Science and Technology in NYC

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H1N1 Flu is a new strain of the common influenza virus that started with an outbreak in April 2009. According to an article from Associated Content written on May 18, 2009, the first death in New York City occurred on May 17, 2009 to a 55 year old man named Mitchell Weiner in Queens.

When asked for information about the spread of H1N1 Flu in New York City, Legislative Analyst of Department of Health & Mental Hygiene Jason Hansen provided a PowerPoint presentation that stated that there were 930 identified hospitalizations and 54 identified deaths in New York City from April 2009 to September 1, 2009.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) the symptoms of the H1N1 flu includes include a fever, lethargy, lack of appetite and coughing. Some people with swine flu also have reported runny nose, sore throat, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.

Because the H1N1 flu has been spreading very fast all around the world, people everywhere is anticipating the vaccine for the flu. According to CDC the vaccine is being distributed starting October 2009.

The H1N1 vaccine will be made using the same method as the regular influenza vaccine. According to CDC there are two types of flu vaccines. The first type is the flu shot, which is injecting at inactivated virus, a version of the virus that is dead, into the body with a shot. The second type is a nasal spray vaccine, which is spraying into the nose a weakened version of the flu virus. Both types of the vaccines are supposed to create antibodies in the body, which will fight off the virus when someone actually contracts it.

Both types of the vaccine will be available for the H1N1 flu. According to the Department of Health & Mental Hygiene, the flu shot is recommended for pregnant women, all health care workers, anyone between the age of 6 months and 24 years old, anyone between the age of 25 and 64 that have health conditions that may increase the complications of the H1N1 virus, and anyone that cares for babies under the age of 6 months. But according to Fox News, the nasal-spray shot should only be administered to healthy people between the ages of 2 and 49. Pregnant women, babies and the elderly should not receive these sprays because the sprays are a weakened virus and not the dead version, making it potentially dangerous.

The vaccines will be distributed in separate batches in the United States. According to the New York State Department of Health, about 16 million of the total 250 million vaccines will be distributed in New York. Department of Health & Mental Hygiene says that the vaccines in New York City will be available in doctors’ offices, 60 hospitals who will distribute to health care workers, inpatients and outpatient clinics, more than 100 community health centers, health department immunization clinics and some pharmacies.

As the vaccines are on the verge of arriving, there seems to be a controversy brewing in New York City about the safety of these new vaccines. All vaccines have side effects because you are injecting a version of the virus in to your body, but this vaccine is especially being criticized because it was made in a very short period. People are wondering if the vaccine passed enough clinical trials to be safe. One pharmacist, who wished to remain anonymous, stated although we cannot determine the safety of the vaccine yet, “vaccines take 7 years to make but this one was rushed to the market in 7 months, you decide how safe it is”.

Many people are very worried about the H1N1 virus and they cannot wait for the vaccine. Another pharmacist, Luba Soroker, said that people come in everyday asking about the H1N1 flu and the vaccine for it. When asked if the virus was as serious as people made it, she said she thinks that the flu is more similar to the seasonal flu. Ms. Soroker said that she would recommend the vaccine to the patients that fall in the recommended groups but not specifically for the healthy 25-64 year olds, who do not fall in the groups.

Another reason that the people are not sure of the vaccine is because the new vaccine contains mercury. According to an article from Associated Content, H1N1 Flu Vaccine Will Contain Mercury written on August 01, 2009, it has been proven that mercury in vaccines causes a rise in the number of cases of autism in children and Multiple Neurological Complications. People are afraid that the mercury in the vaccine will harm the children because a major group receiving the vaccine will be children.

Another controversy surrounding the new vaccine is the fact that the vaccine will be mandatory for health care workers in New York City. According to CBS News, the idea is that the health care workers come into contact with patients that have weakened immune systems, so the health care workers should be vaccinated so they cannot spread the disease.

