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"The E.P.A. has already taken a leadership role [in planning the deconstruction,]" said Mary Mears, an agency spokesperson. Refuting recent articles in the New York Post and the Associated Press that reported the E.P.A. had abandoned plans to participate in the Deutsche Bank cleanup, Mears insists the agency intends to remain involved with the deconstruction of the 130 Liberty St. building throughout the process. "We do plan to be on site," she said. Although, "we haven’t worked out all the details of how often we’ll be on site."

Mears said the E.P.A. coordinated with various agencies in the deconstruction effort including the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Department of Health and the L.M.D.C., which owns the building "We pulled these various agencies together," she said. "We have been taking the lead and coordinating [with the L.M.D.C.]"

The E.P.A.’s expertise, Mears said is purely environmental and the agency does not have authority over any other government agency. "No one agency has authority over all aspects of the deconstruction," she said.

The L.M.D.C. bought the building in order to allow for adjustments to the W.T.C. master plan, which included reducing the density of office space by expanding the site and adding a park.

Joanna Rose, an L.M.D.C. spokesperson, also refuted the recent reports of an E.P.A. withdrawal, maintaining that the E.P.A. has always participated in the Deutsche Bank cleanup. She did, however, note that agency administrator, Michael Leavitt, has yet to respond to L.M.D.C. president Kevin Rampe’s Dec. 13th letter, which followed two letters of a similar nature from United States Rep. Jerrold Nadler. "We’re still waiting to hear back from them," she said.

"We have not formally responded to their letter," said Mears. "We already have taken a leadership role."

Phone Number (202) 693-1999

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will publish a final rule in the Jan. 5, 2005, Federal Register on the second phase of its standards improvement project. The project addresses inconsistent, duplicative or outdated provisions in OSHA's safety and health standards for general industry, maritime and construction.

"These changes will reduce the regulatory burdens on employers while maintaining the safety and health protections afforded to employees," said OSHA Administrator John Henshaw. "These burdens produce no safety and health value and once eliminated will reduce annual costs by more than $6.8 million. That's a winning combination for us all."

The final rule revises or eliminates medical provisions in older standards that were once considered accepted practice, but have since been deemed obsolete or unnecessary in current medical practice. For example, annual rather than semi-annual medical examinations will now be required for long-term employees exposed to inorganic arsenic, coke oven emissions, and vinyl chloride.

In addition, the final rule eliminates reporting requirements that have failed to benefit employee health. For example, employers will no longer have to notify OSHA of all workplace releases for certain specified carcinogens. In addition, while employers are still required to establish regulated work areas for vinyl chloride, inorganic arsenic, acrylonitrile, and for the 13 known occupational carcinogens, they will no longer be required to notify OSHA each time they do so.

The final rule updates chemical exposure provisions by making them consistent in terms of the frequency of monitoring and the manner of employee notification of monitoring results.

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Although it took a long time, the EPA’s inspector general eventually released a report that confirmed these deceptions. The most shocking revelation was that the agency suppressed warnings about deadly pollution at the direction of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

Reflecting on the inspector general’s report, Joel Shufro of the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health concluded that it "clearly places responsibility on the White House for the sickness of thousands, if not tens of thousands, of workers and lower Manhattan residents."

But it doesn’t end there. New reports by medical groups commissioned by NYCOSH that have been screening victims of the pollution, along with an in-depth investigation by the Sierra Club that picks up where the IG’s report left off, add substantially to the catalog of health threatening deceptions and outrageous failures to act.

The Sierra Club report, for example, reveals the presence of some especially virulent pollutants, the EPA’s failure to acknowledge them, and its gross negligence in protecting people. The report also exposes the administration’s plans to turn some of its worst failures following 9/11 into standard operating procedures in future national emergencies.

According to the Sierra Club report, the EPA’s website claimed that the agency found no polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) "in any air samples," although four independent tests found them at high levels. Even the EPA’s own research scientists reported in a scientific journal that they found PAHs at levels worthy of "the most serious kind of concern."

PAHs are cancer-causing chemicals that also may produce genetic effects. One of the private tests found these highly toxic substances on firefighters’ boots in amounts 115 and 422 times higher than EPA’s health-based criteria for soil cleanup. A new study analyzing the small dust particles gathered in EPA air samples ­ the particles most likely to reside long-term in lungs ­ also reveals high concentrations of PAHs.

Much of the dust from the WTC collapse was as caustic as ammonia, and in some cases as caustic as drain cleaner. The Sierra Club report claims that the federal government knew this, but didn’t tell rescue workers or the public.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration refused to enforce worker safety standards at Ground Zero, incorrectly claiming that it had no authority in national emergencies. As a consequence, testified David Newman, no more than 60 percent of workers wore respirators, and sometimes the figure was as low as 20 percent. Newman, an industrial hygienist at NYCOSH, spoke at a special meeting of the New York City Council earlier this year.

John Graham, an emergency medical technician, told a Sierra Club investigator "I was at all the safety meetings, but they never really told us what was going on. Now, I’m a walking pharmacy. I have a chest infection, ear, nose, and throat problems. … My tonsils look like strawberries ­ red and pitted. I guess drain cleaner would do that to you."

