The World
Trade Center Attack: Will the Environmental Impacts Harm Even More?
© By Peter Chowka
(Sept. 15, 2001) The destruction of the World Trade Center killed
thousands of people outright but the danger may not be over for additional
numbers of people because of exposure to tons of asbestos and other toxic
substances that the buildings' collapse released into the environment.
The mineral asbestos is one of the most
toxic and carcinogenic, or cancer-causing, substances. Its fibers, made into
insulation to protect against fire and heat, were used in a variety of products
including many different building components until the 1970s and early '80s
when their highly toxic effects were confirmed and asbestos was banned. (The
World Trade Center twin towers were built from 1966-71.) In subsequent years,
after its effects were noted, asbestos already in place in buildings was often
"insulated" instead of being removed.
Within 24 hours of the twin towers' collapse
on Tuesday morning September 11, media reports began to mention the degraded
air quality from thousands of tons of debris and smoke that was released into
the atmosphere, coating streets, people, cars, and surrounding buildings and
being dispersed into the air and brought back down to earth miles away by
winds. Photos taken at both ground zero and from miles away - even from
satellites and the orbiting space station - clearly showed the plumes of
steadily rising smoke and debris. Residents of midtown Manhattan, six or more
miles north of ground zero, reported strange odors including a burning or
electrical smell in the air. (more)
Government
Review of Alternative
Cancer Therapy 714X Goes Forward
© By Peter Chowka
(September 15, 2001) In June
I reported the remarkable story of how 714X, the Canadian unconventional cancer
therapy that many people in the U.S. have used, was suddenly put on the fast
track for review by the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI) - after
allegations by patients in Massachusetts and reporting by the media that
promising tests of it had been covered up by the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
in Boston.
|
"The
American NCI has opened up the door for us. So we're going to walk right in.
We're happy about it!" |
The most recent major development occurred
on August 22, 2001. Just after noon on that day, Cerbe, Inc., the Canadian
company that manufactures and distributes 714X, formally submitted sixteen
detailed case histories of patients treated with 714X to the NCI. According to
WFXT TV news in Boston (August
22), these are patients "whose
[long-term] survival best demonstrates the success of 714X."
On August 23, 714X pioneer and proponent
Gaston Naessens and his wife and business partner Jacinte Naessens appeared at
a press conference in Boston along with successfully-treated 714X patients. In
a taped report timed to air that week on WFXT, Raymond DeWaele, Cerbe's
spokesman, commented, "Anyone of these cures, from the business point of
view, may threaten an empire [the cancer Establishment]. From what I've seen,
that empire doesn't like to be threatened. It's a business. They're out there
protecting their assets." (more)
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