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Heart Abnormalities Diagnosed in World Trade Center Workers
ScienceDaily (Mar. 16, 2010)— Researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine are presenting more than 20 ground-breaking studies at the American College of Cardiology (ACC) 59th annual scientific session (ACC.10) in Atlanta. Their research includes data showing that the World Trade Center (WTC) collapse has caused potentially dangerous heart problems in responders on-site.
Jacqueline Moline, MD, Vice Chair, Department of Preventive Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine leads The World Trade Center Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program. The Program provided federal funding for two WTC heart studies, of which Dr. Moline is the primary investigator. Lori Croft, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Mary Ann McLaughlin, MD, Associate Professor, Medicine and Cardiology, conducted the analyses of 1,236 workers who participated in the program from January 2008 to June 2009.
Dr. Croft's study showed that responders have impaired diastolic function of both the right and left ventricle, meaning their hearts do not relax normally, which can put them at risk for heart problems such as shortness of breath and heart failure. More than 50 percent had abnormal relaxation of the left ventricle compared to only seven percent of people of a similar age in the general population. Greater than 60 percent had isolated impaired diastolic function in the right ventricle of the heart, which pumps blood to the lungs.
Dr. Croft and her colleagues suspect that debris inhaled from the WTC site may have contributed to these heart abnormalities, however, caution that there is no comparison data of people working in a similar urban community plagued by air pollution and life and emotional stresses who were not exposed to the WTC.
"We know that inhaled debris may be linked to heart and lung disease," said Dr. Croft. "While we still have work to do in determining a definitive connection between heart abnormalities and the World Trade Center collapse, these data are an exciting first step."
Dr. McLaughlin's study, "Relationship between Erectile Dysfunction and Coronary Artery Calcification in a Population of Middle-Aged Men in the World Trade Center Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program," is the first to analyze the connection between erectile dysfunction (ED) and coronary artery calcification, or hardening, in middle-aged men (mean age 45.4). After adjusting for risk factors like diabetes, smoking, and body-mass index, Dr. McLaughlin's team found a significant independent association of ED with coronary artery calcification scores (CACS) in WTC workers.
The study of WTC workers showed that men with ED were 53 percent more likely to have high-risk coronary artery calcification. The hazard ratio for ED was similar to other well-known cardiovascular risk factors such as smoking and hypertension. Coronary artery calcification is a known precursor to heart disease and can eventually lead to heart attack.
"Our study is the largest to date to establish the link between ED and coronary artery calcification in middle-aged men," said Dr. McLaughlin. "These data from WTC workers provide further evidence that erectile dysfunction is an indicator of cardiovascular disease."
"The findings from these analyses underscore the need to have long-term monitoring of potential health effects related to the WTC disaster," said Dr. Moline. "They also point to the need to evaluate first responders in general, to ensure that these public safety officers remain healthy and we identify what risk factors might be contributing to any potential health issues."
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There've been reports and documentaries in which we learned or could learn, if we read and listened to these sources, that cancer and serious lung illnesses or failures were occurring years ago, and these sources of information were of years ago; several years ago. We started getting such reports by 2005 or earlier; just that msm media didn't publish or hardly ever reported on this.
It wasn't only the 9/11 first responders who suffered and died because of the extremely poisonous air in Manhattan due to the 9/11 attacks; other people also suffered health consquences and death because of having been present in this toxic air for too many days or weeks. There were also NYPD officers, a woman who became a nun in her 40's and who spent some weeks at "Ground Zero" to provide moral support, and others who suffered. The nun died several years ago because of what the toxic air in Manhattan had done to her.
A considerable number of people have died and many enough others have been dying, but haven't died yet, for years.
Why? Ask the Bush Jr administration, so him, Cheney, ..., who ordered the then head of the EPA, who, at first, was going to warn the public about the air being unsafe to breathe, to tell the public that the air was safe. The Bush administration knew the air was unsafe, that it was toxic. If the then EPA head knew it and was going to warn the public about it, then the Bush admin. definitely also knew about it.
And that clearly, beyond any reasonable doubt, is an extreme crime! It is murder; mass, serial, ... murder!
So were the 9/11 attacks, which the Bush administration minimally allowed to happen, but which the Bush admin. arguably, enough, had a hand in, say; one or more members of the Admin. arguably was involved. But the above case with the toxic air "bit" is [clearly] an act of murder by the Admin., and tens of thousands of people suffered because of this crime.
Some articles I read several years ago reported that the total number that could be determined for victims of the toxic air in Manhattan, because of having been exposed to it for too long (and note, the nun who died a few years after 9/11 was at "Ground Zero" for only a few weeks or so, while there were others who worked there longer), well, the articles reported numbers as high as around 30,000 victims; and that this was determined from records at a few or more hospitals in NYC and nearby. These were victims in serious need of medical care.
Were those particlar reports true? I believe they were.
Mike Corbeil