Controversy Continues Over Possible WTC Asbestos

Date: May 16, 2002

Source: News Room

Reports are continuing to indicate that hundreds of people cleaned potentially hazardous dust from buildings around the World Trade Center site without standard safety gear. The cleanup continued for months after Sept. 11 as public agencies issued confusing and often reassuring assessments of risks posed by the dust, according to public documents and dozens of interviews. Local and federal rules require elaborate safety procedures and respirators for workers cleaning up material that's more than 1 percent asbestos. As much as 35 percent of the dust may have contained that much, but labor groups charge that enforcement of the rules was lax, and federal officials acknowledge that it was a low priority. Now, the federal EPA and the New York City Environmental Protection Department will spend federal funds to professionally clean the apartment of any resident who requests it. Last Friday, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton announced that about $12 million in federal money has been allotted to track respiratory and other health problems among 8,000 rescue workers and others who helped clear debris at the trade center site.

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