
ORGS
NYC Government
NYS Government
US Government
Advocates
BIDs
Civics
Culture
Foundations
History
Labor
Public/Private
Think Tanks
BOROS
Bronx
Brooklyn
Manhattan
Queens
Staten Island
News Sites
Daily News
NY Times
Daily News
NY Post
Newsday
New York Sun
NYC Weeklies
Amsterdam News
City Limits Weekly
Crain's New York Business
Gay City News
New York Magazine
New York Observer
New Yorker, The
Time Out New York
Village Voice
Dailies, Weeklies, Monthlies, etc. »
Other-Language Press
NYC Blogs »
State Pension Suits Settled
Crane License Procedures to be Overhauled
Young People Going Back to the Farm
Mayor Defends Opposition to 9/11 Bill
Citing cost, Mayor Bloomberg defended Monday his opposition to a torpedoed congressional bill to provide health care and compensation to Ground Zero workers.
New York State Prostate Cancer Coalition
Medscape
American Cancer Society
New York State Department of Health
HabitSmart
Protecting Health for 200 Years
Insure Kids Now
The Living City NYC
Risk of High Blood Pressure
Low Food Stamp Access in Immigrant Communities
Healthier School Buses
Mental Health of 9/11 Workers
by Deborah and Rodrick Wallace
And the Band Played On: Politics, People and the AIDS Epidemic
by Randy Shilts
Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global Public Health
by Laurie Garrett
Recovery Options: The Complete Guide: How You and Your Loved Ones Can Understand and Treat Alcohol and Other Drug Problems
by Joseph Volpicelli and Maia Szalavitz
The Death Of Innocents: A True Story of Murder, Medicine and High Stakes Science
by Richard Firstman and Jaime Talan
The World Trade Center Health Registry
by Michelle Chen
December 2004
When federal and city health officials announced in September, 2003 the launching of the World Trade Center Health Registry, they expected it could be the largest public-health investigation ever. Its aim was to understand the health effects of the September 11th terrorist attack and its aftermath by tracking for two decades people who had been exposed to Ground Zero.
More than a year later, there are some concrete findings about health complaints – and perhaps as many complaints about the survey itself.
The Findings So Far
The registry, a collaboration between the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, has enrolled more than 70,000 volunteer participants, people who resided, volunteered or worked near Ground Zero.
According to initial health data released recently:
- 47 percent of those analyzed complained of “new” or “worsened” health problems immediately following the attacks.
- These included respiratory irritations like shortness of breath (42 percent), wheezing (38 percent), and persistent cough (37 percent).
- Over 40 percent of respondents in the area around Ground Zero (beneath Chambers Street) reported eye problems as a result of the disaster.
- Over 20 percent of all interviewees said they experienced severe headaches.
- Eight percent of enrollees reported experiencing “psychological distress,” including anxiety and depression, in the month preceding the interview. This is a 60 percent higher rate than that of the New York City population in general.
At a press conference announcing the findings, Health Commissioner Thomas R. Frieden conceded that the prevalence of respiratory symptoms “is not surprising” in light of previous research. However, the results do give new indications as to the scope of the impact, according to Frieden: “What this shows is that tens of thousands of people had significant lung symptoms around the time of exposure to the WTC.”
The Criticism
The most recent findings do not impress critics, who see several things wrong with the survey.
Some, like Micki Siegel de Hernandez, director of occupation safety and health for New York State for the Communications Workers of America, say it says nothing new. Union members who worked at Ground Zero have been complaining of illnesses for years, and previous studies have made all the same points.
Some charge it is not scientifically valid.
The New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health, a non-profit advocacy organization, has long questioned the survey’s design: “The population under study is not scientifically determined; rather, it is a population of convenience.” Relying only on self-reported symptoms would not accurately reflect the effects of exposure to WTC contaminants.
David Newman, an industrial hygienist with the committee, said the registry’s design overlooks distinctions between “different potentials for exposure” among various subsets, including emergency responders, people caught directly in the dust cloud, and people living, working or going to school in the area. Newman believes that since the survey provides only an incomplete picture of those affected, “the utility of the data that’s going to be collected is limited.”
Some critics say there was inadequate outreach.
Despite efforts by community groups and registry staff to conduct special outreach to minority populations, the demographics of the surveyed population are skewed. Enrollment in the low-income, minority areas on the Lower East Side, at 4 to 10 percent of their respective census populations, was significantly lower than enrollment in the relatively affluent neighborhoods nearby, which ranged from 17 to 38 percent.
Kimberly Flynn, a leader of the advocacy group 9/11 Environmental Action, believes “inadequate public input and inadequate outreach” led to a lack of public trust and engagement in the project.
De Hernandez suggested that members of the Communications Workers of America were generally uninterested in enrolling in part because “neither labor nor the community was consulted in any kind of a meaningful way prior to the development and implementation of the registry.”
Some critics say the money could be better spent on direct services.
The registry was intended strictly as a scientific inquiry, with no promises of treatment for enrollees. “There was no direct benefit to individuals” for enrolling, said Health Commissioner Frieden, “but there will be a major direct benefit to New York City as a whole and to other jurisdictions [that] deal with natural or manmade disasters in the future.” In other words, registry data might someday help society bone up in preparation for the next 9/11.
The problem is, individuals still suffering from the last 9/11 think they are long overdue for some direct benefits. Community members have expressed frustration that some victims of 9/11 struggle with immediate healthcare and financial burdens that have not been addressed to this day.
Past and Future Challenges
Philip Alcabes, an epidemiologist at Hunter College who served on the Scientific Advisory Committee of the World Trade Center Registry, said the planners were challenged from the beginning by many factors, including politics, bureaucracy, and, above all, funding: the budget, he said, “was woefully small” for a project of this scope.
Whether the World Trade Center Health Registry will even fulfill its goal of tracking the health of its enrollees over 20 years is uncertain. Currently, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Environmental Protection Agency have committed $21.5 million, which will only cover the next four years of research. Officials are hopeful that funding will be extended.
In September, before the House Government Reform Committee, de Hernandez testified, “additional funding should not be provided for the continuation of the [registry]. Rather, this funding should be used to provide real medical services.”
But experts say it would be premature to tie enrollment to treatment before potential illnesses have been concretely defined.
“Treatment for what? We’re not sure yet,” said Lorna Thorpe, deputy health commissioner. “The registry is empirically trying to identify what the health problems are … in the broadest sense.”
As Alcabes put it: “It’s impossible to say ten years down the road what’s going to turn out to be the most important health consequence.”
Other Related Articles:
9/11 Health: Help at Last? (2006-09-11)
React to this article on our Health Message Board.
Visit the complete Topic Archives
Sites of Interest from Collegester:
Online Casino |
Wireless broadband |
Place
Your Link Here!




