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The air we breath

2 comments on The air we breath

The air we breath
: Dreck reports on an analysis of the dust from the World Trade Center that chocked Manhattan, the dust that covered me and that I breathed deep into my lungs

Microscopic analysis of WTC dust by Nicholas Petraco, BS, MS, DABC, FAAFS, FNYMS

at The New York Microscopic Society lecture held at AMNH 28 May 2003

45.1% Fiberglass, rock wool (insulation, fireproofing)

31.8% Plaster (gypsum), concrete products (calcium sulfate, selenite, muscodite)

7.1% Charred wood and debris

2.1% Paper fibers

2.1% Mica flakes

2.0% Ceiling tiles (fiberglass component)

2.0% Synthetic fibers

1.4% Glass fragments

1.3% Human remains

1.4% Natural fibers

trace asbestos (it became illegal to use during the construction of the WTC)

Other trace elements: aluminum, paint pigments, blood, hair, glass wool with resin, and prescription drugs were found.

NOTES:

Particles found were 1-4 micrometers in size. (In general, particles that are 5-8 microns are irritants, and those that are 104 microns are small enough to be airborne and ingested into the lungs.)

Fiberglass particles are smaller than asbestos and lodge deeper into lungs creating more serious long-term health hazards than asbestos like white lung disease which will become more evident 5, 10, 20 years from 11 Sep 2001.

2 responses to “The air we breath”

  1. Trevor Avatar
    Trevor

    Hopefully someone more knowledgeable than I will correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t one of the most important factors in lung disease, the duration of exposure? I thought this was generally considered a problem when a person was exposed over a long period of time (such as a career as a miner, or asbestos wroker, etc.)

  2. alkali Avatar
    alkali

    Jane Galt’s site posted this on June 2. I do not think it is authentic. Among other things,
    — The “New York Microscopic Society” comes up only twice on Google and both hits refer to an event in 1948. It beggars belief that a scientific society in New York not only does not have its own web site but is never mentioned elsewhere.
    — I could not find the purported event on the American Museum of Natural History web site, though I suppose I could have missed it.
    — Nicholas Petraco is a noted NYPD criminalist, but I respectfully doubt he has the expertise or resources to do this sort of analysis. It seems more likely that his name was plucked from a newspaper, though I would be happy to be corrected.
    — The credentials listed for Mr. Petraco seem fishy. DABC? FNYMS? Can’t find them on Google.(Again, I would be happy to be corrected.)
    — No straight news source has picked up the story. Not a dispositive fact, but not insignificant either.
    — The figure for human remains seems almost certainly too large by an order of magnitude.