Ground Zero News: August 2007

With over 10,000 Ground Zero Rescue & Recovery workers suffering from various health ailments as a result of working at the World Trade Center site, one medical group has risen up and claimed responsibility for "treating" these ill workers. Mt. Sinai Medical Center has given thousands of free and comprehensive examinations that included complete physical examination, mental health evaluation, pulmonary function tests, chest x-ray, blood tests and urinalysis. The directors of this program have cautioned the U.S. Government that funds are almost dried up and more funds are needed in order to take care of these sick WTC workers. The inference is that without more cash to pay for this treatment program, WTC workers will be at risk of dying; there will be no hope. It is a scary prospect, indeed. It costs about $6MIL/month now to operate this program and it estimated that this could skyrocket to $20MIL/month by the end of 2007. Staggering numbers, indeed. But if Mt. Sinai was saying they were "treating" the sick WTC workers and summarily making progress in helping them achieve pre-9/11 health and quality of life, then it'd be worth all that money, right? Well, the answer would be "yes," but that's a fairy tale, so now let's look at what this Sinai program IS doing and what it really ISN'T doing.

Mt. Sinai's program is in actuality just a very costly study, or monitoring program (as they correctly call it) which gathers data long term and then produces statistic sheets. The word "treatment" is improperly used by their directors. They don't "treat" anyone. To treat someone with an ailment is to take steps toward improvement and the eventual regaining of one's health. They should change the word "treatment" to "stabilization" as the medical staff at Mt. Sinai truly don't have an inkling as to how to "treat" sick WTC workers. Mt. Sinai and it's medical partners do only two things: MONITOR: collect data, conduct interviews and run tests to determine the subjects current physical condition and they STABILIZE: prescribe drugs such as Albuterol and steroids for conditions that predominantly are lung and breathing related (COPD). If the word "treatment" is to be used at all, one could say Mt. Sinai "treats" the symptoms but does not "treat" the overall problem: Compromised Immune Systems. So, "stabilizing" is the correct term to use for what they do. I have personally gone through the screening program at Mt. Sinai. The staff was cold and impersonal and I felt like a chocolate on Lucille Ball's conveyor belt. No one really did anything but ask form questions and shuffle me off to the next nurse or doctor. They were gathering data, period. There was no one on one, personalized attention to my specific problems and how to treat my immune system. "Breathe, Breathe again, okay NEXT!"

Now, it IS a nice thing that Mt. Sinai is giving complimentary medicine to ill Trade Center workers, right? I must give credit where credit is due. But this is a business, the medical business. No one is working for free and somewhere there are profits being made. With hundreds of millions of dollars changing hands, one must assume those inhalers aren't just being sold at cost. Someone's pocketing something - And you know, I guess that's fair also, because no one works for free. So, what's the problem? The problem is that Mt. Sinai is making millions off of a service that offers no real hope to the sick Ground Zero worker who dreams of one day getting off his 8 puffs per day or his portable nebulizer treatments. He or she wants some results instead of just surviving. Who can offer this? Would hundreds of millions of the government's dollars be better spent somewhere else? Can anyone do better? The answer is "yes."

The problem here is what in God's name is causing all these symptoms? I mean any joe can take his 8 puffs per day, take his nebulizer treatment or pop his steroids to temporarily stop the wheezing and coughing, but where is it all originating from? How can joe trade center worker go back to the way life and his immune system were before the events of September 11? Mt. Sinai can't answer this question, so they monitor and stabilize. Death is imminent; it's just a matter of time for joe trade center worker. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but take a look at the roughly thirty (30) or so ground zero workers that have died since the Recovery ended in May of 2002 if you think I am being Debbie Downer. No conventional doctor could help them. Many didn't believe them; they thought it was some ploy to try and get sympathy, 3/4 pension or achieve some jackpot from the 9/11 Victim's Fund. Then these workers started dying, and you just can't "act" dead. It's real and it's final. Their treating physicians watched them take their last breaths before expiring and shrugged their shoulders, proclaiming, "We did all we could do." One police officer was finally granted his 3/4 pay and died shortly thereafter. As the tally grew, people began scratching their heads and saying, "Wow, maybe they really ARE sick." Well, I kind of got off the track here..The question is what is causing all this illness? Before I answer that, in 2003 I went for a blood gas test at Metropolitan Hospital. I was suffering from asthma and chronic fatigue; I couldn't get up a flight of stairs without huffing and puffing and nearly fainting. The Indian physician came into the room and said, "Tell me, are you a drug addict?" I said, "I don't smoke and I hate alcohol." He told me I had almost no oyxgen in my cells; it was abnormal. I explained that I worked at Ground Zero for many months and he shook his head; he had his conclusion. With no oxygen in my cells, I had little energy for life's daily tasks. How did this happen? What was this "WTC Cough" that myself and others had, where we'd get painful & uncontrollable spasmadic, wheezing coughs? No one else had it. Why us?

