:00:16. > :00:22.throughout the night. It is time A site that became the definition
:00:22. > :00:30.of terror. The destruction of the Twin Towers. An onslaught that
:00:30. > :00:37.killed nearly 3,000 people. Ten years on the attack is not over.
:00:37. > :00:43.The dust that overran the streets of lower Manhattan became a weapon.
:00:43. > :00:50.The clouds contained particles of pulverised concrete. Asbestos. Lead
:00:50. > :01:00.from 50,000 computers. Mercury from countless light bulbs. A poisonous
:01:00. > :01:09.fall-out which is ruining thousands of lives. I came down to help, but
:01:09. > :01:18.I never asked for this. I found him dead on the floor. There were many
:01:18. > :01:28.responders and survivors with cancers. They are clearly
:01:28. > :02:00.
:02:00. > :02:10.This man is one of those who breathed in that dust. He is seeing
:02:10. > :02:16.
:02:16. > :02:20.He has coughing fits like this all the time. A police officer, he was
:02:20. > :02:29.at Ground Zero for three months. First he was searching for
:02:29. > :02:39.survivors. Then recovering remains. This is a regular check-up. The
:02:39. > :02:44.dust has exacted a heavy price. He used to be highly active. An expert
:02:44. > :02:48.in firearms. But his health has collapsed and he has now retired.
:02:49. > :02:56.We first met him and his wife at their home in New Jersey five years
:02:56. > :03:06.ago. I have scarring on my lungs. Some kind of lesions. Reactive
:03:06. > :03:08.
:03:08. > :03:14.airway disease. The coughing was getting more often. It was so bad.
:03:14. > :03:20.His face would turn purple, his eyes would start bulging. We did
:03:20. > :03:23.not know if he would choke to death. Today, another battery of tests.
:03:23. > :03:29.According to a recent study, emergency responders are suffering
:03:29. > :03:39.from reduced breathing capacity and are not getting better. Inhale
:03:39. > :03:53.
:03:53. > :03:57.quickly! Good. Uniformed staff who were on the front line. Police,
:03:57. > :04:02.firemen, medical workers. These are the people the world saw battling
:04:02. > :04:07.through the wreckage. Out of sight beyond the cameras are an army of
:04:07. > :04:17.people toiling in the dust. Telecoms engineers, contractors,
:04:17. > :04:18.
:04:18. > :04:27.cleaners. Right in the thick of it was Alex Sanchez. Down in the
:04:27. > :04:33.crowds of Ground Zero. He works in 10 different buildings. On this job
:04:33. > :04:39.he was given a respirator. This was the exception. Usually he had no
:04:39. > :04:45.protection. His task was to get rid of dust. He did not realise what it
:04:45. > :04:54.would do to him. When we go to the vent system, what I saw was
:04:54. > :05:04.glistening particles. I still have dreams. I see all of these
:05:04. > :05:11.
:05:11. > :05:16.particles. They are slowly coming A New York police helicopter filmed
:05:16. > :05:23.the onslaught as it happened. A bird's-eye view of an unprecedented
:05:23. > :05:28.atrocity. In the first few hours there was total confusion. Then the
:05:28. > :05:36.enormity of the losses sank in. Only later was the dust seen as a
:05:36. > :05:41.threat. What those police pilots who were flying up here saw, that
:05:41. > :05:47.terrible day, must have been horrific. Flying and looking at
:05:47. > :05:55.Manhattan it is hard to believe what was going on. What they saw
:05:55. > :06:02.was not just the collapse of the dust. It was rising from the site
:06:02. > :06:09.up to an altitude of the 2,500 feet. Slightly above the altitude we are
:06:09. > :06:14.flying at now. The higher the dust went, the better. But a lot of it
:06:14. > :06:21.descended over lower Manhattan. It was inhaled by the people working
:06:21. > :06:29.at Ground Zero. The American government now believes that dust
:06:29. > :06:31.triggered a chronic illnesses in thousands of people. As we see the
:06:31. > :06:34.reconstruction under way, the Freedom Tower rising from the
:06:34. > :06:44.surface of Manhattan, New Yorkers are contemplating a toxic legacy
:06:44. > :06:54.
