Exaggerations in 9/11 illnesses

Ironically, her bill is named after Det. James Zadroga, whose name was in the headlines when the New Jersey medical examiner was persuaded to link his death to 9/11, a first. But the New Jersey findings were later reviewed by New York City’s medical examiner, who found his death was associated with the misuse of painkilling drugs rather than 9/11 dust. Zadroga was a hero and his death was tragic—it just wasn’t from toxic 9/11 dust.

Ironically, Zadroga’s name is appropriate for Maloney’s bill, since it would stick the taxpayer for the bill for all sorts of illness cases like Zadroga’s completely unrelated to 9/11.

Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.), who chairs the subcommittee which has jurisdiction over the health provisions of the bill, told me that the legislation (which he supports) “enumerates certain disorders that are clearly related to 9/11, and the bill would allow for other conditions that may not be enumerated to be included at a later date.”

This opens the fund to claims like that of NYPD Officer Cesar Borja. He was the symbol of the “second round of 9/11 victims.” Press accounts said he’d rushed downtown to rescue workers on 9/11. But it turns out he wasn’t sent to the site until late December and served fewer than 20 shifts. The City Medical Examiner ruled his death the result of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. The medical term “idiopathic” means we do not know the cause. But when politicians, activists, and a sympathetic media join forces with crafty lawyers, there’s little room for the science of epidemiology.

These sorts of cases, whether heard in court or the adminstrators of a federal fund, should be judged by science, not some misplaced sense of goodwill towards 9/11 heroes. But the latter is exactly what is happening.

Plaintiffs’ attorney David Worby told the AP, “There is no question anymore about whether they were sick, and how sick they are. There are tens of thousands of people who are sick.” Asked if the claims are based on good science, Worby will only say, “These are cops and firemen and construction workers who were there for the city.”

Nobody disagrees that workers who were injured as a result of their heroic efforts on 9/11 and the days thereafter should be fairly compensated if any injuries and illnesses were caused by their exposures. But the process has been taken over by politicians who want money for their districts, labor leaders, and environmental activists like those at Mt. Sinai.

As a result, we are about to see a huge and corrupt transfer of funds from sympathetic American taxpayers to activists, unions, lawyers, and perhaps even outright fraudsters.

Jeff Stier is an associate director of the American Council on Science and Health.