More generally, Newman testified that three-quarters of those seen by the WTC Screening Program have at least one persistent pulmonary symptom, and almost 90 percent have at least one ear, nose, or throat symptom. The effects were not only physical. About half of the rescue and recovery workers screened were judged to have mental health problems, experience persistent and disabling distress, and need mental health services.

Deceptions about the presence of toxic substances were made much more health threatening by the failure of federal agencies to assure proper cleanup of residential buildings and workplaces.

Newman testified, "In the absence of guidelines, directions, oversight, or enforcement from government agencies, the response of employers and landlords ran the gamut from appropriate testing and cleanup, to neither." As for residents, the EPA and Federal Emergency Management Agency officials advised them to clean up the contaminated dust themselves with wet rags, and even discouraged them from wearing safety masks. When the EPA finally launched a limited indoor cleanup program funded by FEMA, it continued to assure residents that such cleanup wasn’t really needed.

The efforts of residents to clean the pollutants themselves brought them into contact with a plethora of toxic substances, including dioxin, PAHs, asbestos, and lead. The latter, present in much of the dust, is a special threat to young children in whom lead poisoning can cause permanent brain damage and a spectrum of other problems. The witch’s brew of dust left behind by inadequate cleaning remains an ongoing health hazard.

Pres. Bush wanted to get thousands of workers back to their jobs near Ground Zero quickly, partly to show the world that the United States wouldn’t be intimidated by terrorism, and partly to minimize damage to investors and the economy. But the cleanup of workplaces was bungled just as badly as the cleanup of homes. The FEMA-funded EPA indoor cleanup program completely excluded nonresidential buildings. Many employees did their best to clean their own work areas, although some reportedly were forbidden even to wear safety masks on the job. In short, employees in inadequately cleaned workplaces face the same hazards as residents in inadequately cleaned homes.

In formulating plans for future emergencies, the Bush administration could have been expected to look at mistakes made in lower Manhattan and to correct them. Instead, it turned its worst failures into standard operating procedures for national emergencies.

The failure of OSHA to enforce safety standards at Ground Zero put thousands of workers at extreme risk. Under OSHA’s new National Emergency Management Plan, the agency will not enforce safety rules but rather provide only technical assistance. The result will be, as after 9/11, political leaders unctuously praising the heroism of rescue workers while paving the way for their sickness and death.

The federal agency also shocked government officials and members of its lower Manhattan expert advisory panel when it backtracked last week from a pledge to coordinate responsibilities of all city, state and federal agencies involved in the razing.

The EPA said the eight agencies it contacted were not interested in a formal agreement coordinating their efforts.

"This is a half-assed effort and doesn't give me confidence that people will be adequately protected," said David Newman, an industrial hygienist and member of the EPA's advisory panel.

Plans were laid out last week for bringing down the black-shrouded Deutsche Bank building next to Ground Zero.

Approval of the plan is expected in January, when the building would then be stripped of interior structures, cleaned of contaminants and its framework taken down by crane.

Another building, 4 Albany Street, which is owned by Deutsche Bank, is currently having demolition plans drawn up. And CUNY officials hope to have the college's Fiterman Hall, on Barclay Street, demolished as well.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler and the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., which now owns the Deutsche Bank building, separately wrote to the EPA asking it to take the lead role in the demolition, which would mean ensuring the other agencies' responsibilities are fulfilled and being ultimately responsible for all aspects of the cleanup.

The agency has refused.

"This is exactly what happened after 9/11 with the EPA ducking its responsibility," said Nadler.

He pointed specifically to the back and forth that went on between the EPA and the city's Departments of Health and Environmental Protection over responsibility for cleaning indoor air after Sept. 11.

In a statement to The Post, acting EPA regional administrator Kathleen C. Callahan said the agency is remaining active in the process.

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"A billion here, a billion there and pretty soon you’re talking about real money," Senator Everett McKinley was rumored to have said. No doubt, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation has real money, nearly a billion dollars of its original $2.7 billion in its efforts to redevelop Lower Manhattan. Just how New Yorkers influence where the money will go is, unfortunately, is not so real.

After the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the federal government gave cash grants to New York State ­ with few strings attached ­ to assist with economic rebuilding. The ability to spend these funds quickly and with fewer restrictions than normal may have seemed like a good thing after the terrorist attacks.

However, over the past three years, residents of Lower Manhattan and many advocates have raised concerns about the opaque process by which these funds, or Community Development Block Grants, have been allocated. There is no official time-line, application process or opportunity for public hearings. Instead of hearings, the L.M.D.C. incorporated a write-in only comment period that has built a wall between New Yorkers and decision makers. The result has been that businesses and residents in lower income neighborhoods like Chinatown and the Lower East Side ­ who have no representation on the L.M.D.C. board ­ have been sidelined in the rebuilding process.

There have been numerous informal opportunities for the public to exchange ideas and opinions on what they believe is best for the rebuilding effort The historic town hall Listening to the City forum at the Jacob Javits Center where 5,000 people participated in 2002, the L.M.D.C.’s neighborhood workshops in the summer of 2003, Beyond 16 Acres’ (a coalition of civic organizations ­ including Good Jobs New York ­ that are involved in the rebuilding) forum where participants voted on spending priorities, Imagine New York, and The Pace Poll’s periodic surveys of Downtown residents, just to name a few.