According to a New York Times article, New York Health Care Workers Resist Flu Vaccine Rule, written on September 20, 2009 by Donald G. MCneil Jr., the health care workers that wanted the vaccine are happy that they are first in line for the vaccine but, many people are protesting this decision because they are worried about the side effects mentioned in this article. Also the unions do not want the vaccinations to be mandatory because they do not want companies firing their union workers for not getting vaccinated.

Angela Chu, a volunteer at Bellevue hospital in New York City, said that the health care workers at Bellevue hospital are divided in the rule that every worker has to be immunized. Some hospital staff sees the H1N1 virus as just another flu and others find it very serious.

We do not know the side effects of the new vaccine for the H1N1 flu yet, but we will soon find out because the vaccine is scheduled to come out on October 06, 2009. We have to just hope that it will do more good than harm.

Newtown Creek: Health Effects on Nearby Residents

By Yan Davydov

Newtown Creek, a murky green and brown waterway located directly between Greenpoint, Brooklyn and Long Island City, Queens, has been the illegal dumpsite for countless tons of industrial and residential waste since the mid-19^th Century. Since then, Newtown Creek has become the most polluted waterway in America, even though it is right in our own backyard.

Newtown Creek holds this record because it contains the largest variety and quantity of contaminants, all of which settle together at the bottom of the creek to form what is believed to be a 15-foot-thick stagnant mix known as “black mayonnaise” at the bottom.

This black mayonnaise mix is composed of concentrations of mercury, a record 17 million tons of leaked petroleum oil, tons of raw sewage, metal compounds, coal tar, pesticides, industrial waste from factories and shipyards that used to operate on the waterfront, and even rotting animal carcasses from a 19^th Century Jell-O gelatin factory.

Unfortunately, the pollution problem is an old and seemingly irresolvable one because proper treatment is slow in coming. An article in The New York Times, dated December 12, 1894, declares “Five Factories Ordered Closed” and “Gov. Flower Says that Newtown Creek Must Be Purified.” Keep in mind that this article was published more than one hundred years ago, and yet Newtown Creek remains incredibly polluted.

Although many more of the factories have since closed down and been replaced by the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant, the plant can only treat new sewage and waste. In other words, the 15-plus feet of stagnant black mayonnaise at the bottom of the creek cannot be cleaned out simply by pouring treated water into the creek.

Another shortcoming of the purification plant is that it is only as effective as the weather is good. If, for example, it rains in New York, the plant overflows and out of necessity spills out untreated excess sewage and rain water right into Newtown Creek, which only further contributes to the Creek’s pollution and odor.

Local fireman Steve I., 56, who has been at his ladder located on the waterfront for more than a decade, has a clear view of the plant every morning. He said in an interview that, “in the summer months, when the air doesn’t move much, the smell hit’s you pretty hard, like, [fart noise].” His partner, Mike K., age 54, admits that all he knows about the creek is that “it smells, and it’s really polluted… but I haven’t given much thought about it and my health, though.”

Other locals, on the other hand, feel that health ailments due to living near Newtown Creek are imminent. “Well, I’m pretty sure we’re all going to develop cancer in a few decades,” said Williamsburg resident Noah K., 28, calmly. He and his friends, Eric L., 21, and Morgan L., 22, spent the day on the Waterfront Nature Walk that was built in 2007 along the creek, as they often do. They seem to love the neighborhood too much to be worried.

Similarly, Mr. Ricardo R., age 46, was bicycling from his home in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn and ended up at the Waterfront Nature Walk. “I noticed the smell as soon as I reached the bike ramp,” said Ricardo R. He wanted to scope out Newtown Creek and the Waterfront Nature Walk  area as a potential bike route. Like many non-locals, he was not prepared for the stench and filth of the water. “I’m not personally worried about any health problems for me, and I’ll definitely be coming back around here from time to time just to check up on the progress of the cleaning efforts,” finished Ricardo R.

In actuality, the relationship between living near Newtown Creek and long term health effects such as cancer are relatively unknown. While studies performed by the Department of Health do show that there is a 25% increase in asthma, emphysema and bronchitis rates in Newtown and nearby neighborhoods than in the rest of the city, there haven’t been many studies done on long term illness connections.

