9/11 First Responders: Helping the Heros, Exposing the Scammers

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As we all know, many 9/11 first responders are suffering from a variety of respiratory and other ailments due to prolonged exposure to the toxic gunk given off by working at ground zero for an extended period of time. The FDNY defines prolonged exposure to these toxins as working at ground zero for at least 40 days from 9/11/01 to 9/11/02.

The victims of 9/11 who were fortunate enough to escape death that day and were not required to return to the area do not seem to have the same ailments as the long-term first responders do.

I bring this up because it seems that some people are defining themselves as 9/11 first responder victims when they were only so very unfortunate to be at the area on that horrible day.

I don't want to mention any names (yet) but I was wondering if there was a database somewhere that lists those that worked at least 40 days at ground zero during the first year.

Thanks in advance.

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I don't think you'll find a public database that lists this private information about individuals. Various health departments and institutions have that information for the studies they're doing. Page 29 of this study (http://www.wtcexams.org/pdfs/ehp/20060905_ehp_mmp.pdf) lists symptoms reported and detected, grouped according to when the exposure took place.

You should be very careful about applying general statistics to an individual case. These are complicated issues, involving factors such as how often respiratory protection was used, individual sensitivity and genetics, smoker/nonsmoker, preexisting conditions, and what the worker's job was and where at the site it took place, etc.