A Life-Time Mortality Risk Analysis and Cost-Benefit Analysis Associated With Asbestos Exposure From The Collapse of the World Trade Center on 9/11: Does the Cost of US-EPAs Residential Dust Clean-up in Lower Manhattan Exceed its Benefit?
Item
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Title
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A Life-Time Mortality Risk Analysis and Cost-Benefit Analysis Associated With Asbestos Exposure From The Collapse of the World Trade Center on 9/11: Does the Cost of US-EPAs Residential Dust Clean-up in Lower Manhattan Exceed its Benefit?
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Identifier
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d_2009_2013:d268b0ca0cea:11411
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identifier
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11733
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Creator
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Sallemi, Benjamin M.,
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Contributor
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Robert P. Nolan
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Date
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2012
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Environmental science | Environmental health | 9/11 | Asbestos | Chrysotile | World Trade Center
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Abstract
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Pursuant to the collapse of the World Trade Center Towers on September 11, 2001, the presence of chrysotile asbestos in the dust plume raised concern about exposure to Search and Rescue workers, Clean-up and Recovery workers, and Residential exposures that might result during the ground zero clean-up and removal efforts. Asbestos related air monitoring included Analytical Transmission Electron Microscopy (ATEM) analysis under the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA) protocol; Phase Contrast Microscopy (PCM) and ATEM measurements on the same filters; and Phase Contrast Microscopy Equivalent (PCMe) using ATEM. This study focused primarily on the exposure of emergency responders, clean-up workers, and residents to the presence of asbestos, taking asbestos fiber-type and size into consideration. The three exposure scenarios evaluated show that cumulative residential exposures ((0.02 asbestos fibers per milliliter-year (af/mL-yr)) were the greatest, followed by Clean-up and Recovery exposures (0.007 af/mL-yr), then Search and Rescue exposures (0.003 af/mL-yr), which shows that the lower residential dose over a longer period of time would result in a greater cumulative exposure then either the Search and Rescue, or Clean-up and Recovery scenarios. A risk assessment for the three cumulative exposure scenarios was conducted using the US-EPA's 1986 aggregate risk model which presumes equal potency for all asbestos fiber-types, and the 2000 Hodgson & Darnton model which considers the potency of differing asbestos fiber-types, and is more current with the historic epidemiologic literature. A marked difference between the US-EPA aggregate model and Hodgson & Darnton model exists with the later showing an approximate 240-fold decrease in risk for the lower Manhattan population when chrysotile fiber-type potency is considered. Using the calculated cumulative exposure data a cost-benefit analysis (CBA) was performed to show whether the social benefit associated with a reduction in the asbestos contaminant levels warranted the total cost of providing specialized equipment to lower Manhattan residents and remedial cost of conducting the US-EPA Residential Dust Clean-up Program. As expected, the CBA shows that the social benefits of averting asbestos-related morbidity and mortality outweigh the costs under the US-EPA's risk assessment protocol. However, using the Hodgson and Darnton risk assessment protocol, the benefits do not outweigh the risks and the US-EPA would have been expected not to provide specialized equipment to lower Manhattan residents or conduct the residential dust cleaning program.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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2009_2013.csv
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Earth & Environmental Sciences