On September 11, more carcinogens were created than can be imagined. Millions of light bulbs, mercury, computers, formaldehyde, cleaning fluids on each and every Trade Center floor mixed with cement, asbestos, wood, jet fuel, xylenes, terpenes, electrical wires, 43,000 glass windows, aluminum, steel, insulation fiber, hydrocarbons and more all mixed into a nice, toxic cocktail breathed in by you guessed it, first responders. The fires smoldered deep below the surface for many months; it was a giant teapot that slowly released toxic smoke from deep within the bowels of the base of the collapse. Keep in mind that the first 30-40 floors of each trade center tower were driven 90 feet down into the base (the bathtub as it was called) and each floor was shrunk to only 10 inches tall. In a July 27, 2004 NY Times article, Andrew Revkin wrote that,
"Within 100 days, however, those chemicals were largely gone, as were the fires. From then until spring 2002, the samples contained declining amounts of the varieties associated with diesel exhaust." This is false. The fires smoldered at the lower levels into February of 2002, as evidenced by the smoke that used to shoot out of what looked like gopher holes. That smoke was laden with chemicals. Add to this that ironworkers regularly were cutting, or burning steel beams and the rancid, putrid-smelling smoke that eminated from the beams was breathed in by and absorbed into the immune systems of nearby firefighters, cops and other recovery personnel. During the New York Detoxification Project, Ground Zero Recovery workers and 9/11 firefighters sitting in the sauna regularly sweat blue dye into their white towels. Those towels were sent away for lab analysis and the blue dye was a chemical component of World Trade Center steel beams. That "smoke" was absorbed into the fatty tissue of recovery workers. In addition, many of the workers in this detox program reported bowel movements that were blue or green, or that smelled like smoke, despite not having been at a fire scene for months.

Oops, here we go again. I seem to be getting off track. I really DO wish to give you my opinion on what will help disabled 9/11 responders and recovery workers regain pre-9/11 health; a feat that Mt. Sinai just can't accomplish. So, here it is: Sick 9/11 workers need alternative and holistic treatment plans that will work on rebuilding their immune system. The cost of this would be about the same but work out far less for the government long term, since the end plan is to get sick workers back to pre-9/11 health and quality of living. In 2002, a handful of sick 9/11 first responders were treated in Hicksville, New York at the Medical Network of Long Island. These men had fatigue and breathing problems. The program included intravenous vitamin drips that contained high amounts of Vitamin C, glutathione, cal-mag and b-vitamins. Many sick 9/11 workers have gastrointestinal disorders and are hooked on prescription antacids. It is commn for those with compromised immune systems to NOT get their vitamins from their foods due to stomach absorbtion problems. Vitamin IV drips are helpful for providing the immune system with proper nutrients necessary for rebuilding the immune system. Also at MNLI, 9/11 patients were desensitized to volatile chemicals like benzene, formaldehyde and terpenes. High IGEs were picked up for chemical inhalants. The endpoints (level of sensitivity) were found for each chemical inhalant and daily sublingual drops of antigens derived from these chemicals helped to build antibodies in the workers, thus lowering the sensitivity to such chemicals. The lower the endpoints became over time, the less the overall symptoms became. Why were my cells being starved of oxygen? Because the volatile chemicals breathed in created free radicals in mine and thousands of other 9/11 workers bodies and reeked havoc on our immune systems. With chemical toxicity comes asthma and a host of other problems, including depression. Adrenal suppression is common in those with chemical exposure and compromised immune systems and with that comes fatigue and of course, depression. Depression is common in those who have adrenals and thyroid glands that are not working properly (before you buy into a doctor telling you that you are "bi-polar" - get your thyroid checked!). While in Metropolitan Hospital, I was indeed diagnosed with low thyroid, no surprise. Back to Medical Network of Long Island - vitamin therapy was used as well as dietary changes. In general, it is important for the sick 9-11 worker to stay away from fatty and oily foods, which serve only to place undue strain on the liver & pancreas. A close friend of mine who is an FDNY firefighter was given last rites last year in the hospital. His pancreas just would not work after 9/11 (he survived the collapse) and he was told he would die soon as he couldn't eat anything. Somehow he pulled through and is now on a low carb, no fat and oil diet. Heavy Cream is a big no-no also. It is amazing how many asthmatics and those with COPD have not been informed by their physicians that all milk products and foods containing high molds (pistachios, cheeses, wild game birds, cantaloupe) can trigger or worsen their asthma symptoms. Nutritional counseling is important for sick 9/11 workers, but you won't get that at Mt. Sinai. At Mt. Sinai, you also won't learn that high yeast foods and sugars can trigger "Candida" which will worsen your stomach symptoms and asthma problems. Many 9/11 responders don't even know that "Aspartame" (EQUAL, Diet Coke, etc.) is like drinking pure poison. A no-no for the ill WTC symptoms. It exacerbates all symptoms and can also mimic certain diseases. Don't believe it? Google "Aspartame Side Effects."