The consensus from these public outlets focuses on priorities such as affordable housing, job creation and improved transportation around Downtown. But, the L.M.D.C. has yet to incorporate these needs into its allocation of resources. Instead, the L.M.D.C. has continually denied the public the right to speak directly to those making some of the most important allocations of C.D.B.G. grants in U.S. history.

Other items like parks are important and the L.M.D.C. is considering the allocation of about $70 million for the Hudson River Park Trust. But spending on parks in Lower Manhattan would be an insult to longtime residents if it was not accompanied by investments to make sure Downtowners could afford to stay and enjoy the new green spaces.

With nearly a billion remaining and Governor George Pataki’s recent comment that the L.M.D.C. will have a plan for how to spend the remaining money by March, it’s about time an official process be put in place to ensure the diverse needs of New Yorkers are heard. Here are helpful hints for Gov. Pataki and the L.M.D.C. as they consider how to spend the remaining funds

Diversify decision makers ­ currently the L.M.D.C. does not have any board members that are experts in developing affordable housing, workforce development or transportation. Moreover, the neighborhoods of Chinatown and the Lower East Side are not represented on the board. Madelyn Wils, chairperson of Community Board 1 ­ the wealthiest district in Lower Manhattan ­ is the only person representing those who live in Lower Manhattan. With four vacancies on the L.M.D.C. board, the governor and the mayor should immediately appoint new members that can advocate for the needs of remaining areas of Lower Manhattan.

Give the public a voice ­ the federal government said the L.M.D.C. didn’t have to abide by normal regulations and hold public hearings before it allocated C.D.B.G. funds. The governor and mayor can help break down the wall that has been built between the decision makers, the residents and workers of New York and in particular those who live and have their livelihood in Lower Manhattan.

By incorporating a broad and diverse economic vision, the concerns of jobs and housing that have been voiced since 9/11 could be addressed. For example, there are numerous requests for grants that would create jobs that are gathering dust at the L.M.D.C. One is from former restaurant workers from Windows on the World who formed a group called ROC-NY and have requested funds to open a cooperative restaurant in Lower Manhattan. Another is Fashion Space, which would provide affordable space for up-and-coming fashion designers and garment manufacturers.

While the governor and mayor reported in the summer of 2003 that the L.M.D.C. would set-aside $50 million for the creation of affordable housing, the L.M.D.C. still has yet to get approval for these funds from the federal government. Councilmember Alan Gerson’s proposal to spend more L.M.D.C. money to preserve affordable housing would help alleviate the crushing gentrification pressures on residents. In the meantime, thousands of luxury housing units ­ funded with 9/11 Liberty Bonds ­ are beginning to sprout up.

The allocation of 9/11 resources should be part of a valued democratic process. To exclude the opinion of people who are not connected to the decision makers will only ensure Lower Manhattan is rebuilt to prioritize special interests over the housing, employment and educational needs of the rest of us.

Residents of nearby buildings and U.S. Representative Jerrold Nadler asked the U.S. agency to take charge of the demolition and have monitors on the site whenever work is taking place to protect the surrounding neighborhood from accidental contamination. EPA has promised a ``regular'' presence, not a continuous one.

Amy Peterson, a senior vice president of the state-led Lower Manhattan Development Corp., wouldn't specify publicly whatadditional responsibilities it wants EPA to assume over the project, which is to begin next month, other than to say the federal role should be spelled out in writing.

The removal of the building, whose front facade suffered a 15-story gash from falling steel from the trade center's south tower, is necessary to move forward with plans for an $11 billion redevelopment of the trade center site, including the $350

million trade center memorial across the street. Work on the memorial is to begin late next year.

In a Dec. 13 letter to EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt, development corporation president Kevin Rampe said he joined with Nadler in ``urging the agency to take the lead in overseeing the environmental aspects of the deconstruction of the building.''

Experience

The project ``is of tremendous importance to lower Manhattan, New York and the nation,'' Rampe wrote Leavitt. EPA's ``national experience coupled with its experience with the World Trade Center dust makes it capable of providing significant assistance and direction throughout the deconstruction process,'' he said.

Originally, the development corporation said it would manage the cleanup while working with EPA and the other regulatory bodies.

A study by Louis Berger Group released by the development agency in September found asbestos levels exceeding the EPA standard in 77 percent of its samples, and dioxin, lead and quartz contamination in almost 100 percent. There are apartment

buildings across a small side street behind the tower, as well as a vent for a fan plant used by the New York subway system.

Kathleen Callahan, regional administrator for the federal agency's New York region, said in a written statement that it has and will continue to ``play a leadership rule'' among the 10 federal, state and city agencies monitoring the demolition of the building, which faces the southern side of Ground Zero.

Bought Building

Peterson said her agency is ``very pleased'' with the level of agreement among the agencies on this project, including the EPA. ``We're just trying to put everything in writing,'' she said.

The development corporation, charged by New York Governor George Pataki to execute his intention to fully restore the site by 2015, bought the tower from Deutsche Bank AG in August for $90 million and at the same time took over a $45 million contract to demolish it.

Bonnie Bellow, a spokeswoman for the EPA's New York regional office, said ``the frequency'' of on-site monitoring ``will depend on what's taking place at any particular time, and by our evaluation of how the work is going.''

EPA's statements didn't placate the agency's critics. Nadler called them "a lot of bureaucratic doubletalk'' designed to avoid the agency's responsibilities. Bellow declined to respond.

