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CNN Saturday Morning News
Some Worry About Ground Zero's Impact on New Yorkers' Health
Aired November 03, 2001 - 11:15 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.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Five New York police officers were hurt, 12 people arrested after firefighters clashed with police at Ground Zero. Misdemeanor charges were filed early this morning against several of those firefighters.
CNN's Maria Hinojosa was covering the protest when the brawl broke out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was an unsettling image: the new heroes of New York suddenly turned against each other. Police arresting protesting firefighters and firefighters fighting back. A total of 12 firefighters arrested, five police injured, and emotions raw to the bone.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, we want to go in there. And whatever it takes, we want to find our friends.
HINOJOSA: The dispute erupted over Mayor Giuliani's decision to reduce the number of firefighters recovering bodies at the World Trade Center site.
The reason, said the mayor, to protect those working on a site that is a crime scene, a disaster area, but also a burial ground. But for the firefighters, the scaling back is being taken as a dis, especially coming after workers pulled millions of dollars worth of missing gold and silver from the rubble.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This isn't about safety, you're right. It's about money. It's all about the money. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) found their gold and now they're done.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah!
HINOJOSA: And the visceral confrontation didn't stop on the streets.
MAYOR RUDOLPH GIULIANI (R), NEW YORK: The reality of the kind of conduct displayed today is unacceptable. You can't hit police officers. You can't disobey the law, and you have to have enough professionalism and dignity about yourself to not conduct yourself in that way. BERNARD KERIK, NEW YORK CITY POLICE COMMISSIONER: We didn't anticipate that they would pick up and flip the barricades on top of the cops. We didn't anticipate that they would punch police officers in the face.
HINOJOSA: And from the site, the men who just weeks ago risked their lives to save others, put themselves on the streets and marched to City Hall, this time to protest the arrests of their brethren. This isn't about them, they say. It's about the families.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is my brother. I want to bring him home. Work with us so we can bring them home!
HINOJOSA: But after their dispute the firefighters stopped to pray for the fallen and for peace in a city now recovering from a battle between those they saw as their superheroes.
Maria Hinojosa, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the reduction in the number of police and firefighters working at Ground Zero comes amid concerns about air pollution at the disaster zone.
CNN's Brian Palmer is following that story, and the clashes at Ground Zero.
Many concerns, Brian.
BRIAN PALMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kyra.
Well, it's a little quieter here. But as you probably gathered from the tone of that piece by Maria Hinojosa, the firefighters say they're not backing down. Today operations continued -- the recovery operation continues at Ground Zero. It's a grim task, but a necessary and a dangerous one.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(voice-over): Dust and ash spread across lower Manhattan. Smoke blots out the skyline. Asbestos, fiberglass, benzene, dioxin, freon, pollutants and toxins released into the atmosphere when the World Trade Center towers imploded and their remains burned.
After New Yorkers absorbed the shock of the tragedy, they started worrying about the long-term health effects, especially those who live near ground zero.
LISA KISS, RESIDENT: Your throat starts to feel scratchy. And everyone started talking about how they've been there all day. It gets worse. You feel it. I'm looking at my 1-year-old, and her lungs are just developing. I'm not going to bring her here until that's gone.
PALMER: Government authorities responsible for monitoring air, water and soil say pollutant levels at ground zero still climb to hazardous levels some days. The Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration calls it the most dangerous work site in America. But beyond ground zero, they say the worst days are probably over.
WILLIAM MUSZYNSKI, EPA: The further away you get from the site, the data does not demonstrate significant risks to people.
PALMER: Asthmatics and those with respiratory problems are at greater risk for health damage than the average New Yorker says Dr. Regina Santella.
REGINA SANTELLA, PHYSICIAN, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: So all of the environmental data outside the site really has been low. And so from that point of view, there really is nothing to worry about.
PALMER: Environmental watchdogs aren't so sure.
JOEL KUPFERMAN, ENVIRONMENTAL LAWYER: It's not safe. And what's the proof of this is that medical clinics have diagnosed people with occupational asthma already and upper respiratory problems. People that not only work down there, but live down there.
PALMER: Kupferman filed a Freedom of Information Act request to get data about EPA's monitoring of pollutants. Data the EPA says Kupferman takes out of context.
MUSZYNSKI: I think you can sensationalize, too. And I think you can look at a number, a spike, and believe that that number is overly significant. Most of what we do is based upon a longer term exposure.
PALMER: But even experts admit there's no way to know for sure what the long-term effect of exposure to these pollutants will be.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PALMER: Now Kyra, one of the reasons the mayor is scaling back the number of uniformed personnel on the site is for -- basically for health and safety concerns. But a month and a half into the recovery operation, there still is no comprehensive, integrated safety and health plan for this site behind us.
So that's one of the concerns that was addressed in the piece, and I think that's one of the concerns of environmental watchdogs -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: It's interesting; and looking back at your piece for a moment, Brian, is there anything being done to influence workers or residents around the area to go and get checkups, even if maybe they're not feeling any immediate effects, but kind of preventative maintenance to prevent long-term effects or any problems?
PALMER: Well, that's -- this is not to say that the city, the state and the federal government aren't putting out a huge amount of information and offering people treatment and advice -- they are. There's plenty of information being provided by the New York City Department of Health, and local hospitals are also pitching into the effort. Respirators are available on-site. Information is available for residents.
So the information is out there; there's just so much of it sometimes that people have a little bit of difficulty collating it -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Sure, it can be very overwhelming. Brian Palmer, thanks so much.
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