Pallone Calls on Bush Administration to Stop Dragging its Feet on Addressing 9/11 Worker Health Concerns

Press Release

PALLONE CALLS ON BUSH ADMINISTRATION TO STOP DRAGGING ITS FEET ON ADDRESSING 9/11 WORKER HEALTH CONCERNS

One day before the sixth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) visited the World Trade Center (WTC) Medical Monitoring & Treatment Program in Piscataway to urge the Bush administration to stop dragging its feet on addressing the concerns of 9/11 rescue and recovery workers.

The New Jersey congressman was joined at a press conference by Dr. Iris Udasin, Principal Investigator at the WTC Medical Monitoring & Treatment Program, Charlie Wowkanech, President of the New Jersey AFL-CIO, and former WTC site workers Ed Torres and Tom Genuario.

Pallone stressed the need for more federal funding for the WTC Medical Monitoring & Treatment Program, which provides comprehensive medical examinations and follow-up treatment to workers and volunteers who responded to the 9/11 attack. In New Jersey, the program, which is run by the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School Department of Environmental and Community Medicine, currently helps 1,036 rescue and recovery workers.

The New Jersey congressman, who is the Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, also announced that he will hold the first-ever hearing in the Energy and Commerce Committee on 9/11-related health concerns on September 18 in Washington, D.C. Specifically, the hearing will focus on the medical monitoring and treatment of health effects caused by the exposure to traumatic events and harmful materials. Pallone hopes the information gathered at the hearing will allow the federal government to better serve those affected by 9/11.

"It's important that we as a nation recognize the extraordinary sacrifice of everyone who responded to the terrorist attacks and worked tirelessly in the hours, days, weeks and months after 9/11 to help those in need and to begin clearing the site of the tragedy," Pallone said. "We are indebted to these workers for their efforts.

"Unfortunately, for too long, their concerns have been ignored in Washington by an administration that has been dragging its feet," Pallone continued. "We are here today to say that it's time to ensure that these workers have access to the health services they are entitled to as a result of the conditions they endured at Ground Zero. We need a comprehensive plan in place so that we can help treat and monitor these workers who accepted the call to serve their nation after its darkest day."

It is estimated that more than 40,000 people responded to Ground Zero in the days and months after 9/11 and participated in rescue, recovery, clean up, or restoration of essential services. Many of these workers suffered health problems due to the physical and emotional hardships they faced. One of every eight responders has experienced symptoms of post-traumatic stress. Ground Zero workers have developed asthma at 12 times the rate of other Americans, and nearly one in five has a respiratory or gastrointestinal illness.

"The medical monitoring program provides the opportunity for early detection and intervention to lessen the severity of the illnesses that many rescue and recovery workers are experiencing," said Dr. Udasin, associate professor of environmental and occupational medicine at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, who will testify before Pallone's subcommittee next week in Washington. "Our goal is to improve the treatment of the acute and persistent health problems these patients face and to enable a decrease in future illness and disability."

Pallone is increasingly frustrated by the Bush administration's refusal to address the health concerns of 9/11 workers. Last week, the New Jersey congressman joined with members of the New York and Connecticut to send separate letters to U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Michael Leavitt and Office of Management & Budget (OMB) Director Jim Nussle asking that the administration live up to promises it has made in the past about the treatment and monitoring of 9/11 workers. (COPIES OF BOTH LETTERS FOLLOW.)

Earlier this year, President Bush proposed $25 million for 9/11 monitoring and treatment programs. The Democratic House doubled that funding level to $50 million in its Labor/HHS appropriations bill earlier this summer.

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