail the ways in which you arrived at the $150 million estimate? What accounts for the differences between these $150 million 

estimate and the $393 million estimate, and how will the differences between these 

estimates be accounted for by other sources of funding? 

Question 2. The Mayor’s report cites the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health’s estimate of $257 million in total annual costs for the treatment and 

monitoring programs funded by the federal government. This estimate covers the 

currently existing programs at the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) and the 

Mount Sinai Consortium, and does not cover the program at Bellevue, which is operated by New York City. Your $150 million estimate calls for funding to sustain both 

the FDNY and Mt. Sinai programs, as well as to sustain and expand the Bellevue 

Program. Can you please explain the differences between the NIOSH estimate and 

your $150 million estimate? 

Question 3. In this report, New York City estimates that the treatment rate for 

‘‘Other City Workers’’ and ‘‘Other Workers and Volunteers’’ is: 

• 3.50 percent for respiratory disease, • 1.67 percent for mental health conditions that require medication, and • 3.33 percent for mental health conditions that do not require medication. 

These estimates have been derived from the World Trade Center Health Registry 

Initial Enrollment survey. Please explain when and how this survey was conducted, 

the populations included in the survey, and the ways in which treatment estimates 

were derived from this survey. 

Question 4. The NIOSH estimate of treatment rates, which come from the Mt. 

Sinai and FDNY programs, is: 

• 30 percent for respiratory diseases, • 10 percent for mental health conditions that require medication, and • 15 percent for mental health conditions. 

What accounts for the difference in estimates in treatment rates? 

Question 5. In preparing this report, what lead to the decision to use estimates 

from the World Trade Center Registry, rather than the NIOSH treatment rates 

based on the monitoring and treatment needs in existing programs? 

QUESTIONS OF SENATORS ENZI AND CLINTON TO KERRY KELLY, M.D. 

QUESTIONS OF SENATORS ENZI

Question 1. What happens when firefighters who need it don’t get treatment for 

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and how are these responders diagnosed? 

To what extent are firefighters and paramedics NOT receiving mental health 

services? 

Question 2. Given that FDNY responders are the only group with baseline medical 

data and the ones exposed earliest and longest after 9/11, do you think these responders are the best sentinel population for monitoring health effects—even longterm unknown effects? 

Question 3. The FDNY has had a long-standing internal medical monitoring and 

treatment program for firefighters, EMTs, and retirees. How did this infrastructure 

help or hinder your ability to use Federal funds efficiently? Without this infrastructure, what obstacles would the FDNY have had to overcome to administer the program? 

QUESTIONS OF SENATOR CLINTON

Question 1. We understand that the FDNY routinely collects and reports information on the number of patients seen in the monitoring and treatment programs 

along with additional information, including diagnoses, referral from monitoring to 

treatment program, type of treatment provided, employment status, occupation, insurance status, and workers’ compensation claim status. Could you provide the committee with the most recent aggregate data for the FDNY program? 

Question 2. We also understand that the FDNY also reports information on the 

monitoring program on a monthly basis that includes information on the number 

of people examined, the type of exam (initial, follow-up, etc.), and the waiting times 

for scheduling examinations. Could you provide the committee with these monthly 

reports for the past year? 

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QUESTIONS OF SENATOR ENZI TO JOAN REIBMAN, M.D. 

Question 1. Given that the World Trade Center Health Registry, with more than 

$30 million in Federal funds, has a system in place to capture health effects of area 

residents and workers, why do you think an additional monitoring program at your 

Hospital is necessary to capture this information? 

Question 2. You mentioned that any area resident or worker can receive treatment at your medical center for World Trade Center-related conditions. How is their 

eligibility for treatment at the hospital determined? Can anyone claiming that an 

illness is related to 9/11 receive treatment or get screened at Bellevue? 

Question 3. How would Bellevue Hospital Center prioritize Federal funding for 

treatment of residents and non-response workers to ensure those most in need receive care with Federal dollars? Would you establish more clearly defined eligibility 

criteria? 

QUESTIONS OF SENATOR ENZI TO JEANNE STELLMAN, PH.D. 

Question 1. With the numerous monitoring and treatment programs for 9/11 responders, there has been some confusion as to what population is at highest risk 

for having a 9/11-related health condition. 

From an epidemiologic perspective, who would be the most at-risk for developing 

these conditions and what spectrum of conditions should we expect to see in this 

population? 

Question 2. How would you characterize the difference in exposure and development of an illness between a responder that worked on the pile for a few months 

after 9/11 and a resident in the vicinity of the site for a few hours on 9/11? 

[Editor’s Note: Responses to the above questions were not available at 

time of print.] 

[Whereupon, at 12:55 p.m., the hearing was adjourned.] 

Æ