March 24, 2004—An expert technical review panel has been formed to obtain greater input on ongoing efforts to monitor health effects for workers and residents impacted by the collapse of the World Trade Center (WTC), announced US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Acting Deputy Administrator Steve Johnson, US Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (New York), and EPA officials on March 1.
The panel, convened and led by the EPA, will help guide EPA’s use of available exposure and health surveillance databases and registries. It will characterize any remaining exposures and risks, identify unmet public health needs, and recommend any steps to further minimize the risks associated with the aftermath of the World Trade Center attacks.
Over the next six months, the panel will review post-cleaning verification sampling in the residential areas included in EPA’s indoor air cleanup to verify re-contamination has not occurred from central heating and air conditioning systems. Also in that period of time, the panel will review the “World Trade Center Residential Confirmation Cleaning Study,” which concluded that the cleaning methods used in EPA’s indoor cleanup program and recommended to residents who cleaned their own places were extremely effective, and indicated that asbestos was an appropriate surrogate for which to test.
Within 24 months, the panel will identify areas where the health registry could be enhanced to allow better tracking of post-exposure risks by workers and residents. The panel will review and synthesize the ongoing work by federal, state and local governments, and private entities to determine the characteristics of the WTC plume and where it was dispersed, including the geographic extent of EPA and other entities’ monitoring and testing, and recommend any additional evaluations for consideration by EPA and other public agencies.
