*** Press Conference - Wed. Oct. 21 at 12 NOON ***

[AMKor...@aol.com]

        Beyond                9/11
       Ground          Environmental   
         Zero                 Action

 

                       

For Immediate Release                                                                     Contact: Mika Nagasaki – 703-851-1663

Monday, October 19, 2009                                                                                   Kimberly Flynn  - 917-647-7074

 

** Press Advisory **

 
New Survey Shows 9/11-Affected Residents and Workers
Are Sicker Than Ever and Not Being Counted

FOLLOWING THE RECENT DEATHS OF 3 WTC RESPONDERS IN ONE WEEK,
GROUPS URGE CONGRESS AND PRESIDENT OBAMA TO PASS COMPREHENSIVE 9/11 HEALTH LEGISLATION FOR ALL AFFECTED

WHAT:     Press Conference

 

WHEN:    Wednesday, October 21, 2009 at 12 NOON

WHERE:  Zuccotti Park, at the corner of Liberty Street and Trinity Place in downtown Manhattan

 

WHY:       The mounting death toll among responders and the growing sense in the affected communities that new health impacts are emerging raise key concerns about the adequacy of the current House and Senate 9/11 health care and compensation bills (HR847/S1334). Specifically, when Congress decides who should have an entitlement to 9/11 health care, will all those who are sick be counted? And when Congress decides what illnesses will be covered, will all health impacts resulting from 9/11 exposures be included? Right now, the answer to both these questions is no.

 

                  Because the federal government is basing its solution to the 9/11 health crisis on an underestimation of current and future impacts, we embarked on the We Count survey, a community effort to investigate workers’ and residents’ post-9/11 symptoms and illnesses and where they seek care. Today, as BGZ and 9/11EA issue our report, sick cleanup workers, downtown workers and residents will gather to demand a just and comprehensive long-term response to this unprecedented public health disaster, providing treatment for all those whose health has been harmed by 9/11.

 

WHO:       Lower East Side, Chinatown, and West Side residents and workers, parents of 9/11-affected children, and 9/11 clean-up workers.

# #

                BGZ’s member organizations include the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Chinese Staff and Workers’ Association, the Commission on the Public’s Health System, the National Mobilization Against SweatShops and the Community Development Project of the Urban Justice Center.

                9/11 EA is a community-based organization of downtown residents, school parents, and occupational-safety and environmental-health advocates who have fought for comprehensive clean-up of WTC contamination by the federal EPA and for federally funded medical monitoring and healthcare for everyone harmed by exposure to WTC smoke and dust.

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