9/11 responders inhaled ‘toxic, hellish material’
First responders and volunteers repeatedly inhaled “toxic, hellish material” as they tried to save people following the Sept. 11 attacks, Dr. Michael Crane says.
“They raced into that pile, ran in there, and in doing so, most of them had little or no protection at all,” he said. “They breathed in this toxic, hellish material.”
He later added that those people are heroes because they “went back again and back again and back again. They would not stop, not only responders … but people from the neighborhood racing in there to try and help save people.”
As the U.S. commemorates the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, it is now believed that more people have died due to the toxic exposures from the 9/11 sites than were killed by the terrorists on that day.
New York City officials released more than 170,000 documents this week about the air quality following 9/11. They suggest that authorities were aware at the time of the health risks, despite public assurances that the air was safe to breathe.
Crane, the medical director of the Mount Sinai World Trade Center Health Program, spoke to Horizons host William Brangham about the health impacts on survivors and responders.
Horizons from PBS News, dives into the science, health, technology and environmental issues making headlines each week. Visit the PBS News website to watch this week’s episode.
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