You Couldn’t Maybe Have Saved This For Some Other Time?
After a study of 9,442 rescue and recovery workers at Ground Zero determined that 70 percent of them are suffering from debilitating respiratory conditions because of the air there, the mayor does his best impression of a tobacco lobbyist:
Posted: September 6th, 2006 | Filed under: See, The Thing Is Was . . .Mayor Bloomberg cast doubt on a Mount Sinai Medical Center report showing thousands are suffering long-term effects of the disaster — even as he vowed the city will not walk away from its responsibility to the victims.
“I don’t believe that you can say specifically a particular problem came from this particular effect,” said Bloomberg, who had not read the report.
“There is no way to tell for sure, and you’ve got to be very careful. If I say, ‘I’ve got something because of this,’ that’s just not the way science works.”
His comments reflect what critics say has been a cold, bureaucratic stance when it comes to helping victims of the attacks. Bloomberg lobbied hard against three bills — eventually signed by Gov. Pataki — that cover health costs of 9/11 responders.
