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This came over a mailing list I'm on and is relevent for anybody in NYC. Though I don't know the sender, I've verified that both senders are real accademics at their respective institutions.
From: David A. Klatell <dak25@columbia.edu> From Professor Ross, who is on leave this year:
There is a serious health risk as well -- asbestos. The NYT I got this
morning in Boston did not cover this at all, but plenty of walking
wounded are being shipped to NJ for decontamination (Clara Mas on the
west side of Newark has the only decon unit in North Jersey, I think)
and health care professionals know the risk. They are wearing protective
clothing, even at the hospital. Briefly:
The WTC was the LAST big building in the US to use blow-on asbestos
insulation to protect the steel beams from fire's heat. The asbestos
type specified for this purpose is chrysotile ("white" asbestos). This
type is generally believed to be no more dangerous than any other fiber
(the fiber in fiber glass, for instance). But crocidolite, another form
of asbestos ("blue" asbestos) contaminates chrysotile in most asbestos
deposits, and it has been known for 30 years that the asbestos used in
the WTC has a lot of it. This stuff is now blown all over lower
Manhattan. Crocidolite is a carcinogen, considered a POTENT carcinogen
by many. (Mt. Sinai in Manhattan has long had a good research team on
this issue.) There are plenty of documented cases of shipyard workers
getting mesothelioma (a cancer of the chest lining, unique to asbestos)
after only a few weeks' exposure to croc. Smoking raising the risk
drastically. Almost 100% of all asbestos workers in the 60s and 70s who
smoked have died of mesothelioma.
Asbestos fibers are caught in simple medical face masks, if the masks
are worn properly (no beards!). I would not send a student who smokes
down into lower manhattan without such protection. After a visit, they
should shower and send clothing to the laundry (to avoid spreading dust
to others).
BTW, most of the gray ash seems to be made up mainly of clay (from paper)
and other construction materials, but there is asbestos there as well.
The Port Authority ignored advice on this issue when the towers were
built. Also, contrary to NYC building codes at the time, the stairwells
for emergency use did not open directly to the outside -- a serious
bottleneck partially overcome by above-average attention to tenant
training.
Steven S. Ross --
David A. Klatell
2006-08-04 Retitled by planetscape, as per Monastery guidelines In reply to Re: Asbestos Clear & Present Danger
by da
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