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May 25, 2013
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 Documents Show Feds Downplayed Ground Zero Health RisksPosted on Sep 11, 2011
By Anthony DePalma, ProPublica This article was published earlier by ProPublica and The Guardian. In the dark and uncertain days after Sept. 11, 2001, the sight of thousands of shaken New Yorkers returning to their apartments, offices and schools in Lower Manhattan seemed to signal a larger return to normalcy. Now new documents have emerged showing that federal officials in Washington and New York went further than was previously known to downplay concerns about health risks, misrepresenting or concealing information that ultimately might have protected thousands of people from the contaminated air at ground zero. In one instance, a warning that people should not report to work on a busy thoroughfare in the financial district—Water Street—was rewritten and workers instead were urged to return to their offices as soon as the financial district opened on Sept. 17. In another, federal officials declared that testing showed the area was safe when sampling of the air and dust—which ultimately found very high levels of toxic chemicals—had barely begun. The documents do not reveal how—or whether—federal officials explicitly weighed the competing goals of ensuring New Yorkers’ safety and projecting an image of a city and nation unbowed. But taken as a whole, the records—which include email messages from the White House’s Council on Environmental Quality to the Environmental Protection Agency and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, as well as interagency correspondence—give the most detailed account yet of how officials kept potentially disturbing data about health risks from the public. Advertisement “The misleading communications by civic leaders and their failure to insist on respiratory protection in the days, weeks and months after the initial rescue operation ended undoubtedly contributed and will continue to contribute to sickness in the rescue and recovery workers and in the citizens of Lower Manhattan,” said Dr. Philip J. Landrigan, chairman of the Department of Community and Preventative Medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Mount Sinai has screened more than 25,000 ground zero responders for illnesses suspected of being related to the dust and treated many of them. In response to questions about the way the disaster was handled, the EPA issued this statement: “The federal response to 9/11 has been thoroughly examined, including by EPA’s own Inspector General. What is clear is that dedicated EPA staff worked tirelessly under nearly impossible conditions to respond to an unprecedented disaster.” The statement goes on to note that the events of 9/11 tested the agency in many ways “and it is clear that some things could have been done better. Our focus every day since 9/11 has been on working to improve and expand our capacity to respond to emergencies.” As the 10-year anniversary of 9/11 approaches, questions continue to arise over the way government agencies assessed risks at ground zero and communicated what they knew to the public. In some respects, the documents examined by ProPublica, which were obtained through Freedom of Information requests filed by the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH), a labor union health group, expand upon what’s come out before about the White House’s role in shaping the information about ground zero contamination. In 2003, the EPA Inspector General issued a scathing report outlining how the agency recast some of its public communications at the behest of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, a branch of the Executive Office of the President. The report concluded that the White House had at least indirectly influenced the wording of some statements by removing cautionary language about air safety downtown. It also found that the EPA had gone beyond what it knew in making general statements about the air in the first weeks after the attacks. In particular, the report harshly criticized Christine Todd Whitman, the EPA administrator in 2001, for telling people in New York that the “air is safe to breathe” before she had the facts to back it up. Whitman declined to comment on the newly released documents. But in 2007, she strongly defended her agency before a congressional committee investigating the 9/11 response. “It’s utterly false then for EPA critics to assert that I or others at the agency set about to mislead New Yorkers and rescue workers,” Whitman told the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, whose chairman, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., represents the area around ground zero. “Every statement I made was based on what experts, who had a great deal of experience in these things, conveyed to me.” At the same hearing, Samuel Thernstrom, the associate director of communications for the environmental council, defended his role in coordinating the flow of information about ground zero, saying his goal had been simply “to help ensure that EPA’s statements were as clear and accurate as possible.” But the new records, some of which were made available to the New York labor group as recently as this summer, depict an administration more set on projecting confidence and protecting itself against political attacks.
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By anaman51, September 15, 2011 at 5:22 pm Link to this comment
This is just the skin on the grapefruit. I don’t think America could stand to see the real list of all the things our government has lied to us about, either by lying outright or by omission. It would scare the bejeezus out of most of us. Consider that our “benevolent” government has NEVER told us the entire truth about a damn thing, and never will. Our entire history is just a long list of coverups. Does your congressperson lie? Are his or her lips moving?
Report thisBy berniem, September 15, 2011 at 2:46 pm Link to this comment
Mr. President, don’t you think that it’s time to start “looking backward” and investigating the bush cabal for ALL of the crimes that they committed both foreign and domestic? New revelations RE: high level Saudi involvement with the perpetrators as well as what is detailed in this article should give you pause and spur a revision of your previously wrongheaded decision to “look forward” rather than pursuing your constitutional responsibilties! You have imprisoned BRADLEY MANNING for exposing war crimes but have allowed wrongdoers to evade accountability and brought shame and ridicule on this nation and yourself by not living up to your campaign promises to change this nation’s direction. I hope that you see your way clear to right your course as your presidency thus far has been a disaster!
Report thisBy pupmom, September 15, 2011 at 1:02 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Japan didn’t tell the truth.
