September 06, 2006

Ground Zero Workers Experience Lung Problems

With the five-year anniversary of the Sep. 11 attacks soon upon us remember there were victims besides the dead and wounded from the attacks. Rescue workers who toiled at Ground Zero also suffered from Osama bin Laden's evil attack:

Nearly 70% of recovery workers who responded to the attacks on the World Trade Center suffered lung problems during or after their work at ground zero, a new health study released Tuesday shows.
Less than a week before the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Mount Sinai Medical Center issued the results of the largest study on related health effects.

It found, among other things, that illnesses tended to be worst among those who arrived first at the site, and that high rates of lung "abnormalities" continued years later.

The study focused mostly on what has been dubbed "World Trade Center cough," which was little understood immediately after the attacks but became a chief concern of health experts and advocates.

"Major Health Study Finds 70% of WTC Recovery Workers Suffered Lung Problems"