Razing Plan

The development agency last week presented EPA and other regulatory bodies with its plan to strip the tower's internal materials, including all wallboard, ceilings, floorings, plumbing and duct work, and is awaiting those agencies' approval. That first step in a two-phase demolition plan is to take five to nine months, followed by the dismantling of the steel frame, Peterson said last week at a meeting of community residents.

Mary Perillo, a resident of 125 Cedar Street, a 21-unit loft building less than 300 feet from the back of the Deutsche tower, said she had to replace everything she owned after Sept. 11, when her building was inundated with trade center dust. The experience left her convinced that EPA, which oversaw her building's cleanup

or a daily basis, should do no less during the tower demolition, she said.

The agency maintains that it shares responsibility for the demolition of the building -- a 41-story structure that formerly housed Deutsche Bank offices -- with several federal, state and local authorities, including the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the environment and health departments of New York city and state.

But it has failed to reach an agreement delineating each agency's role in the project, just as the building's owner, the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. (LMDC), has reversed its decision to handle the job by itself, siding with a local congressman, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), and community groups in calling on EPA to take responsibility for any contamination.

Talks over the development of a memorandum of understanding with the other agencies broke down recently -- none of the parties involved will say when exactly -- and it is not clear if they will resume. An EPA official would not comment on why the talks stopped, and representatives of the other parties either did not return calls or refused to comment.

LMDC, meanwhile, sent a letter to the agency Dec. 13 urging it to "take the lead in overseeing the environmental aspects of the deconstruction." The letter cites similar requests made repeatedly by Nadler in saying that "the agency's national experience coupled with its experience with World Trade Center dust make it capable of providing significant assistance and direction."

Environmental testing undertaken by the building's previous owner, Deutsche Bank AG, turned up massive amounts of several hazardous contaminants, including asbestos.

EPA has issued a press release in response to the letter saying it "took the lead in coordinating efforts" by all the agencies involved to protect against environmental dangers stemming from the demolition. But it stresses that other agencies bear some of the responsibility. "Various federal, state and local agencies have a range of regulatory

authorities that apply to the cleaning and eventual deconstruction of the building."

Nadler as well as community activists who are also pressing EPA to guarantee environmental safety during the demolition cite the agency's responsibilities under Presidential Decision Directive 62, a plan for combatting and responding to terrorist attacks issued in the Clinton administration. The text of the directive remains classified, but a representative from Nadler's office says it charges EPA with preventing

and remediating contamination arising from terrorist attacks.

This publication was supported by Cooperative Agreement Number U1Q/CCU221059 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of CDC.

Funding for this study was provided by the Centers for Disease Control U1Q/CCU221059, NIH NIEHS P30 ES00260 and NIH NCRR MO1RR00096

Abstract

The destruction of the World Trade Center (WTC) on September 11, 2001 in New York City resulted in the massive release of pulverized dust and combustion products. The dust and smoke settled in the surrounding area, which encompassed a large residential community. We hypothesized that previously normal residents in the community surrounding the former WTC would have an increased incidence of persistent respiratory symptoms and abnormalities in screening spirometry. A hybrid cross-sectional and

retrospective cohort study using a symptombased questionnaire and on-site screening spirometry in residents in an "exposed area" and in a "control area" was performed 12+4 months after the collapse. Surveys were analyzed from 2812 residents. New-onset respiratory symptoms were described by 55.8% of residents in the "exposed area" compared to 20.1% in the "control area" after the event. "Persistent new-onset symptoms"were identified in 26.4% vs. 7.5% of residents in the "exposed area" vs. "control area" respectively. No differences in screening spirometry between the groups were detected. A small pilot study suggested the possibility of an increase in bronchial hyperresponsiveness in "exposed" participants with persistent symptoms. The data demonstrated an increased rate of new onset and persistent respiratory health effects in residents near the former WTC compared to a control population.

Introduction

The destruction of the World Trade Center (WTC) in New York City on September 11, 2001 resulted in the pulverization of two 107-story buildings and the massive release of combustion products from jet fuel and burning structures. An initial cloud of dust and smoke enveloped the area in all directions. Subsequent wind-blown plumes dispersed dust and smoke throughout lower Manhattan and Brooklyn. Fires in the 16-acre site

continued for more than three months after the event, with the prolonged release of combustion products. Analyses of the settled dusts have revealed cement, glass and particulate matter including gypsum, calcium carbonate, cement dust, and glass fibers. The dusts were alkaline, with a pH ranging from 9.3 to 11.5 (Lioy et al. 2002; McGee et al. 2003;Service 2003). Metals including chromium, iron, magnesium, manganese,aluminum, barium, titanium and lead were also detected (Lioy et al. 2002). Particles were also noted to contain polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls, and organochlorine pesticides (Lioy et al. 2002; Offenberg et al. 2003).

Although often considered a financial district, lower Manhattan contains a large residential community with approximately 58,000 residents living south of Canal Street. The residential communities encompass many socioeconomic levels and residents of diverse race/ethnicity. Housing stock consist of large housing complexes containing thousands of residential units as well as smaller residential buildings. Some residents in the immediate area surrounding the former WTC (Ground Zero; GZ) were immediately evacuated, however many remained in their apartments. Residents who were evacuated returned to their apartments over the ensuing weeks to months. Dusts from the collapse settled on streets, playgrounds, cars, and buildings. Dusts entered apartments through open windows, building cracks and ventilation systems. Removal of these dusts in individual apartments was accomplished in a variety of ways; some residents used professional cleaners whereas many performed the operation themselves. No consistent clean-up operation was offered to the residential community until one year after the event.

