NEW YORK — City and federal health officials plan to interview as many as 200,000 people to determine whether exposure to smoke, dust and debris from the World Trade Center collapse can be linked to major health problems.
The $20-million survey funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency will be the largest of its kind in the United States, officials said Friday.
Organizers want to talk with residents, students and employees of Lower Manhattan, as well as rescue workers and others who were near the trade center on Sept. 11, 2001, and during the cleanup. They also want to talk with workers at the Staten Island landfill where the debris was analyzed.
"We want to find out: Is there a difference in health outcomes based on exposure or age or other factors?" said Sharon Campolucci, deputy director of the division of health studies at the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, which is designing the study with the city.
