9/11: Six years on the death toll is still rising
The environmental impact of the collapse of the World Trade Centre towers on 11th September are still centre stage on this, the sixth anniversary of the attacks. Over 100 people who were present at 'Ground Zero' on that day have died and a staggering 70% of the 'first responders' are ill. Many believe it's as a direct result of breathing in the toxic dust on that fateful day. The dust contained particles of asbestos, lead, glass, and cement. If this rate of illness holds true for those who lived and worked near the Twin Towers the number of seriously ill New Yorkers could reach 300,000 in the near future. around 70,000 people have registered on the World Trade Center Health Registry, which tracks the health impact of 9/11, but this doesn't include those who claim to have been affected outwith the one mile radius of the disaster zone.
Amongst those thought to have died as a result of the exposure is a civil rights attorney - Felicia Dunn Jones, who worked one block from the towers and was caught in the dust storm when the towers fell. She developed a serious cough the following January and died only five weeks later from sarcoidosis, an immune disorder caused by toxic exposure. Her name will be added to the memorial due for completion in 2009, which honours the victims of the attacks.
Initially coughs and mental disorders were the most common complaints to local doctors after 11th September, then chronic respiratory and gastrointestinal conditions began to emerge. Now many of the first responders have developed a rare blood cancer. Many experts believe this is just the tip of the iceberg and many other problems will appear of the next few decades.
