New Yorkers Health Still In Danger WTC Poisons and Bush Admin Cover-Up

[Dancing_Dave]

Two years ago I raised the question "Did the Bush Gang Poison New York City" in a DU forum. Since then, plenty of research and activism has produced decisive evidence that the Bush Administration did indeed carry out a long-term systematic cover-up of the environmental impact of the WTC being blown to smithereens, and that created a tragic health disaster for many people in New York City. Many of the worst health effects from breathing the fine toxic dust can take years to appear, and they can be disabling and life-threatning. Poisons got in water too, and lodged deep in buildings, the whole environment was poisoned. Massive activism from New Yorkers is the only thing which can rectify the situation.

The investigative journalist Juan Gonzalez and Joel Kupferman of the New York Environmental Law and Justice Project gallantly took the lead in busting the cover-up and exposing the terrible truth that power tried to hide. Joel's NYELJP is now involved in great legal efforts to bring justice to those whose health was destroyed by the Bush Administrations cover-up. Check their fascinating site out:
http://www.nyenvirolaw.org/index.htm

Joel put a good summery together for publication in a book called Lost Liberties, where many lawyers strike back against the Bush Administrations suppression of the Costitutional Rights and the Publics Right to Know. You can download a PDF of Joel's great article: http://www.nyenvirolaw.org/PDF/Kupferman-Chapter-in-LOST-LIBERTIES.pdf

Most recently the Sierra Club did a long study showing that the cover-up and it's long term health effects were even worse than anyone had imagined. This is the PDF: http://www.sierraclub.org/groundzero/report.pdf

Here's some great journalistic responses to it, two of them by Juan Gonzalez:
http://www.commondreams.org/news2004/0818-03.htm
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/08/19/1354251%20
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/story/223498p-192024c.html

Long-time DU scientific contributer Plague Puppy is also following this issue at his own web-site, and putting it side by side with information about how the WTC was actually demolished, so you can understand the whole disaster and the dissimulation around it:
http://home.comcast.net/~jeffrey.king2/wsb/html/view.cgi-home.html-.html

The Sierra Club is also gathering thousands of signitures for a public petition to the Bush Administration to renounce the cover-up, take care of all the New Yorkers who got sick as a result, and change to a more honest and effective way of handling such disasters:
http://www.sierraclub.org/petition/groundzero/

You can also go to the anti-RNC protests with a sign that says "Why did the Bush Adminstration Poison the People of New York City?" You'll probably find some interested fellow-citizens to bond with!

[Dancing_Dave]

1. 9/11 Environmental Action in New York City

Especially if you live in NYC, please check out this crucial activist group with a fine website:
http://911ea.org

If you are sick of the injustice, they can help.

[Dancing_Dave]

2. Great science site showing what happened to WTC and cover-up

Here's a great scientific site which will help you to understand what really happened to the WTC and how it was covered-up:
http://911research.wtc7.net/index.html

I bet a lot of this stuff is going to get into RNC protest events...it would truely be the Bush Administration's worst nightmare to have this come out in the coverage of their own convention!

[KT2000]

3. So much to this story

The environmental aspects of 9/11 were handled in a manner
consistent with ALL environmental disasters - which is to say
that the hazards were ignored. I hope people really understand
this.

On that day in 2001 there was an army of people trying to
convince people of the dangers of the dust - pulverized
buildings and furnishings that would include asbestos,
mercury, benzene, dioxin and more. These were people who had
personal experience with being poisoned themselves and wanted
desperately to save others.

What we found out though is that in an environmental
emergency, government agencies are in charge, not the medical
community.  In fact the so-called medical experts take their
orders from a variety of agencies - EPA, city, state and
county health agencies, etc. But in the case of 9/11, EPA was
in charge and was nothing less than feeble.

I remember checking the web page of the largest medical
society that deals with environmental health issue, the
American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
(acoem.org) only to find advice for medical directors on how
to address stress in workers affected by the news of 9/11 and
nothing about the health effects of the pollutants in NYC.
Please note that corporations have pretty much taken control
of the field of environmental medicine. 

