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CWA Studies Possible Health Hazards for NYC Workers
Scores of people working in and around the World Trade Center collapse are reporting coughs, respiratory infections, headaches and other medical problems that doctors — including some now associated with CWA — are studying to determine whether the symptoms are linked to air quality at the disaster site.
CWA District 1 and the Mount Sinai Occupational Medicine Clinic in New York City have received $500,000 to conduct baseline medical tests on CWA members who may have been exposed to toxins at the site or in the blocks around it.
Hundreds of CWA members were either in the trade center or within a block of it at jobs with Verizon and the New York-New Jersey Port Authority the day of the terrorist attacks. Hundreds more work in the downtown vicinity and many Verizon technicians have been on the site daily repairing telephone cables.
"We’re very concerned about our members working in and around the hot and warm zones and to what degree they’ve been exposed to hazardous substances and the subsequent health effects,” said Micki Siegel, director of CWA’s health and safety programs in New York State. “While government data has shown relatively low exposure levels at the work areas, many of the exposed workers, not necessarily our members, have reported and been diagnosed with severe upper respiratory illnesses.”
About 25 percent of the city’s firefighters have complained of severe coughing after working at the site. Four Port Authority police officers recently tested positive for elevated levels of mercury in their blood and students at a nearby high school have reported rashes, nosebleeds, headaches and respiratory problems, among many other medical cases, the Washington Post reported.
The federal Environmental Protection Agency announced in the weeks after the attacks that thousands of tests showed the air was safe. But not all EPA results were released until the nonprofit New York Environmental Law and Justice Project filed a Freedom of Information Act request. They discovered that tests showed elevated levels of dioxin, PCBs, lead and chromium — all toxic — in the air, soil and water around the site, according to the Post story.
Other scientists told the paper that the asbestos dust in the area is so finely pulverized that the EPA’s conventional tests may not pick it up, a theory they proved with their own tests. While the agency continues to insist the air is safe, it is recommending that landlords hire professional asbestos cleaners for their buildings and that workers on the site wear respirators.
“Clearly there is cause for caution and concern, and we implore the government to take that seriously,” CWA Safety and Health Director Dave LeGrande said. “None of us has all the answers yet, but studies like ours are imperative to ensure that we minimize health problems for our members and other workers, now and in the long term.”
The Mount Sinai study will cover exams for 500 CWA members and 500 people who weren’t in the exposure area in order to compare results. District 1 and involved New York locals will be getting information to their members soon about how to participate.
Additionally, members of CWA Local 1180 are taking part in a National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health study focusing on the physical and mental health of office workers in the immediate vicinity of the trade center site. NIOSH will conduct building evaluations and question members in selected offices in downtown Manhattan about symptoms. Results will be compared to data collected in other areas of the city.
Another study involving CWA members is being conducted by Columbia University, with funding from the National Institute for Mental Health. The project was initiated by The Newspaper Guild-CWA, whose members at the Wall Street Journal work across the street from the trade center.
The project is looking at the link between physical and psychological symptoms in the wake of the tragedy. Participants are meeting in one-hour focus groups and completing anonymous questionnaires.
Siegel said Columbia and the institute plan to seek additional funding for a long-term project to include mental health services and medical monitoring.
CWA District 1 and the Mount Sinai Occupational Medicine Clinic in New York City have received $500,000 to conduct baseline medical tests on CWA members who may have been exposed to toxins at the site or in the blocks around it.
Hundreds of CWA members were either in the trade center or within a block of it at jobs with Verizon and the New York-New Jersey Port Authority the day of the terrorist attacks. Hundreds more work in the downtown vicinity and many Verizon technicians have been on the site daily repairing telephone cables.
"We’re very concerned about our members working in and around the hot and warm zones and to what degree they’ve been exposed to hazardous substances and the subsequent health effects,” said Micki Siegel, director of CWA’s health and safety programs in New York State. “While government data has shown relatively low exposure levels at the work areas, many of the exposed workers, not necessarily our members, have reported and been diagnosed with severe upper respiratory illnesses.”
About 25 percent of the city’s firefighters have complained of severe coughing after working at the site. Four Port Authority police officers recently tested positive for elevated levels of mercury in their blood and students at a nearby high school have reported rashes, nosebleeds, headaches and respiratory problems, among many other medical cases, the Washington Post reported.
The federal Environmental Protection Agency announced in the weeks after the attacks that thousands of tests showed the air was safe. But not all EPA results were released until the nonprofit New York Environmental Law and Justice Project filed a Freedom of Information Act request. They discovered that tests showed elevated levels of dioxin, PCBs, lead and chromium — all toxic — in the air, soil and water around the site, according to the Post story.
Other scientists told the paper that the asbestos dust in the area is so finely pulverized that the EPA’s conventional tests may not pick it up, a theory they proved with their own tests. While the agency continues to insist the air is safe, it is recommending that landlords hire professional asbestos cleaners for their buildings and that workers on the site wear respirators.
“Clearly there is cause for caution and concern, and we implore the government to take that seriously,” CWA Safety and Health Director Dave LeGrande said. “None of us has all the answers yet, but studies like ours are imperative to ensure that we minimize health problems for our members and other workers, now and in the long term.”
The Mount Sinai study will cover exams for 500 CWA members and 500 people who weren’t in the exposure area in order to compare results. District 1 and involved New York locals will be getting information to their members soon about how to participate.
Additionally, members of CWA Local 1180 are taking part in a National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health study focusing on the physical and mental health of office workers in the immediate vicinity of the trade center site. NIOSH will conduct building evaluations and question members in selected offices in downtown Manhattan about symptoms. Results will be compared to data collected in other areas of the city.
Another study involving CWA members is being conducted by Columbia University, with funding from the National Institute for Mental Health. The project was initiated by The Newspaper Guild-CWA, whose members at the Wall Street Journal work across the street from the trade center.
The project is looking at the link between physical and psychological symptoms in the wake of the tragedy. Participants are meeting in one-hour focus groups and completing anonymous questionnaires.
Siegel said Columbia and the institute plan to seek additional funding for a long-term project to include mental health services and medical monitoring.