Adverse respiratory health effects from exposures to WTC dusts are being reported. Firefighters exposed to materials generated during the collapse of the WTC have developed cough and bronchial hyperresponsiveness (Banauch et al. 2003; Prezant et al. 2002). A preliminary telephone survey of a small sample of residents in Manhattan, also suggested the presence of respiratory health effects eight weeks after the event (Fagan 2002). To examine whether the destruction of the WTC resulted in adverse respiratory health effects in the residential community, we developed a collaborative effort between the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH), New York University (NYU) School of Medicine/Bellevue Hospital and numerous community health

programs and local community organizations. The overall study was designed to test the hypotheses that the rates and severity of new and previously existing respiratory diseases increased among residents after 9/11/01 in the community surrounding GZ compared to a control community. We now report results of the first part of the study, which was designedto test the hypothesis that the destruction of the WTC resulted in an increased incidence of persistent new-onset respiratory symptoms and airflow obstruction in previously normal residents in the surrounding community. Additional studies will address upper respiratory symptoms, exacerbations of preexisting asthma and medical care utilization.

. . . . .

Conclusion

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The realization of that mission, however, is more complex. For Friedman, it involves heading a network of over 100 organizations committed to strengthening the city’s manufacturing sector, identifying vulnerable companies and helping them relocate, improve their technologies, find employees and access financing.

The New York Industrial Retention Network, a citywide nonprofit organization, began in 1997, and since then, it has worked with over 2,000 companies employing 91,000 people. It recently made Lower Manhattan its new home, moving from Brooklyn to Park Place, near City Hall.

The network received money from the state’s Small Firm Attraction and Retention Grant Program, a post-9/11 fund to attract businesses and organizations Downtown.

"Lower Manhattan is definitely a bargain," said Friedman, N.Y.I.R.N.’s executive director. "It has great infrastructure, and we’re close to the city government ­ we do a lot of work with them."

He said manufacturing jobs provide the poor a chance to a better life.

"The best way out of poverty is to have a decent paying job. A job is the most basic thing ­ all other problems become easier to deal with once a person has that," said Friedman.

In the manufacturing sector, Friedman explained, an average annual production salary is $30,000 ­ that’s $10,000 more than in the retail sector and other sectors that require low-skilled labor. In addition, two-thirds of the manufacturing workforce has health coverage.

"These are high quality jobs we’re talking about. That’s why it’s so important to save them," Friedman said.

The Retention Network started as a response to the relocation of Faberware, a company famous for its home appliances and products, away from its original base in New York City. Over 200 union jobs left along with the company in 1996, creating panic and helplessness among blue-collar workers.

"Our goal is to prevent another Faberware from happening," Friedman said, adding that the Network works closely with unions and community groups to ensure that the needs of all stakeholders are addressed.

Even though manufacturing industry in New York City has been declining since the 1970s, it continues to be an essential source of employment, particularly in the production of apparel and textiles, paper and printed materials, food, fabricated metals and chemicals.

About 12,000 manufacturing firms provide over 200,000 jobs, making the sector one of the city’s largest employers, according to an N.Y.I.R.N. report.

The sector is also a significant employer of immigrants, who comprise over a third of the City’s population. Fifty-two percent of City residents who have limited English language skills work in the manufacturing sector, and 60 percent of workers in this sector have a high school degree or less, according to New York University’s Taub Urban Research Center.

With an annual budget of $750,000 and funding from banks, corporations, trusts and the New York State government, Friedman runs economic development programs in all five boroughs. One of the Network’s newest programs is called "Green Utility," which helps manufacturing companies conserve energy by providing them with equipment that uses renewable power.

In Chinatown, the Network has several programs, with the latest being "Fashion Space," which locates real estate for and provides state-of-the-art technology to apparel companies.

"They just got their first funding. There are 50 to 70 companies involved, with 2,500 workers in total," Friedman said of the Chinatown project.

A World Trade Center worker who rushed from home on Sept. 11, 2001, to help rescue victims of the terror attacks has been denied workers' compensation because he wasn't ordered to the scene by a boss, a court ruled yesterday.

The Appellate Division of state Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Port Authority and the state Workers' Compensation Board - and against Christopher Duff's workers' compensation claims for psychological injuries.

Duff had won a claim for an unreported amount at two lower-level hearings, but an appeal was won by the state, according to the decision.

"The man was the property manager for the World Trade Center," said Duff's attorney, Robert Grey. "We don't understand the finding that he was not in the course of his employment."

Grey, however, said the decision does preserve the former state worker's claim to compensation for respiratory and psychological problems as a volunteer.

The first study of a large group of workers breathing air with very low levels of benzene suggests that the chemical may harm the bone marrow, the body's main factory for blood cells, even in amounts below the threshold deemed safe under American law.

