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Asbestos use in Construction

September 11, 2001 - a day that will go down in history. The destruction of the twin towers, the World Trade Center, on this day has turned into a likeness of John F. Kennedy's assassination. People of the assassination time still ask "Where were you when JFK was shot?" Today, people ask "Where were you when the World Trade Center was struck?"

Most people watched their televisions in horror as the events unfolded on 9/11. Tens of thousands of people were involved, directly or indirectly in the catastrophe. For many of those affected, even years later, questions still need answering. For the workers, who helped to clean up the incredible destruction, as well as the people who survived and those that lived and worked near the World Trade Center, one of the recurring questions is "Was there asbestos in the building?"

The short answer to this question is, yes, there was asbestos used in the construction of the World Trade Center.

The New York Port authority had planned originally to use 5,000 tons of fireproofing that contained asbestos on the first 40 floors of the buildings. From floors 41 onward, no asbestos was going to be used. An article, which appeared in the New York Times on September 18, 2001, seven days after the attack, said:

"Anticipating a ban (on the use of asbestos in construction in NY), the builders stopped using the materials by the time they reached the 40th floor on the north tower, the first one to go up..." According to a spokesperson for the Port Authority, "more than half of the original asbestos-containing material was later replaced."

A fact sheet, which was produced by the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health states:

"Asbestos was a major material used in the construction of the World Trade Center. That asbestos is a constituent of the dust and debris." An advisor was given to the emergency workers at ground zero that stated they should wear protective clothing and change out of work clothes before going home. It also stated that work clothes should be bagged at work and washed separately from other laundry to prevent asbestos contamination.

There was also some controversy that the lack of asbestos used in the World Trade Center contributed to the fast collapse of the buildings. It was stated, in a New York Times article, that non-asbestos fire proofing used to construct the World Trade Center would have been less effective than products that contained asbestos, which ultimately shortened the time that the people trapped in the World Trade Center during the crisis had to escape. For more information about the issues of cleanup in the aftermath of the attacks, please see The World Trade Center - Cleanup.

However, most experts agree that asbestos, or any other treatments, would have prevented the towers from collapsing. The blaze that took out the twin towers was very hot, and very violent.

Mesothelioma is a cancer that happens when an individual is exposed to asbestos. The people who contract Mesothelioma are workers who were not warned of the dangers associated with working with asbestos and their families. The only known cause of Mesothelioma is asbestos.

Asbestos fibers are very fine and are easily inhaled. When inhaled, they can lodge into the lining of the heart, lungs or abdomen and cause inflammation, which in some cases, eventually turns to mesothelioma cancer. These asbestos fibers are indestructible and the body can not break them down or get rid of them. All asbestos related diseases, including Mesothelioma are progressive diseases which compromise the immune system and the area where the cancer originates from.

To date, there is no cure for any form of cancer and standard chemotherapy doesn't work to alleviate or shrink the mesothelioma tumors. There is a new drug, called Alimta, which has recently been approved as a chemotherapy drug specifically for pleural mesothelioma. Alimta is usually combined with Cisplatin, another chemotherapy medication, and is found to have some effect on pleural mesothelioma where the patient is not a candidate for surgery.

Mesothelioma is one of the deadliest forms of asbestos cancer known to man. For many people who are diagnosed with Mesothelioma, the prognosis is dire - many people perish within the year of being diagnosed. Other information about health issues associated with the World Trade Center attacks can be found at The World Trade Center - Ongoing Health Problems.

However, with tragedies such as the World Trade Center, the long term effects of the disaster, including asbestos in the buildings, is really yet to be known. Because Mesothelioma takes so long to present as cancer in its victims, it is still not known whether the fall of the twin towers will have a negative impact on the people involved in cleaning, the survivors and the major portion of lower Manhattan that were subjected to the dust and debris in the air from the fall of the twin towers.

If you are experiencing any difficulties post 9/11, it is best to contact a mesothelioma lawyer to discuss your case. They will be able to help you decide whether now is the time to act, or to help you prepare for the future and potential illness and diseases, such as Mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases, in relation to a potential court case. To learn more, read our section on The Asbestos Cover-Up.

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