US protest by 9/11 Responders

by Barbara McPherson | November 19, 2009 at 04:40 pm

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Amid discussions in the US about health care, a protest by 9/11 responders was held in Washington, DC. to bring attention to their lack of health care support.

Hundreds of emergency workers who responded to the September 11, 2001, attacks in the United States have been protesting in the capital, Washington, DC.

They say they are angry that it has taken eight years for the US Congress to discuss healthcare needed for those who have fallen ill as a result of working in the skyscrapers' ruins.

When a modern edifice like the U.S. World Trade Center is destroyed, there are many environmental hazards released. From jet fuel to cement dust they all can compromise the workers' health. Few of the workers who responded to the rescue emergency and the removal of the rubble from the Twin Towers have had their health untouched. Many have already died. Most are struggling to have some branch of government pay for their health care.

There is a World Trade Center health registry but to prove a health problem is related directly to rescue work or demolition work done at the site is proving problematic for many workers and volunteers.