At 10:21 PM 9/11/01, you wrote:
>In a message dated 9/11/2001 2:50:52 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
><< Someone just asked the mayor of NY if there might have been any asbestos
>in
> the dust released when the WTC collapsed.
>
> It's nice to know the reporters have their priorities straight.
> >>
>
>Although this may not seem like an important question to someone who lives in
>Brisbane, to New Yorkers it's VERY important. You see, we have to breathe it
>in when it's coating everything in sight. There were apparently huge amounts
>of asbestos released and spread over a very large area of Brooklyn and lower
>Manhattan when the two huge buildings collapsed. Considering that lower
>Manhattan now has a coating of up to 3-4 inches of dust and soot, and many
>parts of Brooklyn are covered with up to an inch, it's of interest to those
>of us who have to breathe the stuff. Many of the NYC ER visits were
>asphyxiation problems, asthma and bronchial disorders.
>
>And the fires aren't out. And the dust hasn't settled completely.
>
>Sorry Ronn, I know you were probably trying to be funny -- but living it and
>seeing it on the tube can be quite different sometimes. *sigh*
>
>Jon
Actually, I was not trying to be funny, but just commenting that *in the
context* it seemed an incongruous question, as if the reporter who posed
the question were asking "What does it matter if 10,000 people may be
trapped in the rubble? Should we stop digging and abandon the area because
there might be a few particles of asbestos in the air?" Especially because
some environmentalist types (of which there's a large overlap with TV
reporters) react to the word "asbestos" in just about the same way they
react to the word "nuclear," i.e., both are evil incarnate.
I realize it's a serious concern for the emergency workers at the site as
well as for all of you in the area, and I didn't mean to sound like I was
minimizing that legitimate concern.
--Ronn! :)
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I always knew that I would see the first man on the Moon.
I never dreamed that I would see the last.
--Dr. Jerry Pournelle
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