Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic

A federal judge blasted former Environmental Protection Agency chief Christine Todd Whitman on Thursday for reassuring New Yorkers soon after the Sept. 11 attacks that it was safe to return to their homes and offices while toxic dust was polluting the neighborhood.
U.S. District Judge Deborah A. Batts refused to grant Whitman immunity against a class-action lawsuit brought in 2004 by residents, students and workers in lower Manhattan and Brooklyn who said they were exposed to hazardous materials from the destruction of the World Trade Center.

"No reasonable person would have thought that telling thousands of people that it was safe to return to lower Manhattan, while knowing that such return could pose long-term health risks and other dire consequences, was conduct sanctioned by our laws," the judge said.

She called Whitman's actions "conscience-shocking," saying the EPA chief knew that the collapse of the twin towers released tons of hazardous materials into the air...

In her ruling, Batts noted that the EPA and Whitman said repeatedly - beginning just two days after the attack - that the air appeared safe to breathe. The EPA's internal watchdog later found that the agency, at the urging of White House officials, gave misleading assurances.

Quoting a ruling in an earlier case, the judge said a public official cannot be held personally liable for putting the public in harm's way unless the conduct was so egregious as "to shock the contemporary conscience." Given her role in protecting the health and environment for Americans, Whitman's reassurances after Sept. 11 were "without question conscience-shocking," Batts said.

I live in New York and I remember 9/11. I lost a friend the moment that first plane hit. I remember the days of shock that goes beyond what anyone in the rest of the nation felt as ashes rained down on us...ashes of nearly 3000 of our fellow New Yorkers. And of course I remember our pride in our firefighters, the men and women who were on the front line of our defense and who lost so many on that day. Every firehouse in NYC lost personnel. My neighborhood's firehouse, though in Brooklyn, was one of the first companies on the scene...and they lost half their men.

The Bush Administration betrayed NYC and our firefighters.

Remember that the EPA KNEW that the smoke from the WTC was toxic, yet, allegedly on Bush's instructions, declared it safe. This means that our brave firefighters worked day after day at ground zero without respirators. The result? Something called "ground zero syndrome" which is hitting many firefighters and others who spend time in lower Manhattan while the smoke lingered. Firefighters now have debilitating respiratory problems because the EPA lied to us about the toxicity of that smoke.

I remember the smell of that smoke. It smelled like an indescribable combination of melted glass and solder. Only occasionally in weeks after 9/11 could you smell another smell...the smell of decomposition. It was mostly a chemical, metallic smell.

When the Bush administration is known to have lied about such a life-and-death matter, misinforming our bravest Americans at their shining hour and condemning them to illness, how can we trust them at all. This is the lesson that all Americans need to learn about Bush and his administration: we cannot trust them. If they are willing to further risk the lives of our first responders by lying, then they cannot be trusted for anything.

What is worse is that this is NOT an isolated case. The Bush Administration has also been trying to lower Arsenic standards for our drinking water, allow more mercury dumping into our oceans and allow more pollutants into our air. What the Bush Administration is ignoring is that ALREADY there is evidence of health risks from these pollutants. For example, male fertility has been declining in many (but not all) studies conducted worldwide (see HERE and HERE for examples). The cause is not certain yet but many scientists believe it is due in part to increased exposure to pollutants that we ALL experience. Our oceans already have sufficient levels of mercury that our government advises eating a MAXIMUM of 2 servings of the SAFEST ocean fish or sea food a week to keep mercury exposure at safe levels. Pregnant women and young children are advised to avoid fish altogether. This is the recommendation of our own government, making me wonder just how bad things REALLY are. And Bush wants MORE mercury in our oceans which, mind you, means MORE mercury in our seafood meaning fish and seafood are becoming dangerous to eat.

To give you an idea of how bad pollution is worldwide (and America is only one culprit) here is something to ponder. Remember that as you move up the food chain, toxic compounds tend to get concentrated in the tissues at higher and higher levels. Humans are top carnivores in many cases, eating fish that eat other fish that eat...etc. The Inuit of the Arctic regions subsist on a higher percentage of seafood, including seals and such, of any population on earth. The Inuit are also among the most isolated people around with little industry or toxic waste sites or anything near them. Yet the levels of toxic compounds, including mercury and other heavy metals, are so high that it is life threatening. The concentrations of such compounds in the breast milk of Inuit women are high enough to be rated as toxic waste by American standards. The Inuit are eating our toxic waste, in essence, and it is seriously affecting their health.

And yet Bush wants more poisoning. And he was willing to lie right in the faces of New York firefighters desperately searching for the remains of their fallen comrades in the ruins of the WTC. When I first heard of this, I was disgusted beyond words and I cannot believe that ANY firefighter or AND New Yorker would accept this.

Hillary Clinton is sure pissed about this. I have heard that she has tried taking action on this before, but now she is trying to bring the issue to the Senate floor. According to the February issue of the American Perspective:

Clinton Seeks Help For Ground Zero Workers
Senator Hillary Clinton said Tuesday she will bring the debate over Sept. 11 ground zero worker health to the floor of the U.S. Senate in coming days, seeking help for first responders through a troubled asbestos litigation bill.

What about Sthe rest of Congress? Why isn't every Senator and Representative angry at this betrayal of America's best and bravest? This is NOT a partisan issue...or it SHOULDN'T be.

Write Congress and demand an investigation and compensation for NYC and our firefighters. And contact the media about this issue.