Reply #6: The Ground Zero workers were there every day all day. [View All]

Their exposure was vastly greater than the rest of us. But there is a city study going on for those who were there day one.

For me, I live 32 blocks away. The first few days, the wind blew toward Brooklyn so we were spared the brunt of it. Later, the air smelled like a mummy's tomb had been opened. I'm told the smell was of burning, but to me it was old and musty smelling. I never really associated it with burning, even after they told me. I knew it was the dust of the dead.

I have a Ventolin inhaler that I used to use a few times a year...if I was ill, if it was a day of both heavy stress and heavy allergens...but no more than that. For the first three years after 9/11, my inhaler use went way up. I was using it several times a week. But usage has returned to normal for me.

If you are looking for increased death rates, it won't necessarily be in New Yorkers. The Wall Street financial trades workers returned, some even wearing masks, as soon as Whitman lied about the air being clear. They live in Connecticut, New Jersey, and Long Island. Commuters. All those buildings that were left standing on Wall and Broad. Those are the people you want to be testing.