Environmental Information Resources
The purpose of this page is to provide parents with access to background
material on issues that are relevant to the health and safety of our
children following the September 11 attack. Opinions expressed in this material are not intended to represent positions taken by the Stuyvesant Parents Association.
Detailed Monitoring Data
DEC Region 2 Monitoring Sites
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
DEC map of New York City area air monitoring sites with links to data from each site.
EPA Response to September 11
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
General WTC news from EPA with links, by substance, to their monitoring data.
Additional World Trade Center Information
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
OSHA news releases on WTC activities with links, by substance, to their monitoring data.
General 9/11 Environmental Impact
EPA Big Declares WTC Schools Unsafe
By Kirsten Danis and Carl Campanile, New York Post
February 28, 2002 -- Two schools near the World Trade Center site are unsafe,
the Environmental Protection Agency's watchdog charged last night.
Students who already have returned to Stuyvesant HS and kids scheduled to return
today to PS 89 are at risk from poisons that float into the air from barges
carting debris from Ground Zero, EPA national ombudsman Robert Martin said.
Statement of Marjorie J. Clarke, Ph.D. (MSWord)
Marjorie J. Clarke, Scientist in Residence, Lehman College and Adjunct Professor, Hunter College
February 25, 2002
Statement presented at the US Senate Environment Committee hearing on Air Quality
issues surrounding the World Trade Center collapses and fires.
WTC Air Quality Questioned at Hearing
By Alex Cukan, UPI
February 24, 2002
The controversy swirling around the
environmental contamination in and around where the World Trade
Center once stood continued in a hearing in New York City
sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's
ombudsman's office.
"We invited the leadership of the EPA, the Federal Emergency
Management Agency, the U.S. Geological Survey, the governor's
office, state agencies, the mayor's office and city agencies, but
none came," said Hugh Kaufman, the EPA ombudsman's chief
investigator for the World Trade Center Saturday. "This is the
first time this has happened in this type of hearing."
Breathing the Air Downtown
New York Times editorial
February 22, 2002
Recent hearings and analyses of air quality near the site of the World Trade Center collapse
have produced some encouraging findings. The most reasonable judgment at this point is that
the outside air in Lower Manhattan is safe to breathe and that indoor spaces that have been
properly cleaned are fine as well. The main concern is a few hot spots outdoors and whether
some apartments or offices need a better cleaning than they have previously received.
The Environmental Impacts of the World Trade Center Attacks (pdf)
Natural Resources Defense Council
February 2002
Findngs of an NRDC study of the 9/11 impact, with recommendations for government action.
Statement of Ombundsman Robert J. Martin at Clinton Hearing (pdf)
Robert J. Martin, National Ombundsman, EPA
February 11, 2002
EPA ombundsman's statement at the Senate hearings on downtown air quality conducted by Senator Clinton.
This statement addresses primarily the author's assessment of the actions of the EPA.
Environmental Studies of the World Trade Center area after the September 11, 2001 attack.
U.S. Geological Survey
Results of an interdisciplinary environmental characterization of
the World Trade Center (WTC) area after September 11, 2001.
Health Issues Around the World Trade Center Disaster(pdf)
Department of Community Medicine of Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Irritative and Respiratory Problems in Relation to Environmental Exposures from the
World Trade Center Disaster: A Guide for Clinicians
Roiling dust cloud filled USGS scientists with a sense of urgency
By Andrew Schneider , St. Louis Post-Dispatch
February 10, 2002
DENVER - Two dozen men and women dropped everything, determined to find out what was in that
residue -- and how dangerous it was.
Chemists, geophysicists, astrophysicists and other scientists cloistered in the sprawling
U.S. Geological Survey complex here are not emergency responders. Their work is detailed,
methodical, with little room for haste or need for spontaneity. They track water poisoned
by mining, search for cracks in the Earth's crust, and explore for minerals on Mars and Saturn.
But when a terrorist attack leveled the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, that all changed.
