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American Morning

Thousands of New York City Firefighters Said to Have Developed 'World Trade Center Cough'

Aired November 28, 2001 - 07:40   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back at almost 16 minutes before the hour. Over the past two months the EPA has been monitoring air quality near the smoldering rubble at the World Trade Center site for a variety of dangerous chemicals. Here is some of what they have found.

Acetone, which is admitted by burning plastic and commonly found in nail polish remover appearing in quantities almost three times the danger level. Benzene commonly admitted by gasoline was found in quantities 10 times higher than the danger level. Asbestos ratings varied. There were 95 days when no asbestos was detected, but the level spiked several times. The danger rating spiked on September 26th with a level more than 50 percent higher than the danger level.

Thousands of New York City firefighters are said to have developed a so-called World Trade Center cough. Firefighter Palmer Doyle is trying to organize his colleagues to file a lawsuit as a result. He joins us now this morning. Good morning. Welcome.

PALMER DOYLE, NYC FIREFIGHTER: Good morning Paula.

ZAHN: Who are you guys going to sue and how many (INAUDIBLE)?

DOYLE: Well we contacted a law firm, Gadouski & Gentile (ph) and what we're doing is looking at the avenues that are opened to us. As far as who we can go after, whether it - we're looking at New York City because as far as we're concerned, they failed to provide us with proper breathing equipment on the days immediately following 9-11.

You know, we didn't hesitate to go in there and do our job and now we're starting to pay the price for it. We have numerous guys out with what they're calling the World Trade Center cough.

ZAHN: And what is that exactly? Just a shallow cough?

DOYLE: It's guys with a very dry cough. A lot of guys have had ear, nose, throat, eye injuries. We have a couple of - well numerous firemen out with pneumonia. You know all kinds of (INAUDIBLE) ...

(CROSSTALK)

ZAHN: And are the doctors saying all of this is related to what they were exposed to on the site? PALMER: Well that's what - that's what we're looking at and that's what - that's what they're telling us. I mean they're calling it the World Trade Center cough. At the end of October, we were told we could voluntary - voluntarily go in for medicals from the fire department - now they're mandatory. So we want to know, you know, obviously something's up.

ZAHN: I wanted to read a statement that the EPA gave us last night about the air quality down at the site. They say - quote - "our extensive data shows that there is a risk to workers from the continuing fires and dust at the site and they need to take the proper precautions. From day one we have strongly recommended that workers wear protective respirator gear and have provided this gear in the thousands".

Is that not true?

PALMER: Well that gear ...

(CROSSTALK)

PALMER: That gear is available now, but we were told by a pulmonary expert that on the days following the 9-11, that it was the greatest cornucopia of cancer-causing toxins in any working environment in the history of the United States. We were down there with paper masks over our faces.

(CROSSTALK)

ZAHN: Is that because respirators simply were not available or ...

(CROSSTALK)

PALMER: Some people had them ...

(CROSSTALK)

ZAHN: People were minimizing ...

(CROSSTALK)

ZAHN: ... the risk of what you were being exposed to.

PALMER: I don't think they minimized it. They just weren't available. Some guys had them and most guys didn't as far as the firefighters.

ZAHN: And how about today? What is the status of the firefighters down there today?

PALMER: Today we have the proper equipment. A lot of the elected officials have been calling for a environmental agency to overlook the breathing concerns down there, which is being done now. But it's 70 days after the fact. ZAHN: All right so as it stands now, let's remove the suit and let's make that a completely separate issue. What benefits would you and your family members stand to gain if either you developed cancer or any of the other - of your colleagues in the fire department or other respiratory problems - chronic problems?

PALMER: Well as of - as it is now, if I was to pass away in five years for something that I'd developed from the World Trade Center, what benefits - you know is a couple of life insurance policies here and there. What we're looking into - the workers in the Pentagon, they signed a first right of injury report. That entitles them to be covered down the line if they should develop anything.

Well we're looking for something like that also. I'm also - I have three young children. I have a son nine years old, a daughter seven, and my voice hasn't been the same since I've worked down there and I'm one of many firemen that have had developed this problem. So what we're looking is if God forbid down the road and I pray that nothing's going to happen, but I kind of think there is going to be some problems down the road for a lot of the firemen. We want to make sure that our families are provided for.

ZAHN: And ultimately you expect your suit to be supported by the majority of firefighters in ...

PALMER: I would hope that ...

(CROSSTALK)

PALMER: I would hope that every firemen signs up for this lawsuit. They're signing up everyday. I spoke to the union - our union has been overwhelmed with assisting firemen and firehouses with the memorials and the funerals. It's been an overwhelming task. We lost 343 brothers that's, you know, who had quite a few children with extensive families and it's tough. So they're handling that - so I got in touch with them and I said I'd like to look into the, you know, what we can do as far as legally. I have their backing. They're getting in touch with every firehouse now. The delegates are getting it out to all the firemen and I'm hoping to let the PBA -- we also have a lot of construction workers and (INAUDIBLE) workers that have worked down there religiously everyday.

Those guys have probably been - have been affected. So there's a lot of people that this concerns, and one other problem that we have with the passing of the airline safety bill, one of the provisions is that New York City is only imdenfified (ph) up to $350 million. That's not a lot of money when you think of how many people are possibly going to have some long-term problems that are going to look into that.

So we're looking to possibly fall under the federal fund, which is extremely important because we worked down there. We didn't hesitate to go down there, and now we're having some problems. So we want to make sure that we're going to be taken care of.

ZAHN: Well we'd love to check back with you in the weeks to come to see ...

PALMER: OK.

ZAHN: ... how this lawsuit comes together.

PALMER: Thank you.

ZAHN: And I know you're considering this at a time of great sorrow in your life. You knew 90 of those firefighters.

PALMER: Well I know personally 70 firemen. I - my own company we lost eight firefighters. My company now we lost two guys that we worked with -- Louie Modaferi (ph) and Steve Ziller (ph) and they're wonderful guys. You can't replace firemen like that. You know they're family men - they were fathers, sons, and really the cream of the crop.

ZAHN: I hope you feel the great respect the nation has for what you and your fellow firefighters do on a daily basis. Palmer Doyle, thank you ...

(CROSSTALK)

ZAHN: ... very much for dropping by. We'll check in with you in a couple of weeks.

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