9/11 Health Watch: Zadroga Act Watchdog Ensuring 9/11 Bill Fulfills Promises

After a nearly decade-long battle, supporters of the James Zadroga Health and Compensation Act celebrated its passage into law this January. Now, they are looking to ensure that the health care and compensation it provides for 9/11 responders lasts -- and is extended to everyone with health problems tied to exposures at Ground zero.

"We worked for nine years to get this passed," Suzy Ballantyne, director of government affairs at the New York state AFL-CIO, told The Huffington Post. "But as we were walking around Capitol Hill time and time again we wondered: What is going to happen when we're no longer here?"

The bill is currently guaranteed for five years, a "lightning flash in legislative time," according to Ballantyne. She added that she and others are therefore "pushing to make sure these people are taken care of forever."

Carole King will help kick start that mission on Wednesday night. The longtime supporter of the Zadroga Act will perform as part of a benefit to honor sick workers and get an independent watch group, co-sponsored by the AFL-CIO, off the ground. Once formed, 9/11 Health Watch would aim to ensure that the Zadroga Act is appropriately implemented and that a network of support is in place that can help it withstand future administration changes.

"Given all the difficulties we have had along the way, we felt we should set up an organization to monitor what goes on over the next few years and to see that the bill is fulfilling what we intended it to," James Melius of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine told HuffPost.

The group will further be tasked with building a centralized database to track health conditions among 9/11 responders nationwide.

"We had firefighters in Los Angeles, Arizona, and Florida that came in and helped out," Dr. Melius said. "We had volunteers from about every state. Right now, we have no way of contacting them unless they contact us."

Ballantyne noted two acquaintances in Minnesota that had spent time at Ground Zero and went on to develop multiple myeloma by around the age of 40. The cancer usually only strikes in older age, making their dual cases unusual. But local doctors didn't immediately consider a relationship to 9/11. Similar scenarios may play out with other possible World Trade Center-related ailments such as respiratory and gastrointestinal diseases.

"No one is linking these, especially when people don't live in New York City," said Ballantyne. "We need to put all of this information together in one place."

Sponsors suggest that the 9/11 Health Watch will also keep tabs on new evidence as it comes in. The Zadroga Act requires regular re-evaluations to ensure the list of covered conditions matches the latest science. As HuffPost reported last week, for example, a recent study suggested a link between exposure to Ground Zero dust and the development of cancer, a condition currently excluded from the bill.

"We think it is important for this new study to be taken into account," said Dr. Melius. "Many of us feel that cancer should be on that list."

Comments

[Maria Pusateri]

03:07 AM on 09/08/2011

Why we actually need a watchdog organization like this to ensure the sick responders get the care they need is a very sad reality.

[thawalkingman]

09:03 PM on 09/07/2011

You won't see any conservatives jumping behind this.

Conservatives, so wrapped up in the flag and Jesus that they can't recognize and support this country's real heroes.

[heyj0e]

08:39 PM on 09/07/2011

as a first responder who was at the wtc before the first building fell and for four months thereafter and was there also the day of the 1993 bombing it brings me a sense of relief and gratitude that there is a group, 9// Health Watch being formed to monitor implementation of the bill, ensure that illnesses are added as appropriate, and that people dont fall by the wayside. reading messages on sites such as this it can feel after a while that no one cares anymore. maybe im just in a down cycle because of the time of year but i want you to know that i appreciate all of the support that you people have helped to give me over the years.

[thawalkingman]

09:00 PM on 09/07/2011

We care. And my family and I thank you for your service.

[Catriona]

07:46 AM on 09/08/2011

We care. I'd cheerfully pay far more in taxes if I knew that those taxes went to pay for the care and support the first responders require.

[LucianoPAD]

01:27 PM on 09/07/2011

Health uses there are serious, about the only way to attack this problem is by using JYMRSA

[keep it solid]

11:26 AM on 09/07/2011

It is a shame that it took so long for the ACT to get passed and that cancer is not on the list.
First responders should receive proper and complete health care.