Caustic dust blankets World Trade Center area(MSWord)
By Andrew Schneider , St. Louis Post-Dispatch
February 9, 2002
NEW YORK - Even as the dust from the collapsed World Trade Center was still settling, top
government scientists were determining that the smoky gray mixture was highly corrosive and
potentially a serious danger to health.
With Uncertainty Filling the Air, 9/11 Health Risks Are Debated
By Kirk Johnson, The New York Times
February 8, 2002
Five-year-old Phoebe Kaufman's room was once filled with her artwork.
Now all that remains is a single picture of a flower, which hangs by her bed.
Her parents threw out everything else because paper is porous and might have absorbed dust
from the collapsing World Trade Center towers that blasted into their Lower Manhattan
apartment through an open window.
No one knows whether Phoebe's artwork had become dangerous,
and air tests done in that apartment building, about a block from ground zero, have shown
the air to be safe. But decisions still had to be made, so everything absorbent — stuffed
animals, mattresses, coats — went into the trash.
Anxieties over toxins rise at Ground Zero
By Charisse Jones, USA TODAY
February 6, 2002
NEW YORK -- In the neighborhoods closest to the site of the worst terrorist attacks in U.S.
history, a new fear has taken hold. Despite assertions by local and federal officials that
the air downtown is safe to breathe, many who live and work there remain concerned about
toxins such as lead, PCBs and asbestos that the terrorist attacks may have left behind.
More chemicals feared at Trade Center site
Sharon L. Crenson, Associated Press
February 01, 2002
NEW YORK – When the World Trade Center crumbled, the spotlight was on its two majestic towers,
not on 7 World Trade Center – a building that stood and collapsed in their shadows.
But 7 WTC was toxic.
Aerial of Ground Zero
A spectacular aerial image of Ground Zero and surrounding area right after the attack.
Children's Exposure Risks
Creating Safe Learning Zones: Invisible Threats, Visible Actions
Center for Health, Environment and Justice
January 2002
Background chapter from a report on schools built near toxic zones. Descibes children's
special vulnerabilities when they are exposed to environmental chemicals.
Asbestos
NYC Department of Health Misrepresentations: February 8, 2002 press release:
“NYC Department of Health Presents Findings
from Indoor Air Sampling in Lower Manhattan” (pdf)
Cate Jenkins, Ph.D., Environmental Scientist, WIB, HWID, Office of Solid Waste, US Environmental Protection Agency
February 10, 2002
Memorandum,with attachments, disputing NYC DOH representations of Lower Manhattan air sampling results.
NYC under an asbestos cloud
By Andrew Schneider, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch
January 14, 2002
Federal and state officials have grossly underestimated the number of people in lower
Manhattan who are at risk of lethal asbestos-related disease because of the collapse of
the World Trade Center, independent experts say.
WTC asbestos horror from Montana vermiculite mine
By Andrew Schneider, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch
January 13, 2002
LIBBY, Mont. – Much of the asbestos-tainted vermiculite that spewed
from the collapsing World Trade Center was dug from a mine in the Cabinet Mountains above
this picturesque Kootenai River town. And in Libby, as in New York, environmental and health
officials failed to disclose just how dangerous the mineral could be.
World Trade Center Asbestos (pdf)
Cate Jenkins, Ph.D., Environmental Scientist, WIB, HWID, Office of Solid Waste,
US Environmental Protection Agency
December 3, 2001 memorandum on the World Trade Center asbestos situation and EPA response.
Historical Asbestos Comments
Professor J. Caravanos, EOHS Program Hunter College of the City University of New York
Quotes, dated as far back as 1935, related to recognition of asbestos
hazards and response to those hazards from major corporations such as Johns Manville,
Owens-Corning, and Reynolds Metals.
Particulates
Study Ties Pollution, Risk of Lung Cancer
By Eric Pianin, Washington Post
March 6, 2002
Researchers for the first time have linked long-term exposure to fine particles of air pollution
from coal-fired power plants, factories and diesel trucks to an increased risk of dying from
lung cancer. A study published in today's issue of the Journal of the American Medical
Association concludes that people living in the most heavily polluted metropolitan
areas have a 12 percent increased risk of dying of lung cancer than people in the least
polluted areas. The study's authors said that exposure to the tiny particles of industrial
emissions and sulfate pollutants is comparable to inhaling second-hand smoke from a cigarette.