When I see a photo of a disabled 9/11 first responder sitting on his or her couch, hooked up to oxygen and surrounded by 20 bottles of assorted meds, it infuriates me. 9/11 workers are uneducated as to HOW to regain their pre-9/11 health. They need & deserve more than to be a small snippet on some study by Mt. Sinai and then handed their ADVAIR as they mosey on out the door. Someone should educate them about Mangosteen Fruit Extract (XANGO brand juice) which increases energy and mental sharpness in those who drink it. Something in XANGO (called "XANTHONES") kills free radicals and defeats chronic fatigue. It is lso touted as "anti-cancer." It helped decrease my asthma and fatigue. Someone at Mt. Sinai should look into using a few million of Uncle Sam's cash to buy sick 9/11 workers "Glyconutrients": an alleged anti-cancer combination of sugars that made up the core of research done by the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize winner. These 8 unique sugars, when mixed in warm water and drank twice daily have proven helpful in giving it's users high amounts of energy by supposedly allowing human cells to "communicate" with one another. Glyconutrients, from what I have read, supposedly work on the mitochondria of the human cells, which has to do with ENERGY. Have I used them? Yes, I have. I started taking Glyconutrients 2 months ago and I now have more stamina to get through the day. I have more energy and for me it is worth more than GOLD. So, what would our friends at Mt. Sinai say? "Hogwash! None of these supplements are proven to help anyone." Well, I would have to respond by reminding them that only 10% of all modern medicine is proven and the other 90% is unproven, and that is a FACT. Does Mt. Sinai suggest their 9/11 asthma patients take flax oil, a natural anti-inflammatory for the lung tissue? Has Mt. Sinai suggested all sick 9/11 workers not use heavy cleaning chemicals in the home and to stay away from pesticides, heavy perfumes and fragranced deodorants that contain aluminum? Have they suggested to their sick 9/11 patients to refrain from cooking & eating off of non-stick teflon-like frying pans (chemical) and using all steel, non-aluminum pans? Have they informed them about which artificial dyes (red + blue) trigger COPD symptoms? I would venture to say "no".

In 2002, after the Recovery at Ground Zero ended, a young FDNY firefighter in his 30's named John Masera went in for a routine hip surgery. While under general anesthesia, John had a heart attack, slipped into a coma and died shortly thereafter. I worked with John at Ground Zero. He was there for month's on end, breathing in free radicals and toxic chemicals which were weakening his immune system (of course, this is all unproven). So, what happened to this handsome young firefighter? How did he have a heart attack? Well, the doctor's don't know. Chalk it up to the "risk of surgery," right? Garbage. John's immune system, polluted with carginogens from breathing in toxic air for months on end, didn't take kindly to being on the receiving end of general anesthesia. His immune system was too weak to handle it and when the anesthesia mixed with the ground zero chemicals in his system, his heart simply gave out. A wonderful "crutch" or comeback for conservatives and government officals when presented with a story like John Masera's is to say, "Prove it. There's no proof."

Alternative therapies are a lot of work for everyone. It takes intellect and studying how the body works and performing research on nutritional supplements. It is much more easier to just say, "Okay, breathe deeply please - and again. Here's your free albuterol and Advair pen. Have a nice day. See you next month." This is unfair. Sick WTC workers are special cases. They need special attention and special recovery plans, way beyond what the scope of conventional & conservative medicine can offer. So, as Mt. Sinai enters data from their monitoring program and prescribes stabilization drugs, our sick 9/11 workers sit around waiting for the inevitable. If Uncle Sam was to allocate just 10% of the Sinai budget to an alternative health and recovery program using well-respected holistic physicians, progress would be made in getting hundreds, if not thousands of men and women back to optimum health. I still get letters from Mt. Sinai asking me to contact them for follow-ups on their study, but I never answer. If I really have the need to feel like a number, I will stand in the check out line at Whole Foods and stare at the digital readout. At least there I can get some flax oil & mangosteen extract. - m.s.