The researchers said counts of certain protective white blood cells in 250 Chinese shoe factory workers exposed to small amounts of benzene ï ˜ less than one part per million in the air ï ˜ were 15 to 18 percent lower than counts in a similar group of 140 garment workers who were not exposed. The lower blood counts were not in a range deemed harmful, but independent experts said the findings strongly hinted that benzene was one of a small group of chemicals for which no safe threshold exists.

The study was conducted by scientists from the National Cancer Institute, China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the University of California, Berkeley, and several other institutions. It is being published today in the journal Science.

For more than a century, benzene has been one of the most heavily used solvents in the world, with applications in everything from tires to drugs, paper to refined sugar. It makes up about 1 percent of gasoline and is also produced when coal and other fuels are burned. Benzene has long been identified as a cause of leukemia and other blood ailments in people exposed to significant amounts over many years, so regulations have steadily tightened in most industrialized countries, and increasingly in poorer nations as well.

Experts not affiliated with the new study said it should prompt a re-evaluation of the American workplace standard, which the Occupational Safety and Health Administration set at one part per million in 1987, even though the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health recommended a standard of 0.1 parts per million.

“These results clearly indicate that the current OSHA permissible exposure limit is not sufficiently protective of worker health,” said Dr. David A. Eastmond, a professor of environmental toxicology at the University of California, Riverside, who has conducted many studies on the chemical.

John D. Graham, the administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs of the White House Office of Management and Budget, said "This is an important study. It deserves careful consideration by scientists, physicians and regulators."

Groups representing the chemical and oil industries, which have fought the progressive tightening of benzene standards over the last three decades, said they would need to analyze the study before commenting. The American Petroleum Institute, a trade group in Washington, is paying for a similar study on factory workers in China, which has become a focal point for such research because it is one of the only places in the world where worker exposure remains commonplace.

In the United States, overall air concentrations have dropped sharply in recent decades, although many workers are still exposed. There is no good current estimate of workplace exposure in the United States, mainly because of a lack of money for surveys, officials at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health said. The last thorough federal survey of worker exposure, released in 1987, estimated that more than 200,000 American workers, from gas station attendants to tire factory workers, were chronically exposed to some amount of benzene. Previous studies of small numbers of workers had shown that levels below the current federal standard could lower blood-cell counts.

But the new study, experts say, is by far the most convincing. The research was conducted in Tianjin, a city of 10 million, carefully following a group of young workers, two-thirds women, with intensive testing of the air around them as well as their blood and urine. Their homes and workplaces were monitored to be sure that factors like smoking or exposure to other harmful compounds were not swaying the findings.

The findings, while subtle, are a clear sign that even these low levels of exposure pose a risk, said Dr. Robert A. Rinsky, an epidemiologist at Cincinnati Children's Hospital and Medical Center who conducted significant federal studies in the 1970s and 1980s linking high benzene exposure to leukemia.

"These weren't effects that caused clinical disease, but they sure as heck caused a lot of changes in the blood and you need to be scared of anything that can do that," he said.

Along with the depression of white-cell counts, the researchers measured a noticeable weakening of the ability of a tiny number of blood-forming cells, called progenitor cells, that circulate outside the bone marrow.

When samples of these cells from the exposed and unexposed workers were cultured in laboratories, those from people with the slight benzene exposure did not grow as readily.

"The fact that we see biological effects occurring in an important organ, the blood, raises questions and adds a bit more concern that we understand what's going on," said Dr. Nathaniel Rothman, an author of the study and a senior investigator at the National Cancer Institute.

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

Officials have been saying for months that $70 million from the L.M.D.C. was likely, but the Hudson River Park Trust’s president, Connie Fishman, said she did not hear for sure that some money was coming until just before Pataki’s Nov. 22 speech at the Ritz-Carlton in Battery Park City, site of all four of the governor’s Lower Manhattan progress speeches.

Fishman said more discussions with the L.M.D.C. are needed as to what and how much the Pataki-created agency is funding, but the governor’s announcement means construction on the delayed project could begin by the middle of next year under the most optimistic schedule.

She said as Downtown’s residential population continues to increase, better park spaces for families are needed.

"They need a place to play as well as a place to work and the riverfront is the best and most easily accessible place available," Fishman said in a telephone interview.

The project has the support of Community Board 1, Councilmember Alan Gerson and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who asked the L.M.D.C. to fund the park at the agency’s board meeting two weeks ago.

At his speech before the Association for a Better New York (abny), Pataki said "Through funding from the L.M.D.C., we will be able to complete the Tribeca section of the five-mile, 550-acre [park] and provide the community with even more recreational space and access to the river."

He also announced that he and Mayor Mike Bloomberg had signed executive orders setting up the Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center to manage and coordinate all of the Downtown construction projects planned over the next six years; that all four of the living ex-presidents had agreed to serve as honorary members of the foundation to raise money for the World Trade Center memorial; and that the dismantling of the contaminated Deutsche Bank building across from the W.T.C. site would begin in December.

As for the Tribeca section of the Hudson River Park, the plan includes rebuilding all 1,000 or so feet of Pier 25 for a children’s play area, volleyball courts and a mini-golf course, and about 900 feet of Pier 26 with a marine study center, kayak center, large plants, and a green lawn. The piers already host many of those uses, but they are deteriorating and permanent structures need to be built to replace them.

Fishman said about half the park’s costs are to rebuild the piers. The plan also includes trees and plants off of the piers and a bird sanctuary viewing area near Canal St. The recently opened tennis courts will remain near Spring St., but the skateboard park may be moved to a nearby location, Fishman said.

