The EPA said yesterday that New Yorkers close to the World Trade Center at the time of the 9/11 attacks, particularly rescue workers, probably were at risk of serious health problems.
In a draft study focusing on the contamination that followed the World Trade Center collapse, the Environmental Protection Agency said Ground Zero had become a toxic and dangerous area after the destruction of the Twin Towers.
“Persons exposed to the extremely high levels of ambient particulate matter . . . during the collapse of the World Trade Center towers and for several hours afterwards were likely to be at risk for immediate acute (and possibly chronic) respiratory and other types (e.g., cardiovascular) of symptoms,” the EPA said.
The agency, which has promised it would clean up and test apartments in the area south of Canal Street, said it had not begun to measure some contaminants until three days after the attacks.
Other contaminants were not gauged until Sept. 23, so that several potential health impacts “cannot be evaluated with certainty,” the EPA said.
The agency said it had measured “elevated concentrations” of contaminants in and around Ground Zero for one to three months after Sept. 11, 2001, and that those levels had not returned to normal until January or February 2002.