DOWNTOWN MEDICAL: A DETOXIFICATION PROGRAM FOR WTC RESPONDERS

or most Americans, the attacks on the World Trade Center (WTC) are a traumatic memory that grows less painful with the passage of time. For the firefighters and rescue workers who spent months at Ground Zero, however, time is bringing more questions than consolation. The attack on the towers, and their collapse, brought toxic exposures that were unprecedented, beginning with a dust storm of pulverized concrete, steel, asbestos, carpeting, office equipment, and other matter. “When we arrived at the site, what hit me at first was that there were still people on the ground trying to get the dust out of their throats,” recalls Eddie Zielman, a firefighter with Fire Department of New York (FDNY) Rescue 4 in Queens. “Even with their mouths closed, the force that came at them just pushed it into their mouths. They were actually suffocating, and they were sticking their fingers in their mouths, trying to clear an airway.” Exposures of varying severity continued for months, as firefighters and rescue workers spent 18 or more hours a day at Ground Zero. Selfprotection was the least of priorities—for that matter, virtually all of the truly effective protective equipment had been buried with the members who were wearing it.