Ground zero workers hold vigil for suffering 9/11 officer

By KAREN MATTHEWS
Associated Press Writer

** FILE ** Smoke rises following the collapse of the World Trade Center towers in New York in this Sept. 11, 2001 file photo. New York lawmakers are clamoring for greater testing of toxic ground zero dust (AP File Photo)

Ground zero workers who are