That’s where Rachel Weiss, 29, and the Newtown Creek Alliance, come in. Weiss, who was unavailable for an interview, was granted $46,000 earlier this year from the government in order to investigate the relationship between the pollution and local residents’ health woes, which is the first direct study of its kind.

An April 2009 article from the Queen’s Chronicle managed to interview Weiss and quoted her as saying, “I got this sense that people had these stories [pets dying, family members with cancer] and they were frustrated.”

Weiss’s colleague, Teresa Toro, was also interviewed in the article and added that the study “has no predetermined notions of what it will find; rather, [we] want to see what rises to the surface. It may be something as big as noticing a high number of cancers, or something smaller like identifying strange smells at certain times of the day.”

The hope is that after the NCA’s study, which has not yet been released, conclusive data of detrimental health effects will prompt the Environmental Protection Agency to approve Newtown Creek as a superfund site, making it eligible for millions in government dollars towards effective and thorough clean up.

Whatever correlations may be discovered by Weiss and the NCA, the fact remains that Newtown Creek is in desperate need of purification and rejuvenation.

On-site Primary Sources:

1. Firemen Steve I., 56, and Mike K., 54

2. Williamsburg residents Eric L., 21,

Morgan L., 22, and Noah K., 28

3. Bicyclist Ricardo R., 46

Potential Source who has yet to reply:

1. Rachel Weiss, 29, (718) 577-1359,

newtowncreekstudy@gmail.com

Link to study at: http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20291481&BRD=2731&PAG=461&dept_id=574901&rfi=6

Secondary Sources:

http://www.newtowncreekalliance.org/

http://www.pbs.org/pov/borders/2004/water/water_creek.html

http://www.thirteen.org/thecityconcealed/2008/12/12/newtown-creek-clean-up-efforts/

http://www.riverkeeper.org/news-events/news/press-release-rvk-supports-epas-proposal-to-consider-newtown-creek-for-superfund-status/

http://amandacongdon.com/roadblog/2006/09/23/newtown-creek

http://newtownpentacle.com/tag/newtown-creek/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenpoint_oil_spill

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=980CE7D81730E033A25751C1A9649D94659ED7CF

http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/29581/story.htm

Enter New Howard Beach, a posh section of Greater Howard Beach on the West side of the Shellbank Basin. Cross over the Basin to the East side and you end up in a similar landscape: clean blocks, updated real estate, and the presence of community interaction. Move a little bit more to the east over the Hawtree Basin into another part of Greater Howard Beach, however, and you’ll find yourself in a divergent atmosphere. (more…)

A massive oil spill said to surpass the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska. New York City’s largest wastewater treatment plant. One of the top polluted waterways—What other neighborhood can boast such an impressive track record and history?

On the northern end of Brooklyn lies Greenpoint, a mainly Polish neighborhood that has also begun to feel the effects of gentrification as young “hipsters” spill over from Williamsburg. However, underneath the quiet neighborhood and chic shops lies a legacy of industrial activity and operations that has left the area a string of health and environmental problems.

Greenpoint is home to Newtown Creek, one of the most polluted waterways in the Northeast. Once a green and luscious 4 mile stunner is now stagnant water accumulating gallons of rainwater runoff, domestic sewage and industrial garbage.

Driving over the JJ Byrne Memorial Bridge, the modernized digester “eggs” of the Newtown Creek are unmistakable as well as the mired creek it overlooks. Its surroundings are nothing but a scrap iron yard, construction sites and lots.

The plant processes millions of gallons of residential and commercial waste from East Manhattan, Northern Brooklyn and parts of Western Queens. In 2003, the plant upgraded to the 8 aesthetically pleasing “eggs” that are engineered to process up to 1.5 million gallons of sludge everyday yet have a capacity of about 3 million gallons in the event of flooding. Even with the reputation of this infamous structure, it is quite a vision at night when its professionally designed blue light display illuminates the plant.

