Cyrus Dugger

Bloomberg Steps up for Ground Zero Sick

Bloomberg Steps up for Ground Zero Sick Daily News editorial February 14, 2007

Thoroughly and altogether helpfully, Mayor Bloomberg yesterday gave official measure to the serious and growing health consequences suffered by the forgotten victims of 9/11 - along with unequivocal recognition that government must do more to care for their needs.

The mayor pulled no punches. He said large numbers of people - both Ground Zero responders, and residents and workers in the area - have been sickened by exposure to Trade Center toxins. He predicted still worse may come with the emergence of cancers and potentially fatal lung illnesses. And he called on the federal government to markedly increase funding for treatment programs.

In the minds of many, these issues have long since been settled. Is there anyone, for example, who now doubts that lung ailments are rampant among responders? No reasonable person could hold such a view. Even so, Bloomberg’s action yesterday was an important milestone in the fight to win care and compensation for Americans who suffer for having done their part following an act of war upon the nation.

This was the mayor of New York City, a nationally recognized public health advocate, laying out the facts as they were compiled by a special panel over the course of five months of study. He had demanded data, and the panel produced it with clinical, scientific authority.

There is now, for the first time, a comprehensive estimate of how many men and women participated in Ground Zero rescue and recovery operations, and the number - 123,084 - is triple the figure previously accepted by researchers. There is also, for the first time, a calculation of the total annual cost of 9/11-related health care - a whopping $392 million. And there is the sobering fact that just maintaining the services provided by Mount Sinai Medical Center, the Fire Department and Bellevue Hospital, the three main Trade Center treatment programs, will cost $153 million next year.

The sums are vast, and the bills are coming due quickly. Counting $25 million promised by President Bush on Jan. 30, Mount Sinai and the FDNY have the wherewithal only to make it through the end of the year. Bloomberg is calling on the feds to pick up the rest of the tab, as they must, and to commit to do so for the next 20 years, as is inescapably necessary.

The mayor will also press Congress to reopen the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund that distributed $6 billion to the survivors of 2,880 people killed on 9/11 and $1 billion to 2,680 people who were injured. He will urge Washington to start the fund with $1 billion earmarked as insurance against 9/11-related liability claims.
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When Bloomberg testifies before Congress, as he soon will, he will go armed with unassailable information. His case will be all the more compelling because he has the facts. They were well worth waiting for.
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Last July, in the first installment of this series, the Daily News singled out Bloomberg as the official best suited to lead a campaign for the forgotten victims of 9/11. We wrote:

"What's urgently needed is dynamic leadership by someone with the muscle and brains to tackle the World Trade Center health crisis on all fronts - medical, legal, social, political and more. The person who best fits the bill today is Michael Bloomberg."
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And now he is delivering in earnest. (link)