Study Links Health Risks, 9/11

NEW YORK — The largest study of rescue workers at the World Trade Center site has found that 70% developed breathing problems while working there and -- to the surprise of doctors -- many were still suffering years later.

As they labored on "the pile," responders breathed in a caustic, pulverized dust that penetrated deep into their lungs and sinus cavities. The dust contained "trillions upon trillions of microscopic shards of glass," as well as asbestos and other carcinogens, Dr. Philip J. Landrigan, co-author of the study at Mount Sinai Medical Center, said Tuesday.

"So, what's going to be the future for these people? Will they die of the illnesses they are now suffering?" Landrigan said. "I don't know."

Researchers at Mount Sinai said they hoped the findings would establish a conclusive link between illness and work done at ground zero. Dr. Stephen Levin, the director of Mount Sinai's monitoring program and a co-author of the study, complained that his patients were "being called malingerers and liars and cheats" when they sought health benefits from the government.

But even as he announced three city initiatives to study and treat health effects from the terrorist attack, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg on Tuesday said scientific evidence had not connected specific symptoms with conditions at the site.

"You've got to understand that these kinds of health problems that we're talking about here aren't a piece of debris falls on you and you are injured," he said. "This is something that over a long period of time develops, and you're never really sure what the connections between cause and effect are."

Researchers at Mount Sinai examined close to 12,000 firefighters, police officers, construction, transit and utility workers during the 21-month period covered by the study; of those, 9,500 agreed to allow their results to be published. The study, which will appear Thursday in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, found that World Trade Center responders had double the rate of lung abnormalities expected in the U.S. population. The results, the study said, are particularly striking given that the workers who served at the site tended to be healthy at the time.

Among workers who had no breathing problems before Sept. 11, 2001, 61% developed symptoms while working on the site. The study also found that the earlier workers arrived at ground zero after the attack, the worse their symptoms. And 60% of workers still had symptoms by the time they were examined at Mount Sinai. The tests took place from July 2002 to April 2004.