[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 137 (Monday, September 17, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1890]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          INTRODUCTION OF THE 9/11 HEALTH AND COMPENSATION ACT

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                          HON. JERROLD NADLER

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, September 17, 2007

  Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, when the World Trade Center collapsed on 
September 11, 2001, the towers sent up a plume of poisonous dust that 
blanketed Lower Manhattan. A toxic brew of lead, dioxin, asbestos, 
mercury, benzene, and other hazardous contaminants swirled around the 
site of the disaster as rescue workers labored furiously in the 
wreckage, many without adequate protective gear. Thousands of first 
responders, residents, area workers, students, and others from around 
the country inhaled this poisonous dust as it settled onto and into 
countless homes, shops, and office buildings.
  Now, 6 years later, there is no doubt that thousands of people are 
sick from World Trade Center contamination. A study released in 
September 2006 by Mt. Sinai Hospital found that 70 percent of the more 
than 9,000 first responders studied suffer health problems related to 
their work at Ground Zero. This number does not include the Stuyvesant 
High School students whose school sat near piles of debris from the 
towers, the nearby residents whose apartments still contain poisonous 
dust, or the thousands of people who work in offices that were never 
properly cleaned.
  Abraham Lincoln once said that we must ``care for him who shall have 
borne the battle.'' And so we should. Today, I, along with my 
colleagues, am introducing essential, new legislation that ensures that 
everyone exposed to World Trade Center toxins, no matter where they may 
live now or in the future, would have a right to high-quality medical 
monitoring and treatment, and access to a reopened Victim Compensation 
Fund for their losses. Whether you are a first responder who toiled 
without proper protection; or an area resident, worker or student who 
was caught in the plume or subject to ongoing indoor contamination; if 
you were harmed by 9/11, you would be eligible. This bill builds on the 
best ideas brought to Congress thus far and on the infrastructure 
already in place providing critical treatment and monitoring.

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