$$$ For Sick Ground Zero Workers ... Finally
The New York State Health Department announced Monday that they will work with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health to study fatalities among workers who participated in the recovery and cleanup efforts at Ground Zero to determine what health issues were involved. A press release informs that the department hopes to treat responders by studying those who have already died
Then yesterday, [President Bush announced that the White House will budget $25 million to help ailing Ground Zero workers]. Perhaps its purely coincidental, but this sudden act of generosity (and by sudden, I mean five years in the making) came less than 24 hours before Bush was to meet with Ceasar Borja Jr., the son of a cop who died after breathing the toxic air there for months.
Borja Jr. became the face of 9/11 last week when, mere hours after his 52-year-old father Cesar Borja died of lung disease, he attended the State of the Union address in hopes of drawing attention to sick 9/11 workers. Bush will meet Borja today in NYCmeanwhile, others suffering from 9/11 will be rallying at Ground Zero.
Advocates say $25 million will not cover treatment of the thousands of cops, firefighters, construction workers and volunteers who worked at Ground Zero and have now fallen ill.