Next week will be filled with media reports about the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and report cards on "homeland security." President Bush will be seeking to win back the mantle of great protector of the American people that has served him so well in past elections.
But thre is another story that should accompany each and every 9/11 commemoration report:
The official death toll from the 9/11 attacks is placed at 2,819. But as the fifth anniversary of the attack approaches, a study released today confirms that the real toll of 9/11 is actually much higher and still growing.
Exposure to a toxic burning brew of caustic concrete dust, asbestos, PCBs, jet fuel, and plastics, lead, chromium, mercury, vinyl chloride, benzene, human bodies and thousands of other substances has seriously damaged the health of thousands of workers who worked to clean up the remains of the World Trade Center. In fact, it may be decades before we know the true toll of the World Trade Center in illness and early death.
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