After the L.M.D.C. board approves funds for the park, she said it will likely take between four and six months to get the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development to issue final environmental and funding approval. HUD has final say on all development corporation money, which was approved by Congress after the Sept. 11 attacks.

It will take about 2 1/2 years to build the Tribeca section. Fishman said the Trust will work out a construction phasing plan and that some of the existing uses on the piers may be able to temporarily relocate. Those uses include Manhattan Youth, which runs afterschool and summer day camp activities on Pier 25, the River Project, which studies marine life at Pier 26 near the Downtown Boathouse, which has kayaking programs.

Bob Townley, executive director of Manhattan Youth, said he is happy to hear the park will be built, but he hopes construction starts after the summer. "We stand ready to vacate the pier this season or next," he said. "We prefer next season."

He said that would give him more time to find other places for outdoor programs such as on Governors Island. Manhattan Youth holds the lease for the pier and during construction will lose space for its programs and about $60,000 in sublease revenues from other groups, Townley said, although he added it is a positive development.

"I’ve always viewed it as no choice because the pilings on the piers are disintegrating," he said. "Some people will miss the old funkiness of the pier, but probably more people will like the new pier. I think the crowds will increase."

L.M.D.C. money

The park money will leave less than $800 million in L.M.D.C. funds left over. Pataki said he would work with Mayor Mike Bloomberg to come up with a plan by March on the best way to use the rest of the remaining funds.

"As we develop the allocation plan, we must engage the public so all voices are heard," Pataki said.

This line is not likely to mollify advocates who have criticized Pataki and the L.M.D.C. for not spending more money on affordable housing and job training programs.

"If the governor at this point does not have a grasp of what the needs of Lower Manhattan are, he’s living in a hole," said Bettina Damiani of Good Jobs New York, which has tracked L.M.D.C. expenditures closely.

Damiani said the L.M.D.C. should follow the same public hearing laws required of other Community Development Block Grant allocations. The 9/11-related C.D.B.G. funds do not have the same restrictions as other grants. Typically the L.M.D.C. board votes on spending plans at its public meetings and then solicits comments on the plans on its Web sites and in public notice ads in local papers.

Pataki did not say if there would be more extensive outreach before the final spending plan is unveiled in March and Kevin Rampe, L.M.D.C. president, said that has not yet been decided.

After the 2001 attacks, the agency was granted $2.8 billion of federal money and the largest expenditures to date include $750 million to repair utilities damaged on Sept. 11, 2001, $300 million for a housing subsidy program to encourage residents to move and stay in Lower Manhattan, $225 million to buy the Deutsche Bank building and develop site plans for the complex’s redevelopment, and $200 million for business retention programs.

Damiani said in some cases, the L.M.D.C. and other moneys spent on corporate retention went to companies whose executives were later quoted as saying they were not planning to move out of Downtown.

"We’re giving money away to corporations that say they would have stayed in Lower Manhattan anyway, when the needs of low and moderate income families are being ignored," she said.

Pataki released a report Monday prepared by Appleseed estimating that L.M.D.C. investments have led to $2.1 billion of economic impact in the short run and will contribute $1.3 billion each year.

The governor said the biggest priority for the remaining L.M.D.C. money was to help pay for the $350 million memorial construction costs, followed by the undetermined W.T.C. cultural building costs. He announced that next week, he, Bloomberg and John Whitehead, L.M.D.C. chairperson, would announce at least 20 members of the memorial foundation to join former Presidents Bush, Clinton, Ford and Carter in the efforts to raise money to build and maintain the memorial.

Other big projects under consideration are improvements to the East River waterfront, along Fulton St., near Chinatown and south of the W.T.C. site.

Construction center

The Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center will coordinate the projects planned south of Canal St. or southwest of Rutgers St. Pataki and Bloomberg will pick an executive director to head the center.

Carl Weisbrod, president of the Downtown Alliance and a L.M.D.C. board member said it’s "critical" for the businesses he represents and for residents to have one place keeping track of all of the government agencies and developers with billions of dollars worth of projects underway.

"It’s absolutely essential to have a full coordination of these various construction projects," Weisbrod said.

The center is to remain open through 2010 and will oversee all projects in the geographic area that are valued over $25 million and any that require work on Downtown’s streets or highways.

One of the projects the command center will manage is the deconstruction of the Deutsche building. Pataki toured the damaged building after his speech with Amy Peterson, a L.M.D.C. vice president, and George Cavallo, regional director of the Gilbane Building Company, which will oversee the deconstruction.

The governor said that the building will be taken down safely. "It’s not going to be one of these mass explosions," he said, according to a pool press report. "It’s going to be piece by piece from the inside."

Pataki also announced

• His support for rebuilding the Borough of Manhattan Community College’s Fiterman Hall, which was damaged in the attacks. Antonio Pérez, the school’s president, told Downtown Express that the school has about $127 million in insurance and Federal Emergency Management Agency money and needs $60 million more for the demolition and reconstruction costs. The college’s board is expected to vote to hire Pei Cobb Freed & Partners to design the new Fiterman.

