Toxic shirt from 9/11 reveals menacing information

By Carol Kennedy

Published on April 21, 2006

The garment was sent to a laboratory for testing last week. It was discovered that the shirt contained levels of chrysotle asbestos that were 93,000 times higher than levels found in the environment in an average American city. The test also revealed that the shirt was contaminated with mercury, zinc, copper, lead, molybdenium, cobalt and barium.

Just last week, the Center for Disease Control reported that 62 percent of those caught in the massive dust cloud on Sept. 11 still suffer from respiratory problems. Among people who reside or work around the area but were not exposed to the dust cloud, 46 percent suffer from respiratory problems. Of that number, 57 percent report worsening and new respiratory symptoms.

Dr. Mark Rosen, chief of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Beth Israel Hospital, stated that, since it can take decades for asbestos cancer to develop, we won't know the true effect of Ground Zero exposure for many years.

Nearly 400,000 tons of asbestos was released into the atmosphere as a result of the World Trade Center collapse.

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