WTC Workers Report Acute Health Problems

Respiratory Protection

Many workers who cleared debris from the site of the former World Trade Center (WTC) following the attack of Sept. 11, 2001, are reporting acute respiratory symptoms, and researchers are worried by the persistence of these health problems.

“We are concerned about what we are seeing because we expected these symptoms to disappear when the exposure was gone, but for some workers, it's not happening,” said Alison Geyh, assistant professor of environmental health engineering at Johns Hopkins University's Bloomberg School of Public Health. “It's absolutely critical that we create the mechanism to track these people in the future.”

Johns Hopkins' investigators believe the respiratory problems may be associated with exposure to dust and airborne contaminants at Ground Zero. Because the investigators only looked at short-term health effects, they say more research is needed to determine if there is long-term health risks to the workers. The assessment was conducted in collaboration with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, with findings presented Aug. 22 at a meeting for members of Teamsters Local 282 in Lake Success, N.Y.

Perhaps more troubling to those concerned about the health of rescue workers, Geyh said, those reporting the persistent symptoms were truckers and crane operators inside climate-controlled cabs. As a result, they probably had less exposure to air contaminants than ironworkers who labored in the open to clear the twisted wreckage of the buildings but who were not included in Geyh's study.

“Many of the workers we assessed reported coughing, wheezing and sore throats while working at Ground Zero,” Geyh said. “These symptoms seemed to increase the longer they worked at the site. The good news is that we did not find unhealthy levels of asbestos, but we don't know what the long-term health risks may be regarding exposure to other airborne contaminants at the site.”

The exposure and health assessment was conducted between October and April. Investigators examined the workers' airborne exposures to asbestos, particulate matter and volatile organic compounds.

In May, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences awarded Johns Hopkins a grant to continue assessing the health of workers involved in the cleanup of the WTC site. Over the next year, investigators will develop a registry of the estimated 6,000 to 7,000 workers involved in removing and transporting debris from Ground Zero. The registry will be used for future studies to assess the health of these workers.