J'Accuse!
According to the Environmental Protection Agency's Inspector General, reassuring statements made in EPA press releases immediately after 9/11 were either unsupported by available test data, or were significantly altered by the White House Council on Environmental Quality. [link] While I am somewhat critical of the EPA for not standing its ground, I am livid at the White House, which played with MY health in the weeks after 9/11. As some of you know, I worked in the WTC and, after 9/11, was relocated to another office nearby. In part, my comfort in returning to the Wall Street area was based on reports from my own government that things were safe. But now it appears that cynical politicians in the White House, afraid of admitting that things were pretty bad (the report said that the desire to reopen Wall Street, and "national security concerns" were factors in the revisions), decided that I didn't need fundamental information about my own health. [As an aside, this is why I am pro-choice: it's obvious that I can't trust the government to make health decisions on my behalf, so it stands to reason that women shouldn't trust their reproductive health to the government, either!]
Here are some of the more choice excerpts:
Original draft: (headline) "EPA Initiating Emergency Response Activities, Testing Terrorized Sites For Environmental Hazards"
White House revisions: (headline) "EPA Initiating Emergency Response Activities, Reassures Public About Environmental Hazards"
Original draft: "The concern raised by these samples would be for the workers at the cleanup site and for those workers who might be returning to their offices on or near Water Street on Monday, September 17, 2001."
White House revisions: [statement deleted by the White House]
Original draft: "Recent samples of dust gathered by OSHA on Water Street show higher levels of asbestos in EPA tests."
White House revisions: "The new samples confirm previous reports that ambient air quality meets OSHA standards and consequently is not a cause for public concern. New OSHA data also indicates that indoor air quality in downtown buildings will meet standards. EPA has found variable asbestos levels in bulk debris and dust on the ground, but EPA continue [sic] to believe that there is no significant health risk to the general public in the coming days."
Original draft: "Preliminary results of EPA’s sampling activities indicate no or very low levels of asbestos. However, even at low levels, EPA considers asbestos hazardous in this situation and will continue to monitor and sample for elevated levels of asbestos and work with the appropriate officials to ensure awareness and proper handling, transportation and disposal of potentially contaminated debris or materials."
White House revisions: "Public health concerns about asbestos contamination are primarily related to long-term exposure. Short-term, low-level exposure of the type that might have been produced by the collapse of the World Trade Center buildings is unlikely to cause significant health effects. EPA and OSHA will work closely with rescue and cleanup crews to minimize their potential exposure, but the general public should be very reassured by initial sampling."
According to the Environmental Protection Agency's Inspector General, reassuring statements made in EPA press releases immediately after 9/11 were either unsupported by available test data, or were significantly altered by the White House Council on Environmental Quality. [link] While I am somewhat critical of the EPA for not standing its ground, I am livid at the White House, which played with MY health in the weeks after 9/11. As some of you know, I worked in the WTC and, after 9/11, was relocated to another office nearby. In part, my comfort in returning to the Wall Street area was based on reports from my own government that things were safe. But now it appears that cynical politicians in the White House, afraid of admitting that things were pretty bad (the report said that the desire to reopen Wall Street, and "national security concerns" were factors in the revisions), decided that I didn't need fundamental information about my own health. [As an aside, this is why I am pro-choice: it's obvious that I can't trust the government to make health decisions on my behalf, so it stands to reason that women shouldn't trust their reproductive health to the government, either!]
Here are some of the more choice excerpts:
Original draft: (headline) "EPA Initiating Emergency Response Activities, Testing Terrorized Sites For Environmental Hazards"
White House revisions: (headline) "EPA Initiating Emergency Response Activities, Reassures Public About Environmental Hazards"
Original draft: "The concern raised by these samples would be for the workers at the cleanup site and for those workers who might be returning to their offices on or near Water Street on Monday, September 17, 2001."
White House revisions: [statement deleted by the White House]
Original draft: "Recent samples of dust gathered by OSHA on Water Street show higher levels of asbestos in EPA tests."
White House revisions: "The new samples confirm previous reports that ambient air quality meets OSHA standards and consequently is not a cause for public concern. New OSHA data also indicates that indoor air quality in downtown buildings will meet standards. EPA has found variable asbestos levels in bulk debris and dust on the ground, but EPA continue [sic] to believe that there is no significant health risk to the general public in the coming days."
Original draft: "Preliminary results of EPA’s sampling activities indicate no or very low levels of asbestos. However, even at low levels, EPA considers asbestos hazardous in this situation and will continue to monitor and sample for elevated levels of asbestos and work with the appropriate officials to ensure awareness and proper handling, transportation and disposal of potentially contaminated debris or materials."
White House revisions: "Public health concerns about asbestos contamination are primarily related to long-term exposure. Short-term, low-level exposure of the type that might have been produced by the collapse of the World Trade Center buildings is unlikely to cause significant health effects. EPA and OSHA will work closely with rescue and cleanup crews to minimize their potential exposure, but the general public should be very reassured by initial sampling."
posted by Daniel at 10:46 AM
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