Hundreds of people who worked on the World Trade
Center cleanup have filed a class-action lawsuit against the
leaseholder of the towers and those who supervised the job, alleging
they did little to protect workers from dust, asbestos and other toxins
in the air. The lawsuit, filed in federal court on Friday and made
public Monday, was brought against Silverstein Properties and the four
construction companies hired to oversee the removal of the 1.5 million
tons of debris. David Worby, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said he will
seek billions of dollars in compensation for victims. The lawsuit also
asks for the establishment of a system to track for the next 20 years
all those who were exposed. [more ]
Nearly half of the more than 1,000
screened rescue workers who responded to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks
suffer from new or exacerbated respiratory, mental and other health
problems, according to a government report released on Thursday. [more ]