Now, imagine living in the neighborhood that overlooks these majestic (and ironic) waste treatment structures. In such a heavily populated city, you’re looking most of the city’s waste just a few skips away from home.

“I’m only around here in the morning and at night but, every once in a while, you catch a whiff of something”, said Hector Melenedz, who works at the Department of Health and Department of Transportation building across the street from the plant.

While the obvious problem that comes up when you have a wastewater plant anywhere is foul odors, let’s look at what other issues arise.

In November 2008, the state Department of Environmental Conservation settled for $27.5 million in fines that were brought against the Newtown Creek sewage treatment plat for a history of violations of federal environmental standards.

For example, the city’s combined sewage overflow system (CSO) is a major contributor to the creek’s pollution as well. The CSO generally collects wastewater from storm runoff and buildings. however when it rains, the system gets overloaded and all this excess sewage spills over into the Creek.

Now, upgrades and expansion plans are in tow to bring everything in compliance with the new law as well as to amend for past mistakes.“There’s a lot of trucks coming in and out…construction for expanding the plant. But we’re talking about a lot more air pollution with all the construction and garbage trucks that are already going to the storage facility”, said Hector Melenedz, who works at the Department of Health and Department of Transportation building across the street from the plant.

Double score….wastewater and waste.

Even though the new plants were supposed to put an end to the awful stenches, courtesy of the sewage system, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Long time Greenpoint resident and Newtown Creek Wastewater Plant neighbor, John Shareiko, said in an interview, “The odors are definitely there but what’re you going to do about it? Those things aren’t going anywhere.”

Greenpoint residents aren’t the only ones feeling the effect of the sewage plants as Williamsburg locals recently filed complaints on sewers emitting foul odors.

In the September 12^th issue of the Brooklyn Eagle, it was reported that these unmistakable smells were wafting out from the sewers along Graham Ave. The residents’ complaints were never directly addressed until the DEP took cosmetic measures and placed deodorizers to cover the smell.

Yet, how long will these temporary solutions last?

With the biggest facility and largest processing capacity of the 14 wastewater treatment plants in NYC comes great responsibility. Not only is the Newtown Creek plant the source of gag-worthy smells, its also one of Brooklyn’s biggest air polluters, according to the Habitatmap.org data.

The plant releases thousands of pounds of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxides and more. Carbon monoxide poisoning in either low or high levels are toxic if exposed to. Nitrogen oxides, when combined with volatile organic compounds, can potentially cause lung damage while sulfur dioxide can be attributed to respiratory symptoms.

Not surprisingly, asthma, emphysema and bronchitis are 25% higher in this part of Brooklyn than the rest of the city, as reported by Congresswoman Nydia M. Velasquez in a statement to the House of Representatives.

When someone in the Big Apple flushes the toilet, it ends up here. When the lights and glamour of Times Square lights up, the generators here get working.

When garbage is tossed out, trucks carry them to the Department of Sanitation storage right next to the plant.

The allure of the big city doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon as thousands of tourists still flock to the city every year. However, what does this mean for the overburdened neighborhood that houses a polluted waterway and a massive sewage dome? The community has had its fair share of disasters and risks.  The city owes it to this neighborhood to make amends with the issues at hand and find long term solutions. It’s certainly a favor and duty long overdue.

By Sophia Ling

Hammering sounds of noise pollution inflict tourists and residents in the peaceful environment of the South Street Seaport neighborhood on a daily basis. The constant flying overhead of helicopters, the obnoxious wailings of police sirens, the swooshing sounds of highway traffic, the humming engine sounds of trucks and buses, and the loud banging of metal out on the pier are the sources of the obtrusive bedlam in the area.

The South Street Seaport Museum and the New York Water Taxi Company employees express their feelings and concerns of the negative effects of noise pollution on the area through interviews. They mostly acknowledge that the noise is meddlesome, but they feel that no practical, feasible solutions to the problem exist.

“I’ve been here so long,” says Deny Hernandez, a South Street Seaport Museum employee, “that the noise does not bother me anymore. Everything, including the construction, is a part of the city.”

