Inspector General Report: EPA Misled Public About Health
Effects of WTC Collapse
| >>> On 21 Aug 2003, the Environmental Protection Agency's Inspector General released a headline-generating report which showed that, at the insistence of the White House, the EPA misled the public about the health effects caused by the collapse of the Twin Towers on 9/11. Specifically, the agency reassured people that the air was safe when, in fact, it didn't have enough evidence to make that call. |
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EPA’s
Response to the World Trade Center Collapse: PDF version [EPA site] | PDF version [MemHole mirror] | HTML version
HTML version [EPA site] | HTML version [MemHole mirror] |
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Notable Quotes EPA’s early public statements following the collapse of the WTC towers reassured the public regarding the safety of the air outside the Ground Zero area. However, when EPA made a September 18 announcement that the air was “safe” to breathe, it did not have sufficient data and analyses to make such a blanket statement. At that time, air monitoring data was lacking for several pollutants of concern, including particulate matter and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Furthermore, The White House Council on Environmental Quality influenced, through the collaboration process, the information that EPA communicated to the public through its early press releases when it convinced EPA to add reassuring statements and delete cautionary ones. An EPA draft risk evaluation completed over a year after the attacks concluded that, after the first few days, ambient air levels were unlikely to cause short-term or long-term health effects to the general population. However, because of numerous uncertainties – including the extent of the public’s exposure and a lack of health-based benchmarks – a definitive answer to whether the air was safe to breathe may not be settled for years to come. --------------------------------- EPA issued five press releases within 10 days after September 11, 2001, four more through the end of December, and another four through the end of May 2002. EPA’s WTC press releases from September through December 2001 reassured the public about air quality. Although EPA’s press releases generally recommended that rescue and cleanup workers take precautions to reduce their exposure to pollutants, EPA’s basic overriding message was that the public did not need to be concerned about airborne contaminants caused by the WTC collapse. This reassurance appeared to apply to both indoor and outdoor air. --------------------------------- Information and the analyses of available data did not fully support the statement made in the September 18, 2001, release, which quoted the EPA Administrator as saying the air was “safe” to breathe. Four factors in particular posed limitations on the conclusions that could be made at that time about air quality: •
A lack of data results for many pollutants, EPA did not have monitoring data to support reassurances made in press releases up to September 18 because it lacked monitoring data for several contaminants, particularly PCBs, particulate matter, dioxin, and PAHs. |
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| posted 27 Aug 2003 | copyright 2002-3 Russ Kick |