Report Blasts Bush On Ground Zero Clean Up
The Progress Report
In a strongly-worded and minutely-detailed report, the Sierra Club
charges the Bush administration with “reckless disregard” for public
health in the days and months following the collapse of the World Trade
Center. “Many hundreds of people” are sick today, the report states,
some debilitatingly so, because of the government's failure to alert
the public to obvious health risks, including toxic smoke, asbestos and
mercury at Ground Zero. The report concludes: “Much of the exposure
that caused these illnesses, sadly, could have been avoided if our
federal government had responded to the crisis…with proper concern for
the people exposed.” The report is the most comprehensive in a litany
of evidence suggesting Bush administration officials ignored warnings,
misinterpreted data and issued a series of overly optimistic and
unsupported statements about environmental conditions which endangered
and in some cases ruined the health of heroic rescue workers and
residents in and around Ground Zero.
THE EPA WHITEWASH: The day after the World Trade Center collapsed, “a
top federal scientist warned in a strongly-worded memo against the
quick reoccupation of buildings in lower Manhattan because of possible
dangers from asbestos and other toxic materials.” But, unaccountably,
the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) first press release, on
Sept. 13, said the results of sampling were “very reassuring.” On Sept.
17, federal and city officials allowed thousands of people to return to
lower Manhattan, declaring a day later that “their air is safe to
breathe and their water is safe.” But EPA Inspector General Nikki
Tinsley later admitted, “the EPA had not gathered nearly enough data to
make such a sweeping declaration.” It was in these days, according to
the Sierra Club's report, that New Yorkers near the site were exposed
to dangerous levels of asbestos, lead, concrete, glass and other
debris, including toxic vapors easily assimilated into people's lungs
and nasal passenges. But on Oct. 3, the EPA said Ground Zero data
through Sept. 30 revealed “no significant health risks.“
PLEADING IGNORANCE
LANGUAGE GAMES
COUNCIL RUN BY INDUSTRY INSIDER
STEPS NOT TAKEN
WHAT YOU CAN DO
(Much, much more)
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