Energetic Materials as a Potential Cause of the 9/11 First Responder Illnesses

by Kevin Ryan

Foreign Policy Journal
February 4, 2011

9/11 First Responders

The tragedy at the World Trade Center (WTC) on September 11th, 2001 continues to affect many thousands of first responders who sacrificed their own health while restoring lower Manhattan and attempting to recover survivors and victims’ remains.  Recently, H.R. 847, otherwise known as the James Zadroga Bill, was signed by President Obama in an effort to provide services and compensation for those whose health was compromised through exposure to the toxic dust and gases at Ground Zero.  However, these first responders also need help to understand how their illnesses originated so that improvements in treatment can be made.  In response to this need, concerned citizens should consider the possible correlation between evidence for energetic materials at the WTC and the environmental exposures which appear to have caused so many illnesses in the first responders.

The 9/11 first responders suffer from a range of different illnesses, some of which are rare in the general population.  Some of the illnesses can be attributed to the high pH of the WTC dust.  We know the extent of the pH problem thanks to EPA whistleblower, Dr. Cate Jenkins.[1] The very high pH of the dust inhaled by 9/11 first responders is a probable cause for the general deterioration of lungs and their function, due to the dust’s corrosive state.  As Dr. Jenkins wrote, “Corrosivity would have acted directly to cause respiratory chemical burns, and also would have increased the toxic properties of other pollutants from the WTC by facilitating their entry into the body through the respiratory system.”

Commonly observed conditions among first responders include reactive airways dysfunction syndrome (RADS), caused by exposure to high concentrations of irritants such as caustic and metallic dusts; upper respiratory illnesses such as sinusitis and laryngitis; and lower respiratory disorders such as asthma and what is known as World Trade Center cough.

Less understood, and requiring further study, are unusual illnesses of the immune system commonly observed in the WTC first responders.  These include various types of interstitial lung disease, such as eosinophilic pneumonia, granulomatous pneumonitis, and bronchial obliterans.  Environmental triggers for these illnesses include aluminum silicates, which have been found in the lungs of WTC first responders at high levels in “unusual platy configurations.” [2]

Other common WTC lung ailments include sarcoidosis, which is known to be caused by aluminum dust[3], and pulmonary fibrosis, which can be caused by aluminum oxide.[4]

These findings have, until now, lacked an adequate scientific explanation.  But recent research suggests a correlation with the causes of the destruction of WTC buildings 1, 2 and 7.  Aluminum oxide – a potential cause of the observed pulmonary fibrosis – is a product of the thermite reaction, and there is now considerable evidence for the use of thermite in the destruction of WTC buildings 1, 2 and 7.[5] Additionally, aluminum and silicates – potential causes of the observed illnesses of the immune system – are components of nanothermite formulations.

Thermite is a mixture of aluminum powder and a metal oxide that, when ignited, exhibits an extremely exothermic reaction producing aluminum oxide and the metal in molten form.  The thermite reaction has been utilized for welding railroads ties and for cutting metal as with anti-tank grenades.  Thermite has also been used to develop patented devices for the demolition of structures.  One such device allows for demolition of a concrete structure “at a high efficiency, while preventing a secondary problem due to noise, flying dust and chips, and the like.”[6] A recent experiment shows that thermite can cut structural steel efficiently.[7]

Sulfur is often added to thermite mixtures to improve the burn qualities and it is then called thermate.  Nanothermite, or superthermite, is a more recently developed variation on thermite in which the aluminum and metal oxide are mixed on the nanometer scale, allowing for more rapid energy release.  Nanothermite can be a simple mixture of nanometer-scale powders or it can be made in a silicon matrix, through a solution-based technique, resulting in “sol-gel” nanothermite.  The sol-gel process allows for the use of organic materials which expand during the reaction, providing more explosive power.

In 2009, an international team of researchers discovered what appear to be sol-gel nanothermite formulations in every WTC dust sample tested.[8] Additionally, similar to the findings of aluminum silicates in the lungs of first responders, the aluminum found in the nanothermite of WTC dust samples was present, along with silicon, in plate-like (platy) configurations.[9] Whether or not the platy configurations of aluminum silicates in the lungs of WTC workers are related to the platy configurations of aluminum and silicon in WTC dust samples is a question that should be answered through further investigation.

Environmental factors

A review of WTC environmental testing results produced by EPA and the University of California was published in 2008.[10] That review showed that air and aerosol emissions of sulfur and silicon compounds at Ground Zero provided evidence that energetic materials such as thermite and nanothermite were present.  The silicon compounds (i.e. silicates) were indicative of the sol-gel variety of nanothermites, and the sulfur compounds suggested the presence of thermate, a sulfur containing derivative of thermite.

