Governing | "25 years after 9/11, World Trade Center toxins continue to claim lives”
Governing cited Dr. Rachael Jones, chair of the Department of Environmental Health Sciences, about health lessons learned from the Sept. 11 attacks.
Governing interviewed Dr. Rachael Jones, chair and professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences, about how lessons learned in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks can help safeguard against health risks in future disasters.
"When the Twin Towers collapsed 25 years ago, toxic dust, ash and smoke blanketed streets and shell-shocked New Yorkers. Residues of hundreds of chemical agents lingered and were recirculated during rescue and recovery operations. Dust found hiding places in offices and apartment buildings.
Since 2001, exposures to this material have claimed more lives than were lost in the attacks. More than 2,700 lives were lost in New York City on 9/11. Since then, more than 8,000 first responders and survivors suffering from illnesses related to toxic exposure — like lung cancer, blood cancer or respiratory illnesses — have died.
There’s also a structural problem on the worker health side, says Rachael Jones, director of the Center for Occupational and Environmental Health at the University of California, Los Angeles’ public health school.
The army of workers brought in to clean up buildings after disaster events, many informally employed, are even less integrated into systems intended to protect workers, Jones says."
