1,700 Sue Over 9/11 Sickness

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1,700 Sue Over 9/11 Sickness

By McPhee

Daily News Police Bureau Chief

May 24, 2004

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/local/story/196481p-169671c.html

[For an archive of moe than 300 articles and documents concerning

9/11-related occupational and environmental safety and health, visit

http://www.nycosh.org/linktopics/WTC-catastrophe.html]

In a dramatic sign of escalating health problems stemming from 9/11,

more than 1,700 cops and firefighters have filed lawsuits against the

city claiming they were sickened by work at Ground Zero or the Fresh

Kills landfill.

To handle the unprecedented legal overload, the city's Law Department

set up a special division to tackle 9/11 claims and appointed attorney

Becker as chief of the World Trade Center unit.

Underscoring the problem's severity, a police officer was awarded a

tax-free disability pension after a judge issued a landmark ruling that

9/11 work was a contributing factor in the cop's cancer.

Lahm, 49, who retired from the 46th Precinct in the Bronx this

year, is battling terminal tonsil cancer - a condition his doctor claims

was caused by the toxins released at Ground Zero.

Last month, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Kibbie Payne ruled that

Lahm's cancer " was exacerbated " by his work after the terrorist attacks

and ordered the city to pay him a tax-free disability pension.

While most medical experts doubt any cancer clusters would emerge so

soon after 9/11, there is extensive evidence of other ailments among

those who worked at Ground Zero or Fresh Kills - where nearly 2 million

tons of Trade Center debris was taken to be sifted through.

The illnesses include sarcoidosis, a permanent lung condition; asthma;

reactive airway disorders; chronic coughs, and emergency workers with

glass lodged in their lung tissue, according to medical records reviewed

by the Daily News.

" If I got a cancer after working in the terrible conditions cops,

firefighters, construction workers did and developed a cancer a few

years later, of course my first thought would be I got it there, " said

Dr. Levin, the medical director of the center for occupational

and environmental medicine at Mount Sinai Medical Center.

But, he added, " It's too soon. It's impossible to say definitively there

is an increase in cancer until we get a better sense of the people whose

faces were in the plume there. "

Dr. Kerry , chief medical officer for the FDNY, has been monitoring

the health problems of firefighters since Sept. 11 and said while

respiratory issues are the most prevalent problem, cancer is a major

concern.

" We've had so many different reports from the EPA [Environmental

Protection Agency] we don't know what people were exposed to. The

synergy of all those substances mixed together ... we never had an

exposure such as this, " said. " Our concern is, what will be the

long-term consequence. Cancer tends to be something that develops after

years - but it's very hard to say the cancers we are seeing weren't

caused by what happened on 9/11. "

and FDNY spokesman Gribbon said firefighters tend to develop

cancer at a higher rate than civilians because of the toxins they are

exposed to. From 1999 to the World Trade Center attacks, 104

firefighters were diagnosed with cancer. From Sept. 11, 2001, until

today, that number dropped to 71.

More than 300 firefighters have retired with disabilities related to

injuries and illnesses related to their work at Ground Zero, Gribbon

said. There are an additional 300 disability pension cases pending,

meaning that 600 firefighters are on track to retire with three-quarter

pensions.

" The Fire Department is concerned about health risks. We gave medicals

to every one of our people since 9/11 - active and retired

firefighters, " Gribbon said.

The FDNY received a $25 million federal grant to monitor health issues

with firefighters. The NYPD was denied a similar grant.

NYPD Supervising Chief Surgeon Eli Kleinman, a hematologist and

consultant to the city's Trade Center health registry, said the

department is " very concerned " about cops developing cancer but has not

seen a spike in cases since the terror attacks.

" There are many unknowns here, " Kleinman said. " There is no evidence of

date of clusters of cancer or malignancies related to 9/11. One cannot

rule anything in or out. "

Detective Walcott is one of those cops who has filed a notice of

claim against the city seeking financial compensation after he was

diagnosed with cancer last May.

The rugged, athletic 39-year-old narcotics detective and hockey coach is

living with deadly acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) - a cancer his

doctors believe was caused by a toxic mix of pulverized compounds he

breathed in while sifting through the rubble at Ground Zero or the Fresh

Kills landfill.

AML is often caused by exposure to chemicals and radiation, primarily

benzene, a toxin found in airline fuel, his doctors and lawyers said.

Walcott said he never smoked, rarely drinks and lives in upstate New

York where he says he's never been exposed to any carcinogens.