Passage of Inhaled Particles Into the Blood Circulation in Humans
American Heart Association, Inc.
Pollution by particulates has been consistently associated with increased cardiovascular
morbidity and mortality. However, the mechanisms responsible for these effects are not
well-elucidated.
Trade Center Air Held Unprecedented Amounts of Very Fine Particles, Silicon, Sulfates, Metals, Say UC Davis Scientists
University of California at Davis
February 11, 2002
In the most thorough analysis yet of the dust and smoke blown through lower Manhattan after
the collapse of the World Trade Center, researchers at the University of California, Davis,
today described unprecedented clouds of very fine particles that should be considered in
evaluating rescue workers' and residents' health problems.
Based on their findings, the UC Davis researchers also recommended specific cleaning methods
for contaminated apartments, offices, schools and other indoor spaces.
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
A FAC (Frequently Asked Questions) sheet about health questions regarding PAHs,
a complex of chmeicals resulting from the incomplete buring of various
organic compounds.
Diesel
A Study of Diesel Exhaust Particles and Truck Traffic in Lower Manhattan(MSWord)
By Harrichand Rhambarose and Patrick L. Kinney, Ph.D.
Results of a study of diesel exhaust paricle (DEP) concentrations and their
correlations to truck trafic conducted in lower Manhattan in December of 2000.
No Breathing in the Aisles: Diesel Exhaust Inside School Buses
NRDC and the Coalition for Clean Air
This February 2001 study shows that children who
ride a diesel school bus may be exposed to up to four times more toxic diesel exhaust than
someone traveling in a car directly in front of it. The study found that excess exhaust levels
on school buses were 23 to 46 times higher than levels considered to be a significant cancer
risk according to the U.S Environmental Protection Agency and federal guidelines.
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC)
Dioxins and Furans: Where They Come From
by Todd Paddock, Academy of Natural Sciences
July, 1989
An explanation of the processes by which dioxins and furans, which are often found
together, are created.
Dioxin Homepage
EJnet.org: Web Resources for Environmental Justice Activists
An introduction to dioxin and its health effects, with lots of links to other resources.
Benzene
Occupational Safely and Health Administration, U.S. Department of Labor
An introduction to benzene and its health effects, with lots of links to other resources.
Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs)
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
A fact sheet on frequently asked health questions about PCBs.
Healthy Milk, Healthy Baby Chemical Pollution and Mother's Milk: Chemicals: PBDEs
NRDC
Discussion of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), a class of chemicals used as flame
retardents and found in computers as well as various construction materials.
Flame Retardant in Furniture Causes Concern
New York Times
January 30, 2002
A chemical flame retardant used in foam furniture padding is accumulating so rapidly in the
breast milk of nursing mothers that environmentalists and some scientists are expressing concern,
and Europe has moved to ban one form of it.
Mercury/Heavy Metals
Mercury Exposure at Ground Zero (pdf)
New York Daily News; Boyd Haley, Professor and Chair, Department of Chemistry, University of Kentucky.
January 4, 2002 Daily News article and Professor Boyd Haley's response concerning Ground Zero workers' call for more comprehensive
health tests in repsonse to the discovery of elevated mercury levels in the blood of four
Port Authority police officers.
Air Filtration
Understanding Air Filtration
Breathe Plus Inc.
A tutorial page on air filtration alternatives, including factors to consider when choosing
air filters.
A Word About HEPA Filtration
Magellan Academies and Child Development Centers Inc.
A brief overview of HEPA filtration.
Aerobiological Engineering: Filtration of Microorganisms
Penn State University Departments of Architectural Engineering and Biology
A more detailed technical discussion of the theory and practice of HEPA filtration,
with an extensive bibliograhy.
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