:06:54. > :06:58.The dust cleared long ago. The foundations of the Twin Towers have
:06:58. > :07:05.been excavated. Two deep squares carved out to create a memorial
:07:05. > :07:13.garden. The rise in new buildings is underway. Less obvious is the
:07:13. > :07:15.cost in terms of health and the scale in terms surprising. The
:07:16. > :07:24.latest official government figures show that just over 60,000 people
:07:24. > :07:30.are registered as being at risk. Most of them are emergency workers.
:07:30. > :07:40.Nearly 28,000 were given health checks in the past year. A number
:07:40. > :07:53.
:07:53. > :08:02.We still have new patients. They have never been examined. They're
:08:02. > :08:07.walking in the door every day. We have 100-200 per month. The word
:08:07. > :08:17.dust itself sounds so innocent. Why was this mixture so hazardous and
:08:17. > :08:17.
:08:17. > :08:26.why did it trigger such a massive impact? There is dust everywhere.
:08:26. > :08:32.Those iconic structures came down to dust. All of this dust went into
:08:33. > :08:36.every building and part of this area. This scene was found in a
:08:36. > :08:43.home close to Ground Zero. Thousands of local residents were
:08:43. > :08:48.vulnerable to the dust. The teddy bear was spotted by a scientist. He
:08:48. > :08:54.was gathering samples. Back in his laboratory, he and others study the
:08:54. > :09:04.dust. It was unlike anything they had seen before. A unique mix of
:09:04. > :09:11.
:09:11. > :09:18.deadly materials. There was a lot of cement. There were glass fibres.
:09:18. > :09:28.It is the result of 110 stories of glass. You had residuals of the
:09:28. > :09:32.
:09:32. > :09:42.chemicals. Mixed in there was a very long list of toxins. Asbestos,
:09:42. > :09:47.
:09:47. > :09:53.known to cause lung cancer. PCB. How do we know they are to blame?
:09:53. > :09:58.At Mount Sinai Medical Centre they are seeing growing evidence. This
:09:58. > :10:06.is the largest of the treatment programmes. It is where thousands
:10:06. > :10:16.of patients are summoned. It is where a link between the dust and
:10:16. > :10:18.
:10:18. > :10:25.their health looks more plausible. Early on I was not convinced. In a
:10:25. > :10:34.very short period of time I was totally convinced. Absolutely and
:10:34. > :10:39.totally convinced. Geoff and his wife leave the clinic for a break
:10:39. > :10:46.across the street. For them it is obvious. The dust caused his
:10:47. > :10:55.debilitating illness. I see it getting worse for him. It is
:10:55. > :11:03.shorter periods of time between his infections. The periods of time are
:11:03. > :11:08.shorter. It is getting worse each time. It is not stable. The
:11:08. > :11:13.medication is stabilising. It can make life better. In some ways it
:11:13. > :11:23.is getting worse. I would hope the people realise. There are people
:11:23. > :11:26.
:11:26. > :11:33.getting sicker. At his home in Harlem, Alex Sanchez has the
:11:33. > :11:43.medication and equipment needed to stay alive. He needs this device to
:11:43. > :11:44.
:11:44. > :11:51.aid his breathing. To look at him medical records catalogue a long
:11:51. > :12:01.list of chronic conditions. Alex is unable to work. Along with his ten-
:12:01. > :12:02.
:12:02. > :12:10.year-old son he has become a campaigner. I came down to help
:12:10. > :12:17.with the cleaning process. I never asked for this. I need to be
:12:17. > :12:27.confined in my household. If there is any event regarding September
:12:27. > :12:45.
