Friday, April 09, 2010
9/11 firefighters (photo: AP)
The toxic cloud that enveloped the World Trade Center site following the September 11, 2001, attacks caused thousands of firefighters and medical workers to suffer long-term lung damage, according to a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Thirteen thousand rescue workers experienced at least a 10% loss in their breathing capacity that lasted seven years or longer. Those first on the scene, when the clouds of dust and ash were most poisonous, have endured even worse lung problems.
Researchers say 30% to 40%, or about 5,000 rescue workers, have had persistent symptoms (coughing, wheezing, sore throat, shortness of breath or sinus drip), including about 1,000 now considered to have “permanent respiratory disability” because of asthma or chronic bronchitis. Such conditions effectively end the careers of firefighters due to the nature of their work in smoky conditions.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Lung Function of 9/11 Rescuers Fell, Study Finds (by Denise Grady, New York Times)
Lung Function in Rescue Workers at the World Trade Center after 7 Years (by Thomas K. Aldrich, Jackson Gustave, Charles B. Hall, Hillel W. Cohen, Mayris P. Webber, Rachel Zeig-Owens, Kaitlyn Cosenza, Vasilios Christodoulou, Lara Glass, Fairouz Al-Othman, Michael D. Weiden, Kerry J. Kelly, and David J. Prezant, New England Journal of Medicine)
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