Lower Manhattan Sampling Results

Lower Manhattan sampling locations (circled numbers).

Shortly after the collapse of the World Trade Center towers in 2001, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (NYC DOHMH) and ATSDR collected air and dust samples to find out what hazardous substances were in air and settled surface dust in residential areas. This information was used to find out

• if hazardous materials in the air and dust were present at levels that could cause harmful health effects and

• what actions might be needed to protect public health.

The levels of materials detected in the air and dust samples are not likely to pose health hazards if recommended cleaning measures are followed.

Sampling Dates and Locations

The sampling was conducted from November 4 through December 11, 2001, in and around 30 residential buildings in lower Manhattan. As a comparison, four more buildings in upper Manhattan (above 59th Street) were also sampled.

Air Sampling Results

Airborne levels of total fibers were similar in lower and upper Manhattan. Airborne levels of mineral components of concrete and mineral components of building wallboard were sometimes higher in lower Manhattan than in the upper Manhattan comparison area.

Settled Surface Dust Sampling Results

Low levels of asbestos were found in some settled surface dust in lower Manhattan, primarily below Chambers Street. No asbestos was found in the upper Manhattan comparison area. Lower Manhattan had higher percentages of fiberglass, mineral components of concrete, and mineral components of building wallboard in settled surface dust than did the upper Manhattan comparison area.

Public Health Recommendations

Residents were recommended to

• continue cleaning residences with high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) vacuums and damp cloths or mops to reduce the potential for exposure and

• participate in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cleaning and sampling program.

Follow-Up Activities

EPA is conducting follow-up activities to address the recommendations in the report. NYC DOHMH and ATSDR are developing a registry that will track the health of persons who were most highly exposed to World Trade Center-related materials.

Reference

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2003. Potential exposures to airborne and settled surface dust in residential areas of lower Manhattan following the collapse of the World Trade Center—New York City, November 4–December 11, 2001. MMWR 52(7):131–6.

The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and ATSDR are creating a registry of people who worked or lived near the World Trade Center (WTC) site on September 11, 2001. The WTC Registry will collect health information about people most heavily exposed to smoke, dust, and debris from the collapse of the World Trade Center. It will help identify patterns of illness and recovery that might not be uncovered by individual doctors. When completed, it will be the largest registry of its kind, and have up to 200,000 people enrolled. The WTC Registry is scheduled to begin interviewing prospective enrollees in the spring or early summer of 2003.

Eligibility criteria for enrollment in the WTC Registry will be based on whether persons

• lived, worked, or attended school near the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, or

• worked as a rescue, recovery, or construction worker either at the WTC site until the fires went out, or at the Staten Island landfill, where debris from the WTC site was hauled.

Visit www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/wtc/index.html for more information.

FBI Anthrax Investigation in Florida

In September 2002, ATSDR provided technical support to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in a joint evidence recovery effort at the site of the 2001 anthrax attack in Boca Raton, Florida.

According to Dr. Ed Kilbourne, ATSDR’s Associate Administrator for Toxic Substances, this operation successfully applied new scientific techniques to locate, quantify, and collect concentrations of anthrax within the American Media Incorporated (AMI) building. Based on laboratory results, items were removed from the building for further forensic examination. Results from these examinations will provide the FBI with valuable data to further advance the ongoing investigation of the 2001 anthrax attacks.

This endeavor at the AMI building is the largest hazardous materials evidence collection effort in the history of the FBI’s Hazardous Materials Response Unit. Highly trained personnel from the FBI, ATSDR, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention collected about 5,000 evidence samples in more than 550 entries into the anthrax-contaminated offices of AMI. The FBI noted that the unprecedented partnership with public health agencies directly contributed to the success of this effort.

The recovery effort was supported by on-scene medical monitoring for the team because of the heat and humidity and problems with the building’s air conditioning system. The greatest concern for team members was heat stress from working and sweating copiously in their protective suits. Team members wore cooling vests to help ward off heat stress and were monitored by a medical officer and an emergency medical technician.