EPA also found very high levels of volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) that, like the aluminum, sulfur and silicon compounds, were discovered to be present in unusual spiking patterns.  These spiking patterns suggest that extremely violent, explosive or incendiary events were occurring within the pile at Ground Zero over a period of months.  If fires were the cause of these events, they would have had to have been fires that were driven by an agent that contained its own oxidant, as a thermite or nanothermite mixture does.  This is because extensive efforts were made to put out the fires at the WTC site, including the use of millions of gallons of water and chemical fire suppressants, with little or no effect.  In addition to the tons of dust from the buildings’ destruction and the rainfall events that occurred, these firefighting efforts ensured that normal fires would not have continued.

The presence of thermitic materials explains why the fires lasted for so many months, deep within the oxygen-poor pile, and why the fires were resistant to the extensive, but ineffective, efforts to extinguish them.  In this scenario, the extreme levels of VOCs would be the result of the complete thermal degradation of all plastic materials in the thermitic (incendiary) fires.  In normal structural fires with limited ventilation, plastic materials often burn incompletely.

The pattern of energetic events at Ground Zero, indicated by the spikes in emissions, was different than the expected trend of emissions from a typical structure fire.  As was the case for other structure fires, particulate matter (PM) emissions at Ground Zero were high at first and then died down completely.  However, PM emissions occurred for a longer duration, and the extreme, spiking emissions of VOCs, and components typical of thermitic mixtures, continued for many months after the particulate matter had died down.

Other unusual results from EPA monitoring included a compound called 1,3-diphenylpropane (1,3-DPP), which had never been seen before in any EPA studies yet was said to be abundant and pervasive at the WTC.  Further investigation is called for due to the fact that 1,3-DPP is used to functionalize nanostructured silicas that are similar to nanothermite materials.[11]

Related to these environmental findings is the fact that first responders have been getting cancers at elevated rates.  Many types of cancers have been reported including leukemia and the rare disease called multiple myeloma.  The most prominent environmental cause of leukemia is benzene, which is one of the VOCs seen prominently in energetic spikes of emissions at Ground Zero.  Benzene was detected at the WTC at levels that were dramatically higher than ever seen before in structure fires; even higher than what was seen at a large fire in a plastics factory.[12]

As for multiple myeloma, researchers associated with the World Trade Center Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine examined many sick first responders.  One result was that they found eight times the expected level of multiple myeloma in people below the age of 45.[13]

Environmental factors that cause multiple myeloma include phenoxyacetic acids, which are compounds that are structurally similar to 1,3-DPP.  Another causal factor is DDT, a highly chlorinated diphenylethane.[14] Diphenylethane is structurally very similar to diphenylpropane (DPP).  This suggests that the observed presence of 1,3-DPP could be a causal factor of the multiple myeloma seen in WTC first responders, in that derivatives of 1,3-DPP might be responsible for the illnesses.

Carbon nanotubes

In 2010, researchers reported the presence of carbon nanotubes in the lungs of WTC first responders.[15] Carbon nanotubes are high-tech nanostructured materials, which exhibit unique properties like ballistic conduction.  The health effects of carbon nanotubes have been shown to be similar to the health effects produced by exposure to asbestos.[16]

Carbon nanotube formation requires three basic components: a source of carbon, a source of heat, and the presence of certain metals.  In particular, formation of the single walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) found in the lungs of first responders requires that the metals be present.[17] All of these requirements were met at the WTC site on, and for months after, September 11, 2001.

The three most effective metals for the synthesis of SWCNTs are iron, nickel and cobalt.  Both iron and nickel were present in high concentrations near Ground Zero, as shown by aerosol testing done by a team from the University of California, Davis.[18] Iron oxide and nickel oxide are common oxidants in thermite mixtures.

Airborne carbon compounds were certainly present in abundance at Ground Zero in the form of particulate matter resulting from the fires.  Heat was also in abundance, as extremely high temperatures were present on 9/11 and afterward at Ground Zero.  These temperatures were at least 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit, hotter than first reported by government scientists, and were far higher than temperatures seen in a normal structure fire.

The molten metal and vaporized silicates that have been reported in the WTC dust can only be explained by the presence of an exothermic reaction like the thermite reaction.[19] Large quantities of carbon nanotubes might have been formed at Ground Zero due to the high temperature environments created by the thermite reaction and the airborne metal catalysts that were also present.

