ery workers, office workers, residents and school children making it the largest registry of its kind. The registry will provide a complete picture of the health effects resulting from the events of September 11th. It also will serve as a resource for future research studies into the health consequences of September 11th and a tool for disseminating important health information to the public and to health care providers so that people can make informed decisions about their health care. In addition, people interviewed also will be provided with referrals to health care providers for health problems they may be currently experiencing. The registry will be maintained over time by the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. In summary, CDC and ATSDR are committed to assessing the health effects resulting from the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and identifying the physical and mental health needs of effected workers, residents and community members. Thank you for your attention. I'm please to answer any questions. [The prepared statement of Ms. Porter follows:] Testimony Before the Subcommittee on National Security, United States House of Representatives "Assessing September 11th Health Statement of Diane Porter Deputy Director National Institutes for Occupational Safety and Health Department of Health and Human Services Mr. Chairman, Representative Maloney, and members of the Subcommittee, my name is Diane Porter, and I am Deputy Director for Management with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) within the Department of Health and Human Services. CDC's mission is to promote health and quality of life by preventing and controlling disease, injury and disability. NIOSH is a research institute within CDC that is responsible for conducting research and making recommendations to identify and prevent work-related illness and injury. I am pleased to appear before you today to provide testimony on behalf of CDC and our sister agency, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR). My testimony will address CDC and ATSDR activities related to the health impacts on rescue, recovery and restoration workers and volunteers at the World Trade Center (WTC) site; office workers, residents, and school children who were in the vicinity of the site on September 11; and workers at the WTC recovery operations on Staten Island. As you know, CDC provided extensive emergency assistance during the initial months following September 11th, providing technical assistance to the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) and to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to better characterize the acute exposures and to make recommendations for development of a comprehensive protection program for the rescue workers. My testimony today will focus on CDC and ATSDR activities following this emergency response including CDC's efforts to respond to the needs of workers and volunteers regarding the potential short- and long-term health effects of their exposures at the WTC site. I also will describe CDC and ATSDR's activities to evaluate physical and Assessing September 11 Health Effects: What Should be Done October 28, 2003 mental health impacts on the wider community of persons who were living, working or attending school in the vicinity of the WTC site. Mr. Chairman, I would like to express my appreciation to you, to Representative Maloney, and to the members of the subcommittee for holding this hearing to address the health concerns and well-being of the community surrounding the World Trade Center site, including and the brave responders and front-line workers who stepped forward in response to the attack on September 11, 2001. CDC, ATSDR and the Department of Health and Human Services share your concern for the community and for the workers who responded so courageously in our country's time of great need. Addressing Health Needs of WTC Responders CDC provided technical assistance in occupational health to the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) in the evaluation of approximately 350 fire fighters three weeks following September 11th. This evaluation revealed that few fire fighters were wearing adequate respiratory protection during the initial period of response to the disaster when exposures were highest. It also demonstrated a decrease in quality in the fire fighters' pulmonary function compared to the routine pulmonary function tests that were done over the course of the two years prior to September 2001. CDC's environmental health laboratory also measured 110 chemicals in blood and urine from these fire fighters. The study found the levels of chemicals in the exposed firefighters were generally low and not outside the ranges found in the general population. Although levels of some of the chemicals analyzed showed statistically significant differences between the control and exposed firefighters, these differences Assessing September 11 Health Effects: What Should be Done October 28, 2003 were generally small. The study was done in collaboration with the FDNY. During the weeks following September 11th, CDC physicians were in contact with the FDNY medical staff and with other community-based occupational health providers who began reporting concerns about the health problems they were finding in workers and volunteers who had been at the WTC site. CDC helped establish an informal network of occupational medicine specialists who discussed their findings and began to better define the type and severity of health problems they had seen. This informal network, with Mt. Sinai School of Medicine's Center for Occupational and Environmental Medicine's occupational medicine physicians in the lead, wrote a guidance document aimed at assisting community-based physicians with the appropriate evaluation of these patients. The work of this initial network of physicians helped lay the groundwork for creation of a comprehensive medical screening program. Health Hazard Evaluations In November 2001, the Department of Health and Human Services asked CDC to look into health concerns of employees working in the Federal Building near the WTC site. A month later, in December 2001, CDC also was contacted by a group of labor unions who represented various city and state workers employed in buildings near the WTC site. These workers included the teaching and support staff at Stuyvesant High School and the Borough of Manhattan Community College; New York City employees working at an office building on Rector Street; New York State workers employed in an office building on Broadway; and employees working in the New York City bus and subway divisions of the Metropolitan Transit Authority. Assessing September 11 Health Effects: What Should be Done House Committee on Government Reform, Subcommittee on NS, ET, and IR October 28, 2003 Page 3 |