:12:45. > :12:51.11th, I will be the first one there. Are overshadowing all of this is a
:12:51. > :12:54.grim question. Could inhaling the dust to prove fatal? We travel
:12:54. > :12:57.south out of New York City to the home of a family with bitter
:12:57. > :13:00.experience of the dust. James Zadroga was a New York detective, a
:13:00. > :13:04.popular figure, a non-smoker, the winner of numerous police awards,
:13:04. > :13:07.and a father. He worked at Ground Zero for more than 400 hours but
:13:07. > :13:15.soon his health declined dramatically and he became so ill
:13:15. > :13:20.he had to move in with his parents. His father Joe is a retired police
:13:20. > :13:30.chief. He made sure his son took his medication, but then one
:13:30. > :13:34.morning five years ago, Jo went to wake his son. I waited until 9:30am
:13:34. > :13:44.and he didn't come out so I went to check on him and I found him dead
:13:44. > :13:45.
:13:45. > :13:55.on the floor. They took him away, and being he was so young, I even
:13:55. > :13:55.
:13:55. > :14:04.said to the police I would like an autopsy done on him. They said, you
:14:04. > :14:07.know, the coroner already said he is going to do an autopsy. He will
:14:07. > :14:17.not sign the death certificate until he does an autopsy because he
:14:17. > :14:21.
:14:21. > :14:25.was so young and he wanted to know why he passed away. The funeral in
:14:25. > :14:29.January 2006 was a turning point. A pathologist concluded that James
:14:29. > :14:37.Zadroga died of a rare lung disease caused by World Trade Center dust,
:14:37. > :14:40.the first official link between the dust and a loss of life. The
:14:40. > :14:50.finding was disputed, but it also galvanised to campaign for the new
:14:50. > :14:53.
:14:53. > :14:57.law, the James Zadroga Act, named to help survivors. The train ride
:14:57. > :15:01.to Washington DC. It is in the capital that key decisions were to
:15:01. > :15:11.be made. With medical evidence mounting, New York politicians were
:15:11. > :15:11.
:15:11. > :15:15.clamouring for a government response. Eventually, Congress
:15:15. > :15:21.passed the James Zadroga Act, but only after a lot of squabbling and
:15:21. > :15:26.cutting the planned budget in half. In January this year, President
:15:26. > :15:35.Obama signed it into law. $4.7 billion over five years for
:15:35. > :15:45.treatment and compensation. This file is the James Zadroga Act. Its
:15:45. > :15:50.
:15:50. > :15:59.pages say who is entitled to help. Dr John Howard is the official
:16:00. > :16:02.running the programme. interviewed the father of detective
:16:02. > :16:06.James Zadroga, of whom a pathologist said his death was
:16:06. > :16:08.you think any people have died as a
:16:08. > :16:12.result of World Trade Center dust? I think undoubtedly there are
:16:12. > :16:15.people who have succumbed in the interval between 9/11 and now.
:16:15. > :16:18.Given the severity of some of the conditions people are suffering
:16:18. > :16:24.from, do you think it is plausible that some people will die of their
:16:24. > :16:27.exposure? Yes, I think it is plausible. Some
:16:27. > :16:29.of these exposures and some of the conditions - for instance, the lung
:16:29. > :16:32.condition interstitial fibrosis, where the lung tissue is scarred
:16:32. > :16:35.and you lose capacity to exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide - and
:16:35. > :16:45.essentially your lungs is forming a scar inside so you have less
:16:45. > :16:51.
:16:51. > :16:54.ability to breathe. That can result in not only failure of the lungs
:16:54. > :17:00.and heart failure, but also other conditions can result from that so
:17:00. > :17:03.it is a snowball effect. Eventually you could succumb to that condition,
:17:03. > :17:13.so yes, people could die of many of these conditions we have seen
:17:13. > :17:16.associated with the exposures. So 10 years on, there is now
:17:16. > :17:19.finally official recognition of the threat, but the fact it has taken
:17:19. > :17:29.so long is a source of bitterness and there is a lingering suspicion
:17:29. > :17:39.