Here is a link to a chat board of environmental health
specialists for the month of September 2001.  You may see that
in large part the medical profession is not of one mind when
it comes to saving and preserving lives in such an emergency.

http://list.mc.duke.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A1=ind0109&L=occ-env-med-l&D=0&H=0&O=T&T=1


The lesson I hope people take from this event is that it was
handled in the same manner as all environmental disasters.
Trauma victims are treated immediately, but then the issues of
liability and cost are the concerns that weigh most. The
chronically ill people that result from such a disaster are
"managed" through legal proceeding (workers comp,
social security disability, torts) because that is cheaper
that preventing their illnesses in the first place.
Except for the rare voice, the medical specialists are
beholden to their corporate sponsors and go along with the
travesty.

[Dancing_Dave]

5. THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

It's great that we DO have some people like you at DU who can say something really intelligent and relevent about an issue that matters! :)

You should definately join the 9/11 Environmental Action group which has done so much to publicize this issue, involve the community, and insist on accountability. http://911ea.org.

[Dancing_Dave]

6. Thinking more about what you had to say....

Corporate sell-out in the medical community certainly does contribute to dangerous cover-ups. Such a cover-up does not require everyone involved to be consciously part of any conspiracy. The system throttles the discussion we need.

The EPA is legally madated to defend the public interest in these cases, but the Bush Administration set up an EPA which just didn't do it's job. This Bush Administration is truely the most anti-environmental Administration we have ever had.

[KT2000]

7. Environment = Public Health

(my mantra)

There is a great article, "The Rise and Fall of Occupational Medicine in the United States" by Jospeh LaDou, MD Am J Prev Med 2002;22(4):285-295 May still be accessible through:
http://occ-env-med.mc.duke.edu/oem/ladou.htm

this is the history that describes a rather incidious take-over of occ/env medicine. I'm not talking about an overt take-over but just the carrot$$ and sticks that are offered to the medical community to follow the wishes of the corporate benefactors. Many times doctors do not realize they have been "trained" into promoting the corporate interests.

In my interest in 9/11, I came across a most ironic story that came out of this event. You can see some of this info on the Duke chat for 9/01.

Dr. Irving Selikoff (1915-1992) and his associates were the ones who identified the link between asbestos and lung disease. He was elated because his discovery meant that most illnesses could now be prevented. The link between environment and illness had been established.

They were mid-way in the construction of the WTC in NY when Dr. Selikoff and others were horrified by the careless handling of asbestos - it was all over lower Manhattan contaminating workers and residents. They were able to stop that and have construction methods changed from asbestos to other materials.
Dr. Selikoff was a well respected, courageous advocate for PEOPLE and their health. He was honored by having the occ/environmental health clinic at Mt. Sinai Hospital in NYC named after him.

Dr. Philip Landrigan now heads that clinic. He has been an advocate for a cleaner environment for children's health and often testifies before gov. agencies for better health protections. But I am afraid that in the aftermath of 9/11 he weakened to the power of the EPA. He is now an advocate for monitoring the sick but at the time he failed to advocate for the health of the people in NYC. I recall in one NYT article, he joined the reporter in minimizing the environmental dangers, even making fun of a woman they witnessed wearing a mask and carrying an air cleaner on her way to work. He was one of the best and even he broke to their will.

Dancing Dave, it looks like not many are even interested in this issue, which is too bad because of all the issues on the table, environment dictates the health of our population and the viability of the next generation - and we are failing miserably.

New Yorkers must prevail in this fight.

[Dancing_Dave]

8. NCY 9/11 Convergance Space during RNC protests

At the Brecht Forum from August 27 to September 2, there will be a series of events bringing together 9/11 truth seekers in the inspiring atmosphere of New York's "counter-convention" against the RNC. Certainly, the crucial struggle for environmental public health accountability should be part of it.

From the anti-RNC events up through 9/11/2004, there may be a key window of opportunity for New Yorkers to move forward toward prevailing in this fight for truth and justice.

[Dancing_Dave]

4. HELLO? Any New Yorkers Here? Does Anyone Care?

This is a major issue that's about to explode right in the Bush Administration's face outside their convention. Is there anyone left at DU who can discuss a real public issue with some depth to it? This is no time to be shallow and easily distracted!:think:

Well, now I'm glad to see that we at least one responsible DU'er in here this weakend. We can't beat Bush by being as shallow as he is. He knows that game of distraction all to well.