A second possible explanation for the carbon nanotubes in the lung tissue of the first responders is that the carbon nanotubes were components of actual energetic materials that were used in the destruction of the buildings.  Carbon nanotubes have been used as energetic modifiers,[20] to improve stabilization of explosives,[21] and to enhance ignition properties.[22]

Conclusion

Some of the illnesses suffered by the WTC first responders might be explained by the existing evidence of energetic materials, like thermite, at Ground Zero.  For example aluminum, aluminum oxide and aluminum silicates are known causal factors for some of the common illnesses seen, such as sarcoidosis, pulmonary fibrosis, and the as-yet-unexplained immune system diseases.  Furthermore, the rare cancers found in some first responders could be the result of environmental factors such as the unusually high levels of benzene and derivatives of 1,3-DPP which suggest the presence of energetic materials like thermite and nanothermite.

Analysis of the lung tissue of first responders has also indicated that energetic materials might be involved.  The unusual platy configurations of aluminum silicates found in those lung tissue samples seem similar to the platy configurations of aluminum and silicon in the nanothermite that has been discovered in WTC dust samples.

The finding of carbon nanotubes in the lungs of first responders suggests two possible explanations.  The nanotubes might have been formed in the unusual environment at Ground Zero, where extremely high temperatures and the presence of airborne metallic species gives yet more evidence for the presence of thermitic materials.  Alternatively, the nanotubes might have been components of energetic materials.  In either case, the presence of carbon nanotubes in the lungs of WTC first responders suggests the use of energetic materials and should be studied in more depth.

These facts and research findings warrant further study of the correlation between environmental testing results, first responder health study results, and the use of energetic materials at the WTC.

Notes

[1] Jenkins C. 2007.  Complaint and Additional Evidence of pH Fraud by: USGS, OSHA, ATSDR, NYC, EPA, and EPA-funded scientists.  Journal of 9/11 Studies 12.  Available: http://www.journalof911studies.com/volume/200704/DrJenkinsRequestsSenateInvestigationOnWTCdust.pdf [accessed 19 January 2011].

[2] Wu M, Gordon RE, Herbert R, Padilla M, Moline J, Mendelson D, Litle V, Travis WD, Gil J. 2010.  Case Report: Lung disease in World Trade Center responders exposed to dust and smoke: Carbon nanotubes found in the lungs of World Trade Center patients and dust samples, Environmental Health Perspectives 118 (4).

[3] Cai H, Cao M, Meng F, Wei J. 2007.  Pulmonary sarcoid-like granulomatosis induced by aluminum dust: report of a case and literature review.  Chinese Medical Journal 120 (17) : 1556-1560.   Available: http://cmj.org/Periodical/PaperList.asp?id=LW200794512467004596 [accessed 19 January 2011].

[4] Jederlinic PJ, Abraham JL, Churg A, Himmelstein JS, Epler GR, Gaensler EA. 1990.  Pulmonary fibrosis in aluminum oxide workers. Investigation of nine workers, with pathologic examination and microanalysis in three of them.  Am Rev Respir Dis. 142(5):1179-84.

[5] Jones SE, Farrer J, Jenkins GS, Legge F, Gourley J, Ryan K, Farnsworth D, Grabbe C. 2008.  Extremely High Temperatures during the World Trade Center Destruction, Journal of 9/11 Studies 19.   Available: http://journalof911studies.com/articles/WTCHighTemp2.pdf [accessed 19 January 2011].

[6] Taku Murakami, US Patent 5532449 – Using plasma ARC and thermite to demolish concrete, http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/5532449/description.html

[7] Cole, J.  2010.  9/11 Experiments: The Great Thermate Debate.  911Blogger.com. Available:  www.youtube.com/watch?v=5d5iIoCiI8g [accessed 19 January 2011].

[8] Harrit NH, Farrer J, Jones SE, Ryan KR, Legge FM, Farnsworth D, Roberts G, Gourley JR, Larsen BR. 2009.  Active Thermitic Material Discovered in Dust from the 9/11 World Trade Center Catastrophe.  The Open Chemical Physics Journal 2:7-31;  doi: 10.2174/1874412500902010007 [Online April 2005]

[9] Ibid

[10] Ryan KR, Gourley JR, Jones SE. 2009.  Environmental anomalies at the World Trade Center: evidence for energetic materials. The Environmentalist 29 (1):56-63; doi: 10.1007/s10669-008-9182-4 [Online 4 August 2008]

[11] Ibid

[12] Ibid

[13] Moline JM, Herbert R, Crowley L, Troy K, Hodgman E, Shukla G, Udasin I, Luft B, Wallenstein S, Landrigan P, Savitz DA.  2009.  Multiple Myeloma in World Trade Center Responders: A Case Series.  Journal of Occupational & Environmental Medicine 51(8): 896-902.