:17:39. > :17:43.that the risks of the dust were played down at the time. Just one
:17:43. > :17:48.week after the attacks, the New York Stock Exchange reopened. A
:17:48. > :17:53.potent symbol of recovery. Office workers, school children and
:17:53. > :18:03.residents were urged to return, but was this too soon? The dust was
:18:03. > :18:05.still everywhere. Scientists carried out checks around Ground
:18:05. > :18:15.Zero, and the head of the Environmental Protection Agency
:18:15. > :18:17.
:18:17. > :18:27.declared the air safe to breathe. Except for one time, we have not
:18:27. > :18:31.
:18:31. > :18:34.seen any readings that indicated a health hazard. Christine Todd
:18:34. > :18:41.Whitman has always stood by that statement, saying the findings on
:18:41. > :18:47.air quality were correct. We asked for an interview but she declined.
:18:47. > :18:53.So we turned to one of to one ofr advisers at Rutgers University. We
:18:53. > :18:56.first spoke to him five years ago and he defended her. In the first
:18:56. > :19:04.few days the fires went down and became smouldering rather than
:19:04. > :19:07.large fires. The dust had settled, some had been washed away. The
:19:07. > :19:15.issue of indoor environment was not on the table at that time, maybe it
:19:15. > :19:19.should have been. Given that context, she did the best she could.
:19:19. > :19:23.So what does he say now? Were the authorities ignoring the dangers to
:19:23. > :19:30.reopening Manhattan? He blames others for misunderstanding what
:19:30. > :19:36.she was saying. Based upon the asbestos results, the area around
:19:37. > :19:40.Ground Zero was basically safe except for the pile. To be quite
:19:40. > :19:44.frank, the EPA did say there are things we don't know about so I
:19:44. > :19:47.didn't find any fault with what she said, so I blame the media, I blame
:19:47. > :19:57.the officials and the government for trying to put ores are teased
:19:57. > :20:00.
:20:00. > :20:03.much too quickly. Hopefully we learn something. As a scientist,
:20:03. > :20:08.you know what is in the dust. Would you have been happy to have
:20:08. > :20:14.returned to an apartment at Ground Zero within a week? With a
:20:14. > :20:24.respirator, absolutely. Without one, would you have gone? No, I would
:20:24. > :20:26.
:20:26. > :20:29.not. A vision of optimism in the city back on its feet, but among
:20:29. > :20:32.those who work on the rubble, a new fear is emerging that the dust
:20:32. > :20:36.didn't only lead to the illnesses we are seeing now, it is also
:20:36. > :20:46.causing cancer and that is one reason why there is a legal battle
:20:46. > :20:47.
:20:47. > :20:51.for compensation. I think we will be seeing you diseases develop up
:20:51. > :20:57.to 30 years from now, and it will be it a long period where more and
:20:57. > :21:03.more people get sick over the course of time. This is just the
:21:03. > :21:05.beginning. This is not 10 years out the end. We will be facing people
:21:05. > :21:15.getting sick with 9/11 related illnesses for another 20 years at
:21:15. > :21:17.least. When you come to New York and hear the words lawyer and
:21:17. > :21:20.compensation committee would be forgiven for being cynical and
:21:20. > :21:23.thinking this is the most litigious city on the planet, but when you
:21:23. > :21:26.hear one of America's top health officials saying he thinks it is
:21:26. > :21:29.likely more people will die because of the dust that billowed right
:21:29. > :21:38.over here 10 years ago, you realise this is a serious and growing
:21:38. > :21:40.problem. The question of the health impact of 9/11 are not just
:21:40. > :21:50.relevant on this, the 10th anniversary, they will be relevant
:21:50. > :22:03.
:22:03. > :22:10.Overlooking Manhattan, a memorial to James Zadroga and a generation
:22:10. > :22:20.born after 9/11. The attack will not be forgotten, because for so
:22:20. > :22:23.many it is not over. I don't think people realise that the attacks of
:22:23. > :22:27.9/11 have not stopped because they left as a weapon this dust, the