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Emergency Response Updates for Clinicians

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has set up a free registry to provide clinicians with real-time information to help prepare for (and possibly respond to) terrorism and other emergency events. Participants will receive regular e-mail updates on terrorism and other emergency issues and on training opportunities relevant to clinicians.

To sign up for the registry and receive e-mail updates, go to www.bt.cdc.gov/clinicianreg.

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Tox Town (toxtown.nlm.nih.gov), new from the National Library of Medicine (NLM) (www.nlm.nih.gov), is a free, Web-based resource of “nontechnical” information about commonly encountered toxic substances, your health, and the environment.

Tox Town’s target audience is students above elementary-school level, educators, and the general public. It guides users through an ordinary town to identify its common environmental hazards. Specific locations (like the school, home, and office building) can be selected for cutaway views and for more detailed information about the toxic chemicals that might be found there, as well as for links to selected Internet resources. NLM plans to expand Tox Town to include more chemicals and new locations such as an urban community and a farming region.

Tox Town also has some resources available in Spanish (toxtown.nlm.nih.gov/espanol/index.html).

Tox Town’s use of color, graphics, sounds, and animation adds special appeal for its intended audience. Tox Town’s special effects require Macromedia Flash, which can be downloaded for free from Macromedia at www.macromedia.com. A text-only version is available (toxtown.nlm.nih.gov/text_version).

In addition to Tox Town, NLM’s Division of Specialized Information Services (sis.nlm.nih.gov) also produces TOXNET (sis.nlm.nih.gov/Tox/ToxMain.html), a popular set of databases for toxicologists and other scientists.—COLETTE HOCHSTEIN, DMD, MLS, AND CINDY LOVE, MLS, DIVISION OF SPECIALIZED INFORMATION SERVICES, NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE

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Disaster Reference Sources

Auf der Heide E. Disaster response: principles of preparation and coordination. St. Louis (MO): CV Mosby; 1989. Now available for downloading/viewing at no charge, courtesy of the Center of Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance (Internet: www.coe-dmha.org/dr/flash.htm).

Auf der Heide E. Community medical disaster planning and evaluation guide. Dallas: American College of Emergency Physicians; 1995. For information, contact Don Kerns, American College of Emergency Physicians, PO Box 619911, Dallas TX 75261-9911; 1-800-798-1822 [touch 6]; Internet: www.acep.org/bookstore/index.cfm?go=product.detail&id=490.

Auf der Heide E. Principles of hospital disaster planning. In: Hogan D, Burstein JL, editors. Disaster medicine. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins; 2002. p. 57–89. ISBN: 0-7817-2625-5.

Drabek TE, Hoetmer GJ. Emergency management: principles and practice for local government. Washington, DC: International City Management Association; 1991. ISBN: 0-87326-082-1.

Lindell MK, Perry RW. Behavioral foundations of community emergency planning. Bristol, PA: Hemisphere Publishing Corp.; 1992. ISBN: 0891166203.

Mileti DS, Sorensen JH. Determinants of organizational effectiveness in responding to low probability catastrophic events. Columbia J World Business 1987;22(1):13B21.

Noji EK. The public health consequences of disasters. Cary, NC: Oxford University Press; 1996. ISBN: 0-19-509570-7.

Wenger DE, James TF, Faupel CE. Disaster beliefs and emergency planning. New York: Irvington Publishers; 1985. ISBN: 082901361X.

Internet Sources of Disaster Information (Documents, Training Manuals, Texts, and Periodicals)

Disaster Research Center Publications. Newark, DE: University of Delaware. Telephone: 302-831-6618; fax: 302-831-2091; e-mail: susan.castelli@mvs.udel.edu; Internet: www.udel.edu/DRC/publications.html.

Emergency Management Institute. Academic Emergency Management and Related Courses for the Higher Education Project. Internet: 166.112.200.141/emi/edu/aem_courses.htm.

International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters. Los Angeles: University of Southern California. Telephone: 213-740-6842; e-mail: ijmed@usc.edu; Internet: www.usc.edu/schools/sppd/ijmed/.

Regional Disaster Information Center (CRID) for Latin America and the Caribbean: Virtual Disaster Library. San Jose, Costa Rica: Regional Disaster Information Center for Latin America and the Caribbean. Internet: www.crid.or.cr/crid/Indexen.htm.

The Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado. Includes links to the Natural Hazards Observer and Disaster Research newsletters. Boulder, CO: University of Colorado. Telephone: 303-492-6819; e-mail: hazctr@spot.colorado.edu; Internet: www.colorado.edu/hazards. Free.

Other Internet Sources of Disaster Planning Information

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Internet: www.atsdr.cdc.gov.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Internet: www.cdc.gov.

Disaster Management Higher Education Project, Emergency Management Institute, Federal Emergency Management Agency. Internet: 166.112.200.141/emi/edu/highlinks2.htm.

Disaster/Humanitarian Assistance, Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). Internet: 165.158.1.110/english/ped/pedhome.htm.

The Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado. Internet: www.Colorado.EDU/hazards/.

The University of Delaware, Disaster Research Center. Internet: www.udel.edu/DRC/.
—ERIK AUF DER HEIDE, MD, MPH, FACEP

Web Sites
Government

ndms.dhhs.gov/
This is the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Office of Emergency Preparedness (OEP) and National Disaster Medical System (NDMS) Web site. OEP has the DHHS responsibility for managing and coordinating federal health, medical, and health-related social services and recovery to major emergencies and federally declared disasters. NDMS is a federally coordinated system that augments the nation’s emergency medical response capability.

www.bt.cdc.gov
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Web page includes facts and news related to anthrax, smallpox, chemical weapons, biological weapons, radiologic emergencies, and more.

www.ccep.ca
The Canadian Centre for Emergency Preparedness, a Canadian nonprofit organization, promotes disaster management to individuals, communities, and organizations, in both government and the private sector.

www.citizencorps.gov
Citizen Corps, part of USA Freedom Corps, provides public education, training, and volunteer opportunities to support community and family safety.

www.epa.gov/swercepp/
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Chemical Emergency Preparedness and Prevention Office provides leadership, advocacy, and assistance to prevent and prepare for chemical emergencies, respond to environmental crises, and inform the public about chemical hazards in their community.

www.epc-pcc.gc.ca/
Canada’s Office of Critical Infrastructure Protection and Emergency Preparedness is the government’s primary agency for ensuring national civil emergency preparedness for all types of emergencies.

www.fema.gov
The Federal Emergency Management Agency leads America to prepare for, prevent, respond to, and recover from disasters.

www.fema.gov/kids
This Federal Emergency Management Agency Web site teaches kids how to be prepared for disasters and how to prevent or reduce disaster damage.

www.whitehouse.gov/deptofhomeland/
The Department of Homeland Security mission is to prevent terrorist attacks within the United States, reduce America’s vulnerability to terrorism, and minimize the damage and recover from attacks that do occur. The department has four divisions: Border and Transportation Security; Emergency Preparedness and Response; Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Countermeasures; and Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection.

Nongovernment

epix.hazard.net/
The Emergency Preparedness Information Exchange is an information exchange service for emergency managers.

www.disasters.org/deralink.html
The Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Response Association, International is a professional association linking professionals, volunteers, and organizations active in all phases of emergency preparedness and management. The Web site is available in English, French, German, Italian, Portugese, and Spanish.

www.pep-c.org/
The Peninsula Emergency Preparedness Committee in Washington State helps families and neighborhoods prepare for earthquakes, volcanoes, fires, and floods.

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New Tool: A Guide for Public Health Agencies

A Guide for Public Health Agencies Developing, Adopting, or Purchasing Interactive Web-Based Data Dissemination Systems is now available. The guide is a practical tool for public health agencies to use in (a) developing, adopting, or buying new queriable Web-based data systems, or (b) enhancing existing systems. The guide provides a consolidated list of processes, standards, and checklists. In addition, a prototype of a Web-based data dissemination system interface illustrates the best practices described in the guide. Both the guide and the prototype are accessible at www.cdc.gov/epo/dphsi/asb/orcmacro.htm.

For more information, call Timothy A. Green at 770-488-8378.

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This page last updated on October 24, 2003
Contact Name: Wilma López/ mailto:WLopez@cdc.gov