EPA scientist who warned of caustic dust from Ground Zero wins job back

[kpete]

Source: The Guardian

EPA scientist who warned of caustic dust from Ground Zero wins job back
Cate Jenkins was fired from job as chemist after accusing EPA of deliberately covering up dangers of 9/11 wreckage dust



A government scientist sacked for exposing the dangers to firefighters from the caustic air at Ground Zero in the days after 9/11 got her job back on Monday.

A federal court ordered that Cate Jenkins, a chemist at the Environmental Protection Agency, be reinstated to her job with back pay.

Her lawyer said the decision, although based on matters of legal process, amounted to vindication for Jenkins's claims that the EPA had covered up the danger posed to first responders and others in lower Manhattan from the asbestos and highly corrosive dust that rose from the wreckage of the World Trade Center.

It was also a rare victory for whistleblowers, said lawyer Paula Dinerstein. "This doesn't happen that often."

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/07/cate-jenkins-epa-ground-zero-dust?newsfeed=true

[Rosa Luxemburg]

1. Hopefully more tests can still be done on the dust samples

presumably they have kept the samples?

[harun]

2. What good would that do? Everyone knows it was toxic.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

9. but HOW toxic?

responders were not protected as they should have been! Regular masks were not enough. The admin at the time should have provided more protection.

[harun]

10. True. Many unanswered questions.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

11. wasn't there asbestos?

[freshwest]

3. Good for her and I hope she can continue on that subject. The GOP has voted down money for the

health care of 9/11 first responders and clean up crews forever. I hope the EPA will go after all those who allowed those people to get sick and die for doing their jobs while the rich took a tax holiday.

The people that benefit most from NYC's infrastructure of services rendered appears to have abandoned the people supporting the city that gives them their way of living.

[CreekDog]

7. her scientists told her differently before she made that announcement

making it even more inexcusable

[KT2000]

5. that she lost her job

is so ridiculous. The night of 9/11 and the days afterward, people who have already been injured by toxic chemicals (including myself) were emailing every organization we could think of to get people protected. It did not take a genius to realize that exploded building materials, computers, florescent bulbs, asbestos etc. are toxic. But when i checked the webiste of the mainstream occupational/environmental medicine group - all they had to offer was how to counsel workers across the country who were feeling stressed. On a chat page for such doctors, many of them said that taking precautions were not necessary in the emergency situation. There is plenty of shame to go around in the aftermath of 9/11.

[harun]

8. +1

[alittlelark]

6. I just finished watching a Chernobyl documentary

&feature=youtu.be

This story fit into my mindset.


PS - the 1st 4 minutes alone will make you gasp.