Observing the fireman and the simple paper mask he is wearing, I can't help but wonder if this was safe for him ? If not safe, is there no accountability on part of the employer that did not provide sufficient gear and or monitor that the employees were following safety rules and were using proper gear?

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950CE5DD1431F936A35755C0A9609C8B63&pagewanted=all

Also, just how many has the health issue already affected?
"As of June 2010, 836 WTC workers have died; an estimated 70% of the 70,000-plus First Responders have declared illnesses; it is estimated by the World Trade Center Health Registry that 410,000 people have been ‘heavily exposed’ to WTC toxins (includes Responders), and may become seriously ill in the future."

http://www.911healthnow.org/911healthnow/The_9_11_Health_Crisis_.html

And the inclusion of cancer in the ACT is still being debated...

[Sunwyn Ravenwood]

02:37 AM on 09/07/2011

It is beyond disgraceful that it took 10 years to pass the Zadroga bill, and at that it took a cable TV comedian publicly humiliating Congress to get it done. "I tremble for my country when I recall that God is just..." If our politicians had any sense of decency they would have passed it 8 or 9 years ago, it would have included cancer, and it would provide decent medical care for as long as they live. I can only hope that the American people will shame that bunch of bottom feeders into doing the right thing.

[Lahi]

04:45 AM on 09/07/2011

Love your minibio.
But really, what did you expect from a bunch of politicians?
They would get nothing out of it, so they could care less.

[barkingcat]

10:32 AM on 09/07/2011

Amen, amen.

Fanned and faved (partly for the comment, but partly for being crabby and entertaining, to boot).

[Sunwyn Ravenwood]

03:11 PM on 09/07/2011

Thanks.

[Rachel Flanagan]

11:52 PM on 09/06/2011

It's taken 9 years for our dysfunctional government to come up with a budget to cover these American Heros and then not covering Cancer? Shameful. Not inviting them to the up and coming 10th Anniversary Ceremony At Ground Zero. Shameful. Without the first responders I have no interest in even watching the ceremony. It will mean nothing without them. Watching a bunch of fat cat politicians posturing, no thank you.

[TomZart]

10:20 PM on 09/06/2011

SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF WORLD WAR III


Our sons and daughters serve in harms way
To defend our way of life.
Some are students, some grandparents
Many a husband or wife.

They face great odds without complaint
Gambling life and limb for little pay.
So far away from all they love
Fight our soldiers for whom we pray.

The plotters and planners of America's doom
Pledge to murder and maim all they can.
From early childhood they are taught
To kill is to become a man.

They exploit their young as weapons of choice
Teaching in heaven, virgins will await.
Destroying lives along with their own
To learn of their falsehoods too late.

The fearful cry we must submit
And find a way to soothe them.
Where defenders worry if we stand down
The future for America is grim.

Now's not the time to fight one another
Or kiss our enemy's cheek.
All through history it remains the same
The strong enslave the weak.

May God continue to bless America
Refusing evil, the upper hand.
It's up to us to stay resolute
Defending the liberty of Man.


By Tom Zart Most Published Poet On The Web!

[quillsinister]

02:08 AM on 09/07/2011

Barf.

[TomZart]

10:18 PM on 09/06/2011

MEMORIAL POEMS = 20011= By Tom Zart!


GOD LOVES HIS SOLDIERS


Sometimes it’s hard to protect what is right
Sometimes we’re scorned as for others we fight.
Some of us are willing regardless of loss
To commit our soul to save the cross.

Evil prospers on greed and human hate
Always eager to destroy and defecate.
God’s grace descends on the souls of man
Cleansing the impure wherever He can.

As long as man has struggled on earth
Life has had its troubles from birth.
God’s seed of goodness has delayed man’s demise
Thank Heaven for His heroes the strong and the wise.

The Lord adores His heroes of yesterday
Just how numerous, only He could say.
God loves His soldiers who line up to serve
By standing against evil His grace they deserve.


SEPTEMBER 11th


After suffering the wrath of a sneak attack
America now mourns to her very core.
Though soon her enemies shall all but flee
From the sound of America waging full war.

