Pulitzer Prize Winners Document Ground Zero Health Debacle

Arthur Browne, Beverly Weintraub and Heidi Evans of the New York Daily News have won a Pulitzer Prize for their editorials on the plight of Ground Zero workers "whose health problems were neglected by the city and the nation."

The articles are all worth reading, but this passage from "The Making of a Health Disaster" pretty well sums them up:

They gasp for air with asthma or illnesses that scar deep in the lungs.
They lose their breath from exertion. They endure pain from persistently swollen sinuses and constant burning from acid reflux. At a minimum, they cough and cough, hacking with a syndrome known fittingly as World Trade Center cough.

The magnitude of the epidemic has worsened for five years as every level of government has failed to face the reality of what happens when large numbers of people without proper respiratory protection are exposed for long periods to air thick with toxic substances.

Image: Linus Gelber