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American Morning

New Yorkers Face Long Term 9/11 Health Complications

Aired May 30, 2002 - 08:44   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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: The rubble and debris may be gone now from ground zero, but for New Yorkers, there are still long term health dangers, physical and emotional.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta here this morning with our house call -- Good morning to you, doctor, good to see you.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Bill. Yes, I don't think anyone is immune from all of this, and the Red Cross -- there has been a lot of surveys out there specifically about the psychological effects.

Let's look at one of the surveys from the Red Cross, specifically, just done a month ago. 43 percent of New Yorkers expressing feelings of hopelessness, no doubt compounded, Bill, by the continued alerts and things like that that we have been hearing so much about. New Yorkers are five times more likely to develop post traumatic stress disorder than other Americans. Moving right along. 76 percent of the residents said they are willing to seek counseling, however only one third have actually done that. So that it is a number to keep in mind. There is a lot of help out there available, but only one third are seeking it. But the New Yorkers are resilient, 69 percent say they are coping well -- coping well with all that has happened. Some good news.

HEMMER: And again, this is for today. What about down the road, what about in the future?

GUPTA: Right. That's an excellent question. You know, no question, this country has never experienced anything quite like this before, but we have learned from other tragedies. We talked to a lot of psychologists about what's expected for the sort of psychological health of the people down the road. One thing, I guess, not surprising, anniversaries and other reminders could certainly cause relapses while the country's emotional healing, New York's emotional healing should continue to improve, there probably will be relapses, but today -- today is a day of closure, everyone agreed on that, today could be a very therapeutic day.

HEMMER: Interesting. Some people think it might be the beginning of some form of healing, but -- we have talked about the mental side, Sanjay. What about the long term physical effects? And there must be many in this category. GUPTA: There really are. And it's one of those things -- perhaps more tangible, but in some ways difficult to predict. Here is how one expert sort of put it to me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. REGINA SANTELLA, MAILMAN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: There are going to be many health effects studies done in the workers, in the people who returned to their apartments. The results of those kinds of long term health studies are going to take years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANJAY: And years. No one can soon forget the dust clouds that we saw. What exactly was that, was exactly was burning in there, what sort of effects will that all have on the workers?

Well, here are some of the things that may have actually been burning, and all the substances we saw. Asbestos, lead, fiberglass particles, PCBs, dust and chemicals. What sort of things might that cause in people? Again, Bill, talking about the future, we don't know for sure, but certainly sinusitis, asthma, laryngitis, tracheal inflammation, bronchitis, these are all possibilities. The EPA says the levels were probably OK, not dangerous, but sometimes, as we know, that has been at odds with some of the other monitoring groups.

HEMMER: We were down there yesterday afternoon, spent a good part of the day down there. They are still testing the air even today to make sure they have got everything buttoned up, and learn as much as they can.

GUPTA: Still testing the air, still deciding how to clean up, lots of work, in some ways, still to be done.

HEMMER: Thank you, Sanjay, good to see you. Dr. Sanjay Gupta on our house call this morning.

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