Let there be no doubt, no doubt at all
That the devil has decided to give us a call.
We shall defeat hell’s soldiers and cast them out
And if we die; that's what freedom is about.

We shall seek them out wherever they may hide
Street by street, house-by-house, cave by cave.
They will be eradicated from the face of the earth
By the righteous, the loyal and the brave.


By Tom Zart

[quillsinister]

02:08 AM on 09/07/2011

My other comment applies here, too.

[Anne Mccormick]

09:48 PM on 09/06/2011

in this economy, with so many people out of work, i don't see this happening. i really wish i was wrong but i don't think i am.

[srooge]

09:36 PM on 09/06/2011

No morales, no ethics your promises will never be fullfilled. Sorry.

[kaykaythere]

08:48 PM on 09/06/2011

Unfortunately I suspect we will continue to have this funding fight. I mean as both a volunteer at both 9/11 and war in Iraq, I see the fact that we still don't take care of many of our returning vets any better than we do the 9/11 volunteers as a sign of how our representatives TRULY feel about our heros.
The heros don't pay enough in taxes for anyone to care.

[GWG27]

08:53 PM on 09/06/2011

Such a sadly true statement. I wish I could understand where our collective morality went, and why so few want it back.

[janny09]

07:54 PM on 09/06/2011

If memory serves, didn't Christie Whitman of the EPA stand at ground zero and declare it a "safe zone?" A sick joke for the responders whose bodies were polluted and poisoned by fiberglass, glass, asbestos, plastics, copper, computers, furniture, jet fuel and human flesh That doesn't include the findings of nine separate Physics Professionals who examined dust sent to them by worried residents and all concluded without consultation, that tiny pieces of Thermate, a nuclear type of explosive, were found in the dust. Exposure to Thermate is deadly.
These patriots deserve free health care and support for their families as long as they live. This is a travesty of justice!

[kaykaythere]

08:51 PM on 09/06/2011

This is just another example of how people without scientific know how rush out with poor thought out statements in the heat of the moment. Had anyone in the government including WHitman or Guiliani thought at all about what these heroes were inhaling, they might have thought twice about their quick proclamations about safety.
The sites were pure biohazards not including the other toxic substances inhaled, just as you mentioned.

[Catriona]

08:04 AM on 09/08/2011

The government wanted to get the financial centre and stock exchange open. Anybody with any sense at all would have surmised that air so thick with particulate matter couldn't have been safe to breathe.

A kid I know who was about fifteen at the time said: 'Never breathe air you can see'.

Responders had little choice. I remember hearing how masks clogged up within a few minutes and became useless.

Hindsight makes analysis easy. We have to remember that at that time nobody knew how many people might be trapped in the ruins, injured, unable to escape and waiting rescue. The responders saw themselves as working against time. For many, the masks just got in the way of being able to work effectively.

[alexjones1]

09:33 PM on 09/06/2011

But will she or anyone else ever be held accountable? Unfortunately we know the answer is no.

[SkeeBee]

06:55 PM on 09/06/2011

It's unfortunate that those PATRIOTIC and BEST ON PROTECTING Y'ALL Repugnicans have done all they can to block this bill and from getting help to people who are in need.
Wonder how these politicians sleep at night, look their families in the eye, or deal with having a hole where they used to have a soul?

[SkeeBee]

09:34 PM on 09/06/2011

One other thing Mr. Factfree: What is that bar graph you have as an avatar supposed to represent. It looks similar to one I'm familiar with but looks all Foxed up, (ie: no longer factually accurate), if it's the one I'm thinking of.
Care, or dare, to risk telling me?

[lhanderson86]

06:34 PM on 09/06/2011

God forbid we treat these men who suffered through death and carnage to pick up the pieces and rescue survivors. It took them 9 years to approve this. Congress should be ashamed of themselves. Congressmen and Senators didn't pick through rubble to rescue people or dig out bodies for their loved ones to bury them.

9/11 responders should get free health care for life and Congress should get theirs REVOKED.