WTC work

Study links lung disease to WTC work

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070509/ap_on_re_us/attacks_health

Ground Zero slide show: http://news.yahoo.com/photos/ss/events/ts/091102groundzero;_ylt=AiusE4l5YPax2SDQW4hYBjpH2ocA

Study links lung disease to WTC work

By AMY WESTFELDT, Associated Press WriterTue May 8, 9:40 PM ET

Rescue workers and firefighters contracted a serious lung-scarring disease called sarcoidosis at a much higher rate after the Sept. 11 attacks than before, said a study that is the first to link the disease to exposure to toxic dust at ground zero.

The study, published by nine doctors including the medical officer monitoring city firefighters, Dr. David Prezant, found that firefighters and rescue workers contracted sarcoidosis in the year after Sept. 11, 2001, at a rate more than five times higher than the years before the attacks.

Unlike previous studies that have linked exposure to the toxic dust cloud that enveloped lower Manhattan after the World Trade Center's collapse to many different respiratory illnesses, this study zeros in on one disease.

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