[14] Eriksson M, Karlsson M. 1992.  Occupational and other environmental factors and multiple myeloma: a population based case-control study. Br J Ind Med 49(2): 95–103.

[15] Maoxin Wu, et al.

[16] Van Noorden R. 2008.  Carbon nanotubes behave like asbestos. Chemistry World.  Available: http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/News/2008/May/20050802.asp [accessed 19 January 2011].

[17] Height JH.  2003.  Flame synthesis of carbon nanotubes and metallic nanomaterials.  Dissertation submission to Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Chemical Engineering.

[18] Ryan KR, et al.

[19] Jones SE, et al.

[20] Ramaswamy AL, Kaste P.  2003.  Combustion modifiers for energetic materials.  34th International Annual Conference of ICT; Karlsruhe; Germany; 24-27 June 2003. 1-13.

[21] Patent issued to Raytheon Company, WO/2008/082724.  Improved Explosive Materials by Stabilization in Nanotubes.  World Intellectual Property organization. Available:  http://www.wipo.int/pctdb/en/wo.jsp?WO=2008/082724 [accessed 19 January 2011].

[22] Manaa MR, Mitchell AR, Garza RG, Pagoria PF, Watkins BE. 2005.  Flash Ignition and Initiation of Explosives−Nanotubes Mixture.  J. Am. Chem. Soc. 127(40):13786–13787.

http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2011/02/04/energetic-materials-as-a-potential-cause-of-the-911-first-responder-illness...

 

UL was sort of stupid when they fired Kevin

weren't they lol?

Total Casualties

Good analysis Kevin!
I'm curious about the scope of death/illness for the population in this part of Manhattan due to 9/11 related contamination. Who is tracking this data? Has there been a notable increase in cancers in the general population here, as opposed to just the first responder group? What do the public health officials report?

I think Janette Mackinlay was right...

From the story about Janette Mackinlay:

"When she was suddenly diagnosed with brain cancer last February, she knew instantly what the cause was – 9/11, the dust…"

Dust to Dust

"These facts and research findings warrant further study of the correlation between environmental testing results, first responder health study results, and the use of energetic materials at the WTC."

Yes. This is a breathrough approach for 9/11 justice, linking the health issue to the thermitic issue. Full disclosure of everything in the dust that is making people sick....

Great work, Kevin. There is hope with this approach. NYC CAN?

I agree. This is a great approach!

This article is also "an easy read". It is very well written for any audience.

great work

I think we should use this fascinating article to try to draw in new groups of people, including those in public health.

60 Minutes...

9/11 - The Dust at Ground Zero (from 60 Minutes)

more info here -
http://s1.zetaboards.com/pumpitout/topic/3367198/1/

.

We need to address this in

We need to address this in Medical Professionals for 9/11 Truth.

testimony

Firefighter Timothy Burke:
"All of a sudden the noises stopped, the sound of the building falling stopped. We all turned around and it was dark now. We really couldn't see…The cloud was in there. All eating the cloud, whatever it was like, very thick. I keep saying it was like a 3 dimensional object. It wasn't smoke. It was like everything. It was like a sand storm."

Paramedic Phillip Ashby:
"About two or three minutes of sucking in what I would consider to be -- when you think about, it would be something like...just trying to breathe as somebody throws powder in your mouth. That's essentially what it felt like to me. I mean there was no way you can salivate enough to get rid of it. It just kept on coming down...
Just hacking up the dust for like an hour, two hours later -- I mean, you know, soot the color of this table here...But whatever pulverized rock looks like, you know, I was coughing it up for about an hour and a half."

Paramedic Louis Cook:
"You still can't see it because it's dark as a mother. You can't breathe. It's so heavy with smoke and dust and ash.
I can't breathe. I have, for lack of a better term, dust impaction in my ears, in my nose. I was coughing it out of my mouth. It felt like I had a baseball in my mouth. I was just picking it out with my fingers."

Captain David Loper:
"...I'm having difficulty breathing now, because it was like a funnel. All the smoke went right down into this loading dock and I remember it was just like having your head stuck in a pail of sand, trying to breathe sand."