• Memorial architects Michael Arad, Peter Walker and Max Bond in December will unveil the final model for Arad’s "Reflecting Absence" design for two sunken reflecting pools where the Twin Towers once stood. Arad and Bond walked with Pataki in the memorial area Monday. Arad said later that the access to the memorial from Liberty St. will be decided soon, once a decision is made on where to place the ramp for delivery trucks and tour buses.

• Subway construction on the $750 million Fulton Transit Center and $400 million South Ferry station will begin in December. The Fulton project will begin with the 2,3 lines at Fulton and Nassau Sts. and the south entrance to the 4,5 stop at Maiden Lane and Broadway.

• The environmental study on the $6 billion rail link connecting Lower Manhattan to J.F.K. Airport and the Long Island Rail Road would begin with a week. He said he expected Congress to approve a $2 billion tax transfer to the project sometime next year.

• In his earliest ABNY speeches, Pataki spoke enthusiastically about the plan to build a vehicular tunnel near the W.T.C. and under West St., but the project is opposed by many residents and on Monday the governor only mentioned "a revitalized West St." which could or could not include a tunnel.

More than a year later, there are some concrete findings about health complaints – and perhaps as many complaints about the survey itself.

The Findings So Far

The registry, a collaboration between the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, has enrolled more than 70,000 volunteer participants, people who resided, volunteered or worked near Ground Zero.

According to initial health data released recently

47 percent of those analyzed complained of "new" or "worsened" health problems immediately following the attacks.

These included respiratory irritations like shortness of breath (42 percent), wheezing (38 percent), and persistent cough (37 percent).

Over 40 percent of respondents in the area around Ground Zero (beneath Chambers Street) reported eye problems as a result of the disaster.

Over 20 percent of all interviewees said they experienced severe headaches.

Eight percent of enrollees reported experiencing "psychological distress," including anxiety and depression, in the month preceding the interview. This is a 60 percent higher rate than that of the New York City population in general.

At a press conference announcing the findings, Health Commissioner Thomas R. Frieden conceded that the prevalence of respiratory symptoms "is not surprising" in light of previous research. However, the results do give new indications as to the scope of the impact, according to Frieden "What this shows is that tens of thousands of people had significant lung symptoms around the time of exposure to the WTC."

The Criticism

The most recent findings do not impress critics, who see several things wrong with the survey.

Some, like Micki Siegel de Hernandez, director of occupation safety and health for New York State for the Communications Workers of America, say it says nothing new. Union members who worked at Ground Zero have been complaining of illnesses for years, and previous studies have made all the same points.

Some charge it is not scientifically valid.

The New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health, a non-profit advocacy organization, has long questioned the survey’s design "The population under study is not scientifically determined; rather, it is a population of convenience." Relying only on self-reported symptoms would not accurately reflect the effects of exposure to WTC contaminants.

David Newman, an industrial hygienist with the committee, said the registry’s design overlooks distinctions between "different potentials for exposure" among various subsets, including emergency responders, people caught directly in the dust cloud, and people living, working or going to school in the area. Newman believes that since the survey provides only an incomplete picture of those affected, "the utility of the data that’s going to be collected is limited."

Some critics say there was inadequate outreach.

Despite efforts by community groups and registry staff to conduct special outreach to minority populations, the demographics of the surveyed population are skewed. Enrollment in the low-income, minority areas on the Lower East Side, at 4 to 10 percent of their respective census populations, was significantly lower than enrollment in the relatively affluent neighborhoods nearby, which ranged from 17 to 38 percent.

Kimberly Flynn, a leader of the advocacy group 9/11 Environmental Action, believes "inadequate public input and inadequate outreach" led to a lack of public trust and engagement in the project.

De Hernandez suggested that members of the Communications Workers of America were generally uninterested in enrolling in part because "neither labor nor the community was consulted in any kind of a meaningful way prior to the development and implementation of the registry."

Some critics say the money could be better spent on direct services.

The registry was intended strictly as a scientific inquiry, with no promises of treatment for enrollees. "There was no direct benefit to individuals" for enrolling, said Health Commissioner Frieden, "but there will be a major direct benefit to New York City as a whole and to other jurisdictions [that] deal with natural or manmade disasters in the future." In other words, registry data might someday help society bone up in preparation for the next 9/11.

The problem is, individuals still suffering from the last 9/11 think they are long overdue for some direct benefits. Community members have expressed frustration that some victims of 9/11 struggle with immediate healthcare and financial burdens that have not been addressed to this day.

Past and Future Challenges

Philip Alcabes, an epidemiologist at Hunter College who served on the Scientific Advisory Committee of the World Trade Center Registry, said the planners were challenged from the beginning by many factors, including politics, bureaucracy, and, above all, funding the budget, he said, "was woefully small" for a project of this scope.

Whether the World Trade Center Health Registry will even fulfill its goal of tracking the health of its enrollees over 20 years is uncertain. Currently, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Environmental Protection Agency have committed $21.5 million, which will only cover the next four years of research. Officials are hopeful that funding will be extended.

In September, before the House Government Reform Committee, de Hernandez testified, "additional funding should not be provided for the continuation of the [registry]. Rather, this funding should be used to provide real medical services."

But experts say it would be premature to tie enrollment to treatment before potential illnesses have been concretely defined.

"Treatment for what? We’re not sure yet," said Lorna Thorpe, deputy health commissioner. "The registry is empirically trying to identify what the health problems are … in the broadest sense."