Yerdaddy
09-06-2006, 08:58 AM
<p>Honestly, I'm so dissilusioned with my country right now - at the same time I'm getting dissilusioned with other people's country - that I just can't stand the thought of these people getting treated like they were poor New Orleans negroes. Call your reps in Congress and just tell them you're paying attention to the story and if they don't do what they can to help get the 9/11 workers the medical care they need - because they're too cheap or they're covering for the Bush administration's lies that the air was safe - that you'll hold them responsible on election day. That's all it takes to make a difference. If these people get fucked I'm just going to lose all hope.</p><p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/06/nyregion/06health.html?hp&ex=1157601600&en=8484e7fccbd3deb5&ei=5094&partner=homepage" target="_blank">Illness Persisting in 9/11 Workers, Big Study Finds</a> </p><p>The largest health study yet of the thousands of workers who labored at ground zero shows that the impact of the rescue and recovery effort on their health has been more widespread and persistent than previously thought, and is likely to linger far into the future. </p><p>The study, released yesterday by doctors at Mount Sinai Medical Center, is expected to erase any lingering doubts about the connection between dust from the trade center and numerous diseases that the workers have reported suffering. It is also expected to increase pressure on the federal government to provide health care for sick workers who do not have health insurance. </p><p>Roughly 70 percent of nearly 10,000 workers tested at Mount Sinai from 2002 to 2004 reported that they had new or substantially worsened respiratory problems while or after working at ground zero.</p><p>The rate is similar to that found among a smaller sample of 1,100 such workers released by Mount Sinai in 2004, but the scale of the current study gives it far more weight; it also indicates significant problems not reflected in the original study. </p><p>For example, one-third of the patients in the new study showed diminished lung capacity in tests designed to measure the amount of air a person can exhale. Among nonsmokers, 28 percent were found to have some breathing impairment, more than double the rate for nonsmokers in the general population.<br />Members of the New York Congressional delegation, who have been fighting to get the federal government to recognize the scope of the health problem created by toxic materials at ground zero, saw the Mount Sinai study as proof that the federal government has been too slow to address the issue. </p><p>Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, who participated in the news conference at Mount Sinai yesterday morning, along with Representatives Jerrold Nadler and Carolyn B. Maloney, said that the results made the need for federal assistance for treatment more critical than ever. </p><p>“This study, I hope, puts to rest any doubt about what is happening to those who were exposed,” said Mrs. Clinton, who was among those who pushed for $52 million in federal funding for health treatment for the ground zero workers, the first treatment money provided by the Bush administration. “This report underscores the need for continued long-term monitoring and treatment options — they go hand in hand,” she said.</p><p>Several members of the delegation are scheduled to meet in Washington tomorrow morning with Michael O. Levitt, the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, to press for more aid. </p><p>Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, speaking at a news conference at City Hall yesterday, questioned the conclusiveness of the study, saying that statistics could suggest a connection between events, but not prove a direct link.</p><p>“I don’t believe that you can say specifically a particular problem came from this particular event,” he said. Nonetheless, Mr. Bloomberg announced that the city would create a screening and treatment program for anyone exposed to the trade center dust or fumes.<br />[quote