The Freedom Tower

Pat Shannan, writing for American Free Press Net, says
“more than 360 workers who dealt with the aftermath of the World Trade Center disaster are known to have died, New York health officials said in May. Of the more than 600 diagnosed with cancer (other than blood cancer), 80 are included in the death count. Other deaths were traced to blood cancers and heart and circulatory diseases. Five ex-workers committed suicide, said Kitty Gelberg, who is tracking the deaths for the state’s World Trade Center Responder Fatality Investigation Program.

Officials have determined the cause of death of 154 of the responders and volunteers who toiled at Ground Zero, the blocks nearby and at the Fresh Kills landfill, where debris from the site was taken. “It’s the tip of the iceberg,” said David Worby, who is representing 10,000 workers who say they got sick after working on rescue and recovery efforts.

“These statistics bear out how toxic that site was, Worby said. Most of the deadly tumors were in the lungs and digestive system, according to the tally from the state’s program. Ms. Gelberg said she had not yet determined whether the number of cancer deaths was more or less than those typically occurring in men in their 20s to 50s who work as cops, firefighters or laborers—the majority of 9-11 workers.

“We are not saying all of these deaths are World Trade Center-related,” she said, not yet ready to make that determination without the statistics.

She added that relatives of people who died of cancer may be likely to link their loved one’s death to their 9-11 work and add them to the database, despite other possible factors. Ms. Gelberg said she is compiling the deaths from public sources, individuals and agencies and believes there is an overall undercount of workers who have died. The statistics cover Sept. 12, 2001, through May 1, 2008.

The city Health Department said it was actively examining whether deaths have been elevated as a result of 9-11. Last year, the head of Mount Sinai Medical Center’s monitoring and treatment program, Dr. Robin Herbert, predicted a “third wave” of 9-11-related deaths from cancer.

“We know people were exposed to carcinogens. There was benzene, dioxin, asbestos,” said her colleague Dr. Philip Landrigan. “There’s reason to be concerned, so we’re engaged in watchful waiting. So far, there’s no excess.”

Cathy Murray, whose husband, Fire Lt. John Murray, died of colon cancer April 30, “absolutely” connects his disease to his work at Ground Zero. He was diagnosed in June and was 52 when he died, she said. An FDNY spokesman couldn’t immediately say where or when Murray performed 9-11-related duty, but a department letter confirms that he spent at least 40 hours at World Trade Center-designated work sites.

“He was perfectly healthy,” said Cathy Murray, 53, of Staten Island. “He never smoked a day in his life, and neither did I. It happened so quick and [was] so aggressive. He was responding [to therapy] at first, but then he wasn’t,” she added. “And now he’s gone.”