Reply #15: And what may be the worst aspect of it all? [View All]

[gratuitous]

Is that in a disaster like the Exxon Valdez or the collapse of the World Trade Center buildings or the Gulf of Mexico catastrophe, many people are motivated to go and "do what they can," help in any way to alleviate the suffering they see. I will not deny that for some there may be an exhibitionist streak showing, but thousands of people drop everything and go to the scene to offer their help from the best motives humanity has in it. And their reward is debilitating illness and death. The powers that administer these sites know damn good and well that sending in persons without adequate protection against the toxic environment is to hand those volunteers a death sentence. They let them go in anyway.