BP pertaining to the Gulf Oil Spill didn’t tell the truth.
This ruination of trust & faith continues across the globe, in any language, on every given day we (the people) loose more faith in our future.
We are fools to believe anything or believe “in” anything told to us. So sad so disheartening.
Truth & honesty no longer rings from their lips.
Why the surprise?
Time is running out.
Report thisBy BR549, September 15, 2011 at 12:26 pm Link to this comment
Ask yourself why Corexit, touted as a oil spill dispersant, would have chromium, arsenic, lead, mercury, and cadmium in its “special” formula. That’s because it was designed as a way to dump industrial wastes and had little or nothing to do with acting as a surfactant in breaking up the oil, whether with the exxon Valdez or the Deep Water Horizon.
Report thisBy M.J., September 15, 2011 at 11:03 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
AE911Truth.org See their latest video. A shocker with evidence undeniable.
Report thisBy Laura Nason, September 15, 2011 at 7:46 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Those of us paying attention KNEW all this right from the start. WE knew those workers were not properly protected but those miniscule numbers of people who spoke up were systematically ignored while Guilli9/11ani and those higher up than his sorry behind continued to pump out the lies to “save money”.
Report thisNow, the same thing happened to the BP clean up crews and the people who live closest to the worst of the spill damage. Stands to reason that 10 years from now we will suddenly “discover” all the hidden dangers of breathing the contaminated air of the Gulf, eating seafood with oil/corexit cocktails having to be cleaned from inside their shells and innards, though I suspect the government will continue to send out flyers reports, allowing as how all that is perfectly safe to eat and we just MUST NOT stop eating seafood because the “industry” will be harmed. No, we just have to poison your kids rather than take a single nickel from the likes of BP, Exxon/Mobile etc., though for those teabaggers that worship your teabag masters screaming for NO regulation on these slime, maybe shrinking the teabag gene pool might be a good thing, but it should be YOU instead of your children who pay the piper. They can still learn the difference.
Here’s an example! Dr. Oz, on HLN a little while ago reported having had several brands of apple juice tested in certified labs, finding arsenic in most of them, in amounts higher than the supposedly amount allowed by EPA to be in drinking water. EPA immediately claimed that none of those labs was a sanctioned by them lab and therefore were not to be believed. Well experience has shown that EPAs own “sanctioned” labs have a clear incentive and proven track record of saying whatever their polluter controlled bosses tell them to say at any given time.
So sometime around 2019 expect to hear all the dirt on the oil pollution and all the sick, dying, and dead men, women and children, some of whom are already sick, dying or dead, and how we were lied to once again while those who are supposed to “protect the public”, instead, covered up for the men with the money.
NOTHING is ever going to change until these things begin to affect the money men but THEY don’t deserve “protecting”.
How many have heard there’s a new spill in the Gulf of Mexico? So far I’ve seen a couple sentences about it. Nothing on tv.
I just don’t understand why this country has to spend hundreds of billions of dollars killing thousands and thousands of people for revenge, if even ONE American is killed in a foreign country but believes it’s perfectly OK if tens of thousands of Americans are killed, or maimed, every year, directly or indirectly right here on American Soil just so long as the money men MAKE BIGGER PROFITS.
By golric, September 15, 2011 at 6:07 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Asbestos in those quanities costs a fortune to remove . But , I think something more sinester is involved . Active Thermetic Materials (Nano Thermite or Thermate)used in the Demolition (insurance fraud)of the Trade Center Buildings might be eating the flesh of the First Responders lungs . But NIST never bothered to check for explosives , did they ? Is this why survivors have to be put through an FBI (cover-up) interrogation before they can be treated ? 10 frickin years later and we’re still killing the wrong people for the crime of 9/11 . We need a new investigation with torture involved . Start with bush administration officials who believe in torture (cheney). Move on to larry silverstien and sivan kurtzberg (high fiver). Get some answers ! Anyone who believes the official story has got a screw loose in their grey matter or have never looked at any of the forensic evidence of the Crime . Well , I suggest that you do look at it with a slightly open mind . I know it’s hard for some and impossible for others but it needs to be done. It wasn’t Muslims with box cutters !
Report thisBy BR549, September 15, 2011 at 4:58 am Link to this comment
This was downplayed the same way as the whole issue of the involvement of factions within our own government in 9/11 going back before Reagan. Oliver North and his ilk; it goes back even before them, so as much as I think that Bush the Idiot was an absolute moron and that Obama is a just a lawn jockey marionette for the banks, the power grab goes WAY back. It goes back to the early 1800’s when England contorted its influence so that the Rothschild controlled banks would win after all, so far that the average person can’t get a handle on how to deal with it.
Sadly, most people, rather than try to become educated about these matters, gravitate to a Barcolounger with a six pack to watch another stupid ball game.
Report thisBy jltnol, September 13, 2011 at 8:59 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
“Every statement I made was based on what experts, who had a great deal of
experience in these things, conveyed to me.”
Why can’t ANYONE in the Bush Administration take responsibility for anything they
have done?
What Whitman is saying is that if she made statements that were misleading or
blatantly not true, then it’s really NOT her fault!