" I've never been sick a day in my life, except for a sore throat or a

common cold, " Walcott told The News with his attorney, Worby, at

his side. " I've had friends of mine who were stationed with me [at the

landfill] visit me in the hospital and panic, asking me, 'Am I next?' "

This year, Walcott has undergone bone marrow transplants and a series of

chemotherapy treatments, and he often wakes up in the middle of the

night with blood coming out of his eyes. But the worst pain is not

physical, he said.

" I missed the first year of my daughter's life, " said Walcott, whose

only daughter, Colleen, recently turned 2.

" The hardest part is each day I spend with her, I think ... is this

going to be the last one? " he added, before his shoulders began to shake

with tears.

NYPD street crime Detective on, 43, became sick with

pancreatic cancer in March 2003, a year after he retired from the force.

on, his doctors and his attorney, Barasch, insist he

became sick inhaling carcinogens at Ground Zero 16 hours a day for five

months. He never smoked and has no family history of cancer.

" It's been a nightmare. My doctors are telling me basically to go home

and die, " said on, a married father of three children, ages 12,

9 and 7.

" Did I know the air was not safe? Yes. Would I go down there again today

knowing that? Yes. A lot of people made sacrifices, " he said. " I might

be a casualty of 9/11, but at least I had a few more years with my

family. "

on is not the only potential casualty associated with the health

risks of the Trade Center aftermath.

Union leaders for the police and firefighters say they've seen too many

cases:

Palladino, president of the Detectives Endowment Association,

had his members fill out a medical survey. He was disturbed by the

findings.

" I have a lot of active detectives who are extremely sick. I have

retired detectives, healthy people, coming down with all kinds of

strange illnesses, cancers and diseases they never had before. "

Uniformed Firefighters Association President Cassidy said three

Brooklyn firefighters have been diagnosed with thyroid cancer since

working at Ground Zero. Another has leukemia. Hundreds more have retired

with asthma and other respiratory issues, he said.

" All these guys with cancer worked extensively at Ground Zero. How can

anyone draw a conclusion that the cancer is not related to their work

there? " Cassidy said.

Port Authority Patrolman's Benevolent Association President Gus Danese

said his members are complaining of lung ailments, mouth sores and

chronic coughs. He is bracing himself for worse.

" We lost 37 members on 9/11. Could that number go higher because of the

air quality at Ground Zero and the landfill? Absolutely, " Danese said.

" Now the question is, what do we do? "

Patrolman's Benevolent Association President Pat Lynch predicted Lahm's

case would be the first of many similar ones. " Richie Lahm is just the

beginning, " Lynch said.

Barasch, on's lawyer, has six retired city cops and six city

firefighters as clients, all of whom have developed cancer since 9/11.

" I fear that a lot of guys who worked in the rescue effort were given a

death sentence, " Barasch said. " A lot of them don't even know it yet. "

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Pension Bill Would Offer Help

By Michele McPhee

Daily News Police Bureau Chief

May 24, 2004

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/local/story/196482p-169675c.html

City workers would be eligible for a tax-free disability pension - even

if they've already retired - if they can prove their illnesses were

caused by the terror attacks, under a controversial bill.

Last year, the World Trade Center Presumption bill was passed by the

state Senate and Assembly, but was canned after Gov. Pataki vetoed the

measure at Mayor Bloomberg's urging.

A rewritten version of the bill was sent toCity Hall last week, said the

author of thelegislation, Meringolo, chairman ofthe New York State

Public Employees Conference.

The bill would give any city worker whocould prove their illness or

injury was related to their work after 9/11 a tax-free pension equal to

three-quarters of the worker's salary.

" There were hundreds of uniformed members who responded that day,

risking their lives. If, God forbid, they should come down with some

sort of disease that has been found by medical experts attributed to

working at that site, or at the [Fresh Kills] landfill, they should be

protected even after they retire, " Meringolo said.

" We don't know the effects of that attack. There have to be safeguards

for the people who work down there. People are going to start getting

sick, and then it's too late, " Meringolo said. " The city is opposed to

us because they are afraid the floodgates are going to open up and

everyone is going to retire on three-quarters. "

In October, Bloomberg urged Pataki to can the original bill, saying it

would create an " enormous financial liability " for the city, according

to a letter obtained by the Daily News. " The sacrifice [of] our men and

women in uniform in response to the World Trade Center attack cannot and

will not be forgotten, " Bloomberg wrote. " However, this legislation ...

is a flawed and poorly conceived attempt to address this issue. "