EMT Mary Merced:
"So I'm running, and people are running in front of me. They stop. They turn around. I think everything's over with. So I stop, all of a sudden the thing is coming at us. It was like in dark hell, like a nuclear blizzard. I couldn't explain it. You couldn't see in front of you. You couldn't breathe. You're inhaling. You're coughing. You're running. You can't see anything.
Once the building fell...you couldn't hear anymore. Everything was silent."

Paramedic Neil Sweeting:
"We were just totally enveloped in this cloud. You couldn't see. It was choking. It was in your eyes. I felt like somebody had poured a cup of sand down my throat. It was horrible."

EMT Renae O'Carroll
"I'm about ten feet in front of it, running, actually sprinting because I'm an athlete and I'm running...
Ash came around another building in front of me, and it caught me in front of me and in back of me, and everything was pitch-black. Where it hit me from the front and the back, it actually lifted me off the ground and threw me. It was like someone picked me up and just threw me on the ground.
Everything was pitch-black. You couldn't see anything. All I saw was big bolts of fire, fire balls. I could feel the heat around me. It was pitch-black. I couldn't see anything at all. My lungs, my airways, everything filled up with ash. I couldn’t breathe."

Paramedic Joseph Cahill:
"I drove through there the day after, the morning of the 12th and I didn't recognize most of the places I was. It all looked very different. It all looked like those videos you see of Pongo Pongo, a little island in the South Pacific has had a volcanic eruption and all the ash is falling out of the air."

Detox sweat stained towels purple, blue, orange, black...

While there might be controversy about this detox program for First Responders, this statement is an eye-opener:
“Patients have had black paste coming out of their pores in the sauna,” notes Jim Woodworth, president of the New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Project. “Their sweat has stained towels purple, blue, orange, yellow and black. They have reported bowel movements that are blue, or green, or that have smelled like smoke —despite the fact that they had not been at a fire scene for months.”
http://www.nydetox.org/results.htm

City's 9/11 Insurer

City's 9/11 Insurer Attempting To Deny Responders $37.5 Million Payment
PR Newswire NEW YORK, Feb. 3, 2011
http://www2.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/prnewswire/press_releases/natio...

NEW YORK, Feb. 3, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Mayor Bloomberg's hired guns and The WTC Insurance Co., Inc., the specially-created insurance carrier for claims by 9/11 First Responders against the City of New York, filed a motion Monday that seeks to have the Court deny Ground Zero claimants an additional "incentive" payment of $37.5 million that they are entitled to receive under the Settlement Agreement that resolves their litigation, based on a claimed technicality in the agreement.

The City's motion asks the Court to set aside its own prior order dismissing claims by non-responsive plaintiffs. These ordered dismissals, according to the Court's prior order, would reduce the number of plaintiffs entitled to claim a settlement in the litigation, thus increasing the relative percent of claimants who opted in to the settlement. The settlement agreement provides that each percent point of plaintiffs opting in to the settlement over the threshold of 95% increases the overall payments by millions of additional dollars.

Asked for comment, Plaintiffs' lead attorney Paul Napoli said, "It's really a shame that the Captive Insurance Company and Mayor Bloomberg, who controls the Captive and the City's legal team, have chosen to undermine the purpose and spirit of this historic settlement, once again turning their backs on these 9/11 heroes. Instead of agreeing to the dismissals, the City wants to have its cake and eat it too; the Mayor has accepted the dismissals of these plaintiffs' claims, but wants to deny the remaining plaintiffs the additional payments they deserve and bargained for in the settlement agreement. As a result, the most seriously injured Tier 4 plaintiffs will get less money and the City will still get its entire reward, i.e., the settlement of the claims against it at the expense of the 9/11 heroes."

Press Release Contact Information:

Paul J. Napoli

Senior Partner

Worby Groner Edelman & Napoli Bern, LLP

(212) 267-3700

PNapoli@napolibern.com

Firefighters vs. others

Kevin - astute research as always. Your breadth is amazing.

Is is possible to separate the data according to firefighters vs. others? NYC Firerfighters go daily into smoldering fires and have extraordinary levels of exposure to airborne toxins. I would expect that firefighters would be particularly at risk to develop diseases in response to novel toxins. If you can show that non-firefighters, with no history of heavy exposure to airborne toxins, are also heavily represented (perhaps as heavily represented as firefighters) among those gravely ill with rare respiratory diseases, you will have a stronger case.

I can't even stand to look at her face!