Kind of like Bush & Cheney saying that the intelligence(we chose to believe and not
the intelligence we chose to ignore) said Hussain had WMD’s.
They buck stops not with me, but with the person in front of me!
Report thisBy Dave L., September 13, 2011 at 8:56 am Link to this comment
How was Larry Silverstein supposed to make Billions from insurance payouts if he was instead tasked with removing asbestos the old fashioned way?
Report thisBy Lafayette, September 12, 2011 at 9:49 pm Link to this comment
PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT AFOOT IN AMERICA
Hear, hear.
November 2012 is the moment. Power to the Progressives.
And lets get our buts out from behind a PC to militate in next year’s elections. Prove that democracy works in America - show the Plutocrats the door ...
Reference WikiP-links:
* The Congressional Progressive Caucus And here
* Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) - note particularly the PDA policy papers referenced, to get an idea of what progressive values are all about. Also, find out about the PDA movement in your state by clicking on the map below contained on the linked site.
The Progressive movement is afoot in America. Get informed. Join it where you can.
It’s a lot more effective than bitching-in-a-blog because it turns opinion into votes and votes are all that matter finally. The endemic political apathy at the grassroots must be overcome and they need a clear way forward.
NB: Only 48% of Americans cared enough to vote in last year’s midterm elections - which put us in the Mess we are today.
Report thisBy Morpheus, September 12, 2011 at 6:25 pm Link to this comment
What else is new. The question is, when are we going to stand up and fix our country.
I’m not afraid anymore!
The Revolution has started -
Read “Common Sense 3.1” at ( http://www.revolution2.osixs.org )
FIGHT THE CAUSE - NOT THE SYMPTOM
Report thisBy Michael Cavlan RN, September 12, 2011 at 12:46 pm Link to this comment
Keepyourheadsdown and truthdigger
I had the exact same problem.
Given their record of standing for free speech and in opposition to censorship, my first thought was
We Are Anonymous
We Are Legion
We Are Divided By Zero
We Do Not Forgive
We Do Not Forget
Expect Us
Just a thought. Man those people are frigging heroes.
Report thisBy keepyourheaddown, September 12, 2011 at 6:20 am Link to this comment
They will all go to hell, but first they should all be in prison,
Report thisUS Government = LYING STUPID BASTARDS
By truedigger3, September 12, 2011 at 5:46 am Link to this comment
Good people,
I cannot access Chris Hedges’ last article as of last night and ONLY that article. I can access anything else in truthdig. Is anybody else having the same problem?!
Report thisBy truedigger3, September 12, 2011 at 5:41 am Link to this comment
Good people,
Is there a problem in accessing Chris Hedges’ last article? I cannot access that article as of last night and ONLY that article. I can access anything else in truthdig.
Report thisBy Lafayette, September 12, 2011 at 5:17 am Link to this comment
NO PRECAUTION
Yet another indictment of the deceitful Bush-Cheney regime. One can see Cheney’s “efficiency” writ large all over this decision.
Why the firefighters put up with it makes one wonder. The Twin Towers had been constructed with large amounts of asbestos now recognized as a key instigator of cancer. (See here.)
It is difficult to imagine why there was such a rush to clean-up the 911 debris that no thought was taken of precaution in the process.
Btw, since 911, medical costs for the firemen involved are assumed by the Federal Government. With the exception of one illness - that of cancer.
Do these firefighters, undeniably heroic, deserve to be treated in such an immoral manner? Not in the least.
BY THE WAY
The people who worked in those towers were also quite possibly victims of asbestos. It was considered “too costly” to remove the fireproofing.
According to EPA tests in the days just after 9/11 showed that the dust distributed over a several square miles about the towers contained 4% asbestos.
That level may be enough to provoke cancer in the future by those who breathed significant amounts of the asbestos-laced dust.
Read about the present US regulatory environment regarding asbestos in construction here.
In France, it is forbidden to use asbestos in any construction. And any construction that has employed asbestos in the past is condemned until it has been removed.
DOGMA
We, the sheeple, are being held hostage by the inanity of a “cheapest possible cost” mindset. Not to mention a political party that thinks the EPA should be scuttled because regulations “hurt business and destroy jobs”.
Yet again, more tedious dogma from the Rabid Right, whilst John Q. Public is left to assume the consequences of this healthcare time-bomb.
Report thisBy PatrickHenry, September 12, 2011 at 3:25 am Link to this comment
Believe me there is enough liability to go around.
Report thishttp://911research.wtc7.net/wtc/evidence/asbestos.html
By Inherit The Wind, September 12, 2011 at 3:17 am Link to this comment
A Republican White House and Mayor LIED???????
Shocking! Unheard of! Can’t be!
And this is a surprise?
Report thisBy Druthers, September 12, 2011 at 2:44 am Link to this comment
Down played?
Report thisIsn’t that an euphemism for lying?
Truth is now an “adjustment” of facts to control the population.
Soon anyone who disagrees with the official decree on any subject or presents facts contrary to the official version will be a “conspiracy theorist,” perhap even one of “them.”