9/11 -- MORE POTENTIAL DEATHS THAN ACTUAL ATTACKS: According to the UK
Independent, which cited a new report by the U.S. Government
Accountability Office, "Up to 400,000 New Yorkers breathed in the most toxic
polluting cloud ever recorded after the twin towers were brought down three
years ago, but no proper effort has been made to find out how their
health has been affected." The report "provides the latest evidence of a
systematic cover-up of the health toll
(http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0912-01.htm) from pollution
after the 9/11 disaster, which doctors fear will cause more deaths than
the attacks themselves." The Bush administration "suppressed evidence of
increasing danger" and officially announced that the air around the
felled buildings was "safe to breathe." Another report reveals that it has
since "failed at least a dozen times to correct its assurances, even
when it became clear that people were becoming sick." Just days after
9/11, the White House's Council of Environmental Quality -- headed by a
former asbestos industry
(http://www.earthjustice.org/policy/profiles/display.html?Department=Council%20On%20Environmental%20Quality)
lawyer-lobbyist -- doctored EPA press releases
(http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/news/editorial/6754648.htm)
to claim the air was safe to breathe. In fact, "Asbestos was found at
27 times acceptable levels" near Ground Zero. After that, the White
House refused to immediately fund critical health screening tests for those
exposed to toxic chemicals during the attack, instead waiting
two-and-a-half years
(http://www.house.gov/maloney/press/108th/20040319HealthScreening911.htm)
to address the situation.