On September 11, 2001, two hijacked jet aircraft crashed into the World Trade Center, killing 2,600 people and destroying the twin towers. But there has been a second catastrophe, as well: Extremely high rates of deadly respiratory disease among rescue workers and others who toiled in clouds of toxic dust at Ground Zero that officials claimed was not dangerous to breathe.
Chief among those officials was Christie Todd Whitman, a former New Jersey governor and rising national Republican star. As administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, she asserted in a September 18, 2001, press release, one of many altered by the White House to present a more upbeat picture, that:
“We are very encouraged that the results from our monitoring of air quality and drinking water conditions in both New York and near the Pentagon show that the public in these areas is not being exposed to excessive levels of asbestos or other harmful substances. Given the scope of the tragedy from last week, I am glad to reassure the people of New York and Washington, D.C. that their air is safe to breath and their water is safe to drink.”
As official lies go, this was a whopper because the White House, Whitman and other environmental and health officials suspected and later became aware that there were an array of toxins at Ground Zero and in the surrounding area from the impact of the jetliners and collapse of the towers. These included minute shards of glass and asbestos, PCBs and other poisons.
The findings of a study released last September by Mount Sinai Hospital provides a stunning backdrop to Whitman’s duplicity.
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