9/11 rescue work blamed for cop's death

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_i...4819082829R131

By Amy Westfeldt
April 12 2006 at 10:16AM

New York - The death of a 34-year-old police detective who developed respiratory disease after working at ground zero is "directly related" to September 11, 2001, a New Jersey coroner said in the first known ruling positively linking a death to recovery work at the World Trade Centre site.

James Zadroga's family and union released his autopsy results on Tuesday, saying they were proof of the first death of a city police officer related to cleanup work at ground zero after the terrorist attacks.

"It is felt with a reasonable degree of medical certainty that the cause of death in this case was directly related to the 9/11 incident," wrote Gerard Breton, a pathologist at the Ocean County (New Jersey) medical examiner's office in the February 28 autopsy.

A class action lawsuit and families of ground zero workers have alleged that more than two dozen deaths are related to exposure to Trade Centre dust, which doctors believe contained a number of toxic chemicals including asbestos.

Zadroga, of Little Egg Harbor, NJ, died in January of respiratory failure and had inflammation in his lung tissue due to "a history of exposure to toxic fumes and dust," Breton wrote.

The detective spent 470 hours after the attacks sifting through the twin towers' smouldering ruins, wearing a paper mask for protection. His breathing became laboured within weeks, he developed a cough and he had to use an oxygen tank to breathe. He retired on disability in November 2004.

The coroner found material "consistent with dust" in Zadroga's lungs and damage to his liver and said his heart and spleen were enlarged.

Zadroga's parents and four-year-old daughter appeared at a news conference with half a dozen other detectives who said they have suffered from cancer, strokes, lung disease and other ailments because of post-September 11 work at the Trade Centre site.

"They all knew it was detrimental to their health," said Joseph Zadroga, James Zadroga's father. "They all knew that, yet they stayed there."

Doctors running health screening programmes, including a city registry following more than 71 000 people, say it will take decades to truly assess the health effects of working at the trade centre site.

A spokesperson for the registry did not immediately return a message seeking comment on Tuesday.