Christie Whitman enrages me, I can't even stand to look at her face! I started working at Ground Zero
on the morning of September 18, 2001. As if it was yesterday, I recall her statement, ""Given the scope of the tragedy from last week, I am glad to reassure the people of New York and Washington, D.C. that their air is safe to breath and their water is safe to drink." Almost ten years later, with almost 60,000 people affected by the 9/11 toxic dust and 1,000 that have died from it, Whitman still lies. You didn't have to be a scientist, every construction worker in this country is aware of the dangers of exposure to asbestos, even one exposure could possibly cause medical problems 20 to 30 years later. We knew there was possible
dangers to some degree. The EPA and Whitman were well aware of the hundreds of toxins, they didn't need any test to know that. They took thousands of air samples, which clearly confirmed what they already knew.
Yet they still lied and have subjected millions of innocent people to the dangers. All they cared about was opening Wall Street, they didn't even give a dam about the dangers of opening the dozen or so schools in lower Manhattan in the weeks and month after.
Mr Ryan, thank you for your dedication to finding the truth. This is some of the most powerful evidence I have read over these long years. They may challenge the samples of 9/11 dust that have confirmed particles of nano-thermite, but if you are correct, the lung tissues of the ten of thousands of us from Ground Zero will be the testimony that 9/11 was an inside job. I don't believe we'll ever see justice or any of these criminals spend a minute behind bars, but I'm certain history will record the TRUTH.

Do EPA still have their 911 samples under sealed glass? Retest !

John MITCHELL
Herblay FRANCE

Bonjour,
I would like that some of those air samples still in the hands of the EPA could be rexamined by people like professor Steven Jones, Niels Harrit, etc

Yours John

Kevin Ryan Research

This is another great example of excellent research that needs to be part of a new unbiased, scientific 9/11 investigation. Thank you, 911Blogger for your continual work to expose the truth to those who have the integrity to want it.

Evidence of explosives discovered by govt agency...?

This is my speculation...
It seems ludicrous to think that government agencies were not more alert to evidence of explosives in the dust and rubble... ...that there was not more of an inquisitive nature in the studies of samples. (For example: we know about the RJ Lee report and the sulfidation of steel.)

Many samples were taken by other different agencies...
OSHA samples-
Air and bulk samples taken by OSHA at the site...3,600 (includes
metals, asbestos, silica, and other volatile organic compounds)
http://www.osha.gov/as/opa/911/pg18-24-jshq-v13-2-winter2002.pdf
http://www.osha.gov/as/opa/911/
USGS
http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2005/1165/508OF05-1165.html#toc

Here is my think:
I think that some people with some agencies suspected explosives and/or tested for explosives.
Not every professional scientist and lab technician in all these agencies is stupid and lacking critical thinking skills. (There were too many odd things about the destruction of the World Trade Centers; e.g. hundreds of eyewitnesses to explosions or the molten metal despite days of rain and fire hoses.)
NIST says that they did not test for explosives. I think that this statement is a lie. I think that NIST did test for explosives in order to try to figure out how to hide the fact that explosives were used. After all, it is a fact that NIST lies.

My speculation:
I think that NIST performed tests which prove that explosives were used. It is likely that professionals in other agencies also found alarming evidence, but were squelched in their reports.
For example: We know about UL, because Kevin blew the whistle on UL. There has to be other similar circumstances with other agencies and companies.

AGREED

"NIST says that they did not test for explosives. I think that this statement is a lie. I think that NIST did test for explosives in order to try to figure out how to hide the fact that explosives were used. After all, it is a fact that NIST lies."

THANK YOU TomT

Kevin

Very informative, thank you. I vaguely remember somebody touching upon this subject somewhere before, in much less detail. But there was something fascinating about that as well. If I find a link I'll post it.

First Responder illnesses

My question is, if the WTC collapses were entirely from gravity, why aren't these kinds of illnesses common in other events where buildings collapse in fires or from natural disasters? If gravity can cause a building to self-pulverize, there should be other instances of this kind of toxic ingestion by responders in other disasters.

The 60 Minutes news report mentions repeatedly that this kind of health problem in FRs has never been seen before to such an extent. If progressive collapse is common, if buildings routinely self pulverize from gravity, then this cannot be the case.

The premise before each question you asked...

invalidates the questions.

clarification

Comment was merely to highlight the standard canard that progressive collapse is a common event in buildings, and that "nothing unusual" brought the towers down - just fires and gravity. Fire and gravity can bring buildings down - usually only in partial collapse, but they don't pulverize buildings, nor do firefighters experience this level of toxicity from working on buildings destroyed by fire and gravity.