Here is a portion of my recent column for the Trussville Tribune:
If you were like me Sunday night, you got weepy-eyed during the 9/11 documentaries. It tugged at my heartstrings to see what these brave men went through and continue to endure today.
Congress passed a bill in the last year supplementing health care treatment for first responders and Ground Zero workers, but the bill specifically excluded treatment for cancer. Workers were given treatment for respiratory problems and psychological problems such as PTSD, but cancer was surprisingly excluded.
Today, we see an alarming spike in cancer among 9/11 workers. Specifically leukemia, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and multiple myeloma -- as well as esophageal, prostate and thyroid cancers.
In 2007, doctors at Mt. Sinai Medical Center, which monitors WTC responders other than FDNY, noted blood cancers like multiple myeloma, which normally strikes in the 60s or 70s, among relatively young cops.
The dust from the collapse of the towers is the specific culprit for these carcinogens. Imagine all the mercury, the asbestos, the plastics, the concrete all smashed together and heated to a melting point, the vapors seeping up through the rubble and into the air. You don’t have to be a doctor to realize that this is a bad mix to be working on top of for several months.
More and more workers die each month some 10 years later. Many die well before their time.
Read the rest here
