RESCUE workers sifting through the remains of the World Trade Center could be
inhaling asbestos, say Environmental Protection Agency scientists who are
carrying out tests near 鈥済round zero鈥�.
The agency is warning rescue workers to change their clothes before returning
home, and to rely on ventilators rather than surgical masks as they work. But it
says there is no danger to those further from the site.
Asbestos inhalation can cause asbestosis and lung cancer, including a rare
but lethal form called mesothelioma. A material containing 20 per cent asbestos
was used to insulate steel beams up to the 40th floor of the first tower built.
Its use was then abandoned because of growing fears about health effects.
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Some of the dust consists of more than 1 per cent asbestos, and is thus
defined as 鈥渁sbestos-containing material鈥� by the EPA. Vacuum trucks have been
brought in to clean it up. But the agency said that of 97 air samples taken
since 11 September, only seven taken at or near 鈥済round zero鈥� had detected
levels high enough to be of concern.
To reduce the danger posed by asbestos and other dangerous dust particles,
EPA officials sprayed the rubble with water for two days after the initial
collapse. 鈥淲e did some downwind testing one mile away in Brooklyn and the
spraying seems to be working,鈥� said EPA spokesman Chris Paulitz. On 13
September, a night of heavy rain cleared the air further.
Antti Tossavainen, an asbestos expert at the Finnish Institute of
Occupational Health in Helsinki, says that even relatively brief exposure to the
mineral can be dangerous. 鈥淥ne week鈥檚 heavy exposure to asbestos is enough to
increase the risk of mesothelioma,鈥� he says.