Dust cloud's health impact widespread

A decade after the 9/11 terrorist attacks caused a toxic cocktail of dust and chemicals to fill the air where the World Trade Center used to stand, researchers and doctors are still trying to determine the full impact the dust cloud is having on people's health.

Thousands of people have health issues directly linked to the dust cloud at Ground Zero, which contained contaminants such as heavy metals and asbestos. After the dust settled, fires continued to burn, further filling the air with toxins.

While some who have been exposed to the dust cloud have died of respiratory diseases or cancer, a cause-of-death study has never been done, according to Dr. Michael Crane, deputy director of the Mount Sinai WTC Monitoring and Treatment Program.

"There is a tremendous amount we can learn from those who have passed on," said Crane. "The relationship between post-traumatic stress syndrome and depression has not been studied yet."

While some people exposed to the cloud have died, many survived but are suffering. Those in the area at the time the towers collapsed and many who responded to the disaster found themselves just days after being at Ground Zero in a condition that became known as the "World Trade Center cough."

"We found that the most enormous exposure happened with the instantaneous collapse of the towers that created the dust cloud," said Crane. "People there at that point got unprotected exposure -- they were basically under assault by the air they were trying to breathe -- those people have the greatest assortment of illnesses and the greatest severity."

Illnesses range from breathing problems to PTSD and anxiety disorders.

Crane said there were 60,000 to 80,000 responders in addition to volunteers who could have health implications as a result of the dust cloud.

"There is something called the healthy worker effect, which is tricky," explained Crane. "Before the event these people were healthy. Many were cops in pretty good shape and construction workers doing heavy lifting, so it's hard to compare these illness rates to the general population; in general, that population is not well."

Crane said that makes it difficult to study possible increases in an illness like cancer, which is currently being studied.

Robert Freeman of Hamden, a retired deputy chief with the West Haven Fire Department, is part of the Mount Sinai monitoring program for first responders.

"The residual health effects of first responders are not being recognized," said Freeman, who was a captain when he went to the scene with 10 of his colleagues the night of Sept. 11, 2001. They stayed until 6 p.m. Sept. 12; another crew from West Haven went on the 14th. Freeman believes that recognizing the health effects is the "right thing to do. Some guys were there for six months."

The West Haven firefighters who went the first night worked with New York firefighters on search and rescue, fire suppression and water supply relay, dragging hose lines for about 12 blocks.

In September 2007, Freeman was diagnosed with testicular cancer. After surgery in 2007, his follow-ups at the Hospital of Saint Raphael consisted of chest X-rays, CT scans of the chest, pelvis and abdomen, and blood work.

Freeman said he's asked his oncologist, Dr. Harold Tara, and medical professionals at Mount Sinai why he was getting chest X-rays. "They said if it comes back in the lung, that's probably where it started originally," he said. He asked whether the cancer could have been caused by inhaling toxins and they said "yes" but it's nothing positive, Freeman said. "They left the door open. It could have possibly been inhalation."

He also said that medical officials at Mount Sinai told him testicular cancer is becoming prevalent among those who were at Ground Zero.

The Zadroga Fund, a WTC victim compensation fund, recently maintained its decision not to cover cancer as a WTC-related condition for lack of evidence.

"We should be able to get preliminary data by the end of this year to see if the workers are suffering from cancer," said Crane.

The study is being conducted by a consortium including Mount Sinai, Queens College, New York University/Bellevue Occupational and Environmental Medicine Clinic, the State University of New York at Stony Brook and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.

According to an article in the Journal of Urban Health, 71,437 people enrolled in the World Trade Center Health Registry and 51 percent of them reported being in the dust cloud. The study estimates that more than 100,000 adults experienced new or worsening respiratory symptoms after 9/11.

"Afterward, there were masks, but it's like putting tissue over a water hole. Lungs simply cannot filter that. For people exposed to it, there wasn't much they could do; they still had to breathe," said Teresa Barnes, co-founder of the Coalition for Pulmonary Fibrosis.

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is one of the diseases that has been linked to the WTC dust cloud and one of the few fatal diseases that may be caused by the chemical mixture at Ground Zero.

"It essentially causes the patients to suffocate," Barnes explained. "It affects 128,000 in the U.S. at any given point in time, and there are 40,000 deaths a year. One percent of the patients are considered for (lung) transplant."

A lung transplant is the only cure for those diagnosed, who have about 2.8 years to live on average.

"We have been working on a bill that was introduced in Congress on July 12 that would allow us to set up a patient registry so we would be able to say 'Yeah, there are more people from Sept. 11 coming down with this,'" she said. "We know we have patients who were 9/11 responders involved in the aftermath. The question is did they get the disease from that or have a precursor to that?"

Barnes said there is "no question" that people living and working in the area around ground zero could have been exposed to something that caused the disease.

"The dust alone could have caused it," said Barnes. "The only people who aren't at risk are people who don't breathe. Everyone is at risk. Because of the magnitude of the catastrophe you can't get away from it."

Assistant Metro Editor Ann DeMatteo contributed to this story. Contact Alexandra Sanders at 203-789-5714. Follow her on Twitter @asanders88. To receive breaking news first - simply text the word nhnews to 22700. Standard msg+data rates may apply.