According to Deny, who works as the receptionist at the Walter Lord Gallery on Water Street, “helicopters fly overhead near the pier roughly every five to ten minutes.”

As for the construction work, since the gallery is located further away from the pier, he does not recall how long ago it actually began. “Honestly,” Deny says, “I notice the helicopter sounds more often than I pay attention to the construction noise. However, I would say that construction on the pier takes place more often during the week than on weekends.”

“On another note,” Deny mentions, “I thought that I would suggest that on this side of the neighborhood, which is located in closer proximity to the Financial District, police sirens are more of a nuisance. Almost every five to ten minutes, a police siren penetrates the air – like right now. Additionally, there is excessive car honking.”

Reynaldo Cruz, a college student who attends Lehman College, majors in accounting, and works after five on Friday evenings and full time on Saturdays and Sundays for the water taxi boat company, offers a different perspective on the effects of noise pollution in the area. Whereas previously Deny describes noise pollution in the part of the neighborhood that is located closer to the Financial District, Reynaldo discusses the effects of noise pollution from a different angle: the business aspect, as is witnessed on the pier.

Since he has worked in the ticket booth for quite a while, Reynaldo has become accustomed to the helicopter noise. After broaching the matter of how a helicopter flies overhead every hour or so, Reynaldo says, “Personally neither my colleagues, myself, nor the tourists at the port are affected by the helicopter noise. If anything, the helicopter’s appearance attracts tourists to the businesses in the area.”
Reynaldo is able to provide a time frame for how long construction on Pier 13 has been going on for. According to him, “Construction on the new pier has been in effect since about April.”

Being that he is an employee of the water taxi boat company, and that he is situated in his booth for most of the day, Reynaldo finds the noise bothersome, for it makes communication with his customers extremely difficult. He says, “Personally the noise annoys me and it makes it a bit difficult to communicate with my customers with all the excessive noise in the background.”

Additionally, Reynaldo adds that the construction noise hinders the smooth progression of business. He says, “Customers are annoyed as well when they cannot hear me explain my company’s tours due to the overbearing noise. Construction begins daily at 10 AM and continues on until 3 PM, with the noise being the most persistent at noon.”

When asked if he feels that the FDR drive on top adds to the noise pollution, Reynaldo replies that he does not think it is a problem at all. According to him, traffic almost always runs smoothly – except on rainy days and during rush hours.

Reynaldo does not feel that the highway noise impedes on the historical feel of the neighborhood in any way. According to him, “Quite the opposite is true. The FDR Drive is itself a historical piece, and there is no need to make alterations or regulations to its location or service.”

Neer Abdelrehim is a hot-dog vendor who sets up business under the FDR drive and has worked there for six years. He is personally bothered by the construction noise the most. “To me,” says Neer, “the city is just dragging out the project. I do not know what is taking so long.” “However,” he says, “the construction of a new pier will attract more tourists to the seaport and will boost business sales.”

Joan Thompson, the executive director of the civilian complaint review board, says that noise pollution in the area accounts for most of the complaints that residents/ businesses in that area file online. “As of right now,” she says, “regarding the construction noise in the South Street Seaport neighborhood, the most that the City can do is mandate that most of the construction be done on weekends.” According to her, “Another solution would be to speed up the construction project so that it gets completed faster.”

Noise pollution will be a never-ending problem in the South Street Seaport neighborhood. If the city were to successfully alleviate the amount of construction noise that is currently going on, there would also be the helicopter noise. Being that there are a few heliports in the city, it would be difficult to prevent helicopters from taking off and landing.

Exposure to pest allergens from cockroaches, termites, dust mites, and rodents can cause serious allergic and asthmatic reactions. In Washington Heights in NYC, children are particularly susceptible. Exposure to these allergens at a young age — even in the womb — can increase the babies’ and children’s risk of developing asthma, respiratory problems such as wheezing and coughing, hay fever, eczema, and allergies.

In today’s world, most people spend more than 90% of their lives indoors. Over the past few decades, the home environment has changed enormously with the introduction of soft furnishings, fitted carpets, and central heating systems. Indoor ventilation has decreased—the rate at which indoor air is exchanged for fresh air is now 10 times lower than it was 30 years ago, with a considerable increase in both humidity and in concentrations of indoor pollutants and airborne allergens.

Dr. Frederica P. Perera, Director of Columbia Center for children’s Environmental Health and her colleagues have been monitoring pregnant women and following the children of those women for eleven years. According to Dr. Perera, “The results are consistent with studies done in NYC, Poland, and China.” In NYC, they have closely monitored 249 children of nonsmoking black or Dominican women. Exposure to house allergens led to “low birth weight, asthma, deficits in lung function, neurodevelopmental disorders, and even a higher risk of cancer.”

Pests carry pathogenic organisms that get transferred to food and surfaces through waste products and bits of shed skin. When pregnant women get exposed to these pathogens, it then transfers to the unborn child. The pathogenic organisms cause an increased risk of allergic sensitization that leads to asthma and other respiratory illness in both mothers and their children.

Although people have been trying to battle the pest problem using certain pesticides, it turns out that the people exposed to those pesticides are no better off. Exposure to household pesticides such as chlorpyrifos and diazinon are the root cause of many health problems not only in adults, but children as well. The common trade name for these pesticides is Dursban and Lorsban. These pesticides transfer easily from the mother to her fetus and can reduce birth weight by an average of 6.6 ounces – equivalent to the weight reduction of babies born to women who smoke.

According to a study done by Dr. Rauh of the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health, children prenatally exposed to high levels of chlorpyrifos were significantly more likely than children exposed to low levels to experience delay in both psychomotor and cognitive development, and to show symptoms of attention disorders, ADHD, and pervasive personality disorder at age 3.

Although the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) banned residential use of chlorpyrifos in 2001, this pesticide is still widely used in agriculture. Pyrethroid insecticides are replacing insecticides like chlorpyrifos and diazinon for residential pest control. Specifically, levels of permethrin, a common insecticide, and piperonyl butoxide have increased in personal air samples collected from the women’s households during pregnancy. Following the 2001 EPA restrictions, reporting of cockroaches in the home and use of spray pesticides during pregnancy have increased. A possible explanation may be that pests are becoming resistant to the pyrethroids.

Over half the babies in the study have been born with an immune response to cockroach proteins that may increase the risk of asthma in certain children. Pest infestation, allergen levels, and pesticide use are higher among women and babies living in the most deteriorated housing. And according to Steve Simon – chairman for the Health & Environment Committee of Community Board 12M in Washington Heights, “many of the apartments are deteriorating and a lot of people live in these conditions. Pests thrive in rotting, dirty environments.”

Unfortunately, many of the Washington Heights and Inwood residents live in areas that are very poor and places that children should not be exposed to. According to the NYC Department of Mental Health & Hygiene, in Inwood and Washington Heights, the percent of residents living below the poverty level is higher than in Manhattan and NYC overall. The number of people who have health insurance, and who visit doctors regularly is also significantly lower. Many simply cannot afford it. And sadly, children fall victims to the environment they are born into.

Maybe we should all do something before all residents of NYC fall victims to these pest problems. Like start taking better care of children and pregnant women. Or maybe our landlords should fix the apartments before renting them out. Regardless of what we do, something needs to be done. Pests should not be a leading cause of disease, and children should not suffer the consequences of our misdoings.

On the outskirts of Staten Island, the least known borough of New York City is the location of the world’s former largest landfill. Fresh Kills Landfill is situated on the western shore of Staten Island, along the Arthur Kill.

The area includes the Isle of Meadows, an unpopulated island and Fresh Kills Estuary, a body of fresh and salt water that is formed when a large river meets the sea. Before it was turned into a landfill Fresh Kills composed of a vast tidal wetland with several fresh and salt water springs.

1948 was the first year that Fresh Kills began operating as a landfill. 1,200 acres of the areas 2,200 acres were used for depositing waste. The massive size of Fresh Kills takes up 11 percent of Staten Island and makes it over twice as large as Central Park.

Fresh Kills closed its landfill operations in 2001, fifty-three years after its first use – all of Staten Island rejoiced. The area of horrid smells and heaps of disgusting garbage would finally close, this brought excitement to the residents of Staten Island to whom the largest landfill was nothing but an inconvenience.

September 11, 2001 would change all the plans of having Fresh Kills Landfill be something in the past. The terrorist attacks on New York City on that early September day would end in masses of rubble, debris, and human remains. The city needed to remove the materials and found Fresh Kills as the most logical choice. Thus, Fresh Kills once again became the site of depositing waste.

Over a million tons of remnants from Ground Zero, the area of the former World Trade Center can be found in Fresh Kills. The ash, dust, and debris made their way to Fresh Kills Landfill directly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

These materials from the lower Manhattan site were disposed and sorted by city government employees. New York City firefighters, police officers, and workers from the Department of Sanitation sorted through the countless human remains, masses of steel from the World Trade Center buildings, and other debris and ash.

A great amount of these materials is hazardous to the environment and has proven hazardous to the health of the volunteers and government employees who helped in transporting the materials and later in sifting through them.

Over 800 people have died at the World Trade Center and Fresh Kills sites because of the perilous debris and materials. Hundreds toiled at Fresh Kills and many of them acquired cancer from sorting through the rubble. These cancers included cancers of the digestive organs, lung and throat cancer, and cancers of the blood.

A study by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene shows that those who were exposed to the Ground Zero rubble and debris were more likely to develop asthma, an inflammatory disorder of the airways. In fact, twelve times as many workers and volunteers developed asthma than is on average expected for the adult population.

The firefighters, police officers, construction workers, and volunteers developed this disorder simply because they breathed in the hazardous ash and debris found in sites that contain 9/11 rubble.

Other findings based on medical exams show that close to seventy percent of 9/11 responders had worsened or newly developed lung problems after the World Trade Center attacks. Sixty-one percent of workers developed lung problems while working on the toxic materials.

These reports all show that the materials taken to Fresh Kills are also hazardous to health. Many of the workers at the World Trade Center site were also the ones who transported and sorted through the materials at Fresh Kills.

According to decisions made by city government officials, these hazardous materials will remain at Fresh Kills, including the remains of countless victims. Officials cite the difficulty and cost of removing the materials and finding another site to move them to.

In effect, this means that the materials that led to lung problems and cancer risks for the hundreds of government employees and volunteers who worked to clear and sort through the rubble will continue to be present in Fresh Kills, Staten Island.

It is important to note that Fresh Kills was never designed to intake hazardous waste, thus proving that keeping these materials in Fresh Kills is even more dangerous.

The New York City Department of Planning has devised a plan to build a large-scale park and recreation area in place of the landfill at Fresh Kills. This is worrying considering many sections of the landfill are temporarily covered with dirt and much of the garbage at the site will take over 30 years to properly decompose.

Residents dislike the idea of going to a park that was once the site of the world’s largest landfill and contains toxic chemicals and residue that led to severe health problems in government employees who worked at the dump.

Andrey Grebenetsky, a Baruch College student who has lived on Staten Island for most of his life expressed his dislike for the future park: “I wouldn’t even toss a football in that park. A park built on a toxic dump? You’ve got to be kidding me.”

It seems that there is no win-win situation for Fresh Kills but building a park on a site that is filled with hazardous materials from one of the largest terrorist attacks in the world does not seem like the best idea.

Astoria is one of the prime neighborhoods of New York City, as evidenced by the enormous housing development boom that has occurred in the area during the past couple of years. Its appeal lies in its diverse population, the proximity of the neighborhood to Manhattan, and the multitude of its ethnic restaurants.

However, being located at one of the crossroads of the city, the people of Astoria are faced with health problems, resulting from the tremendous air pollution in the area. One of the major causes of Astoria’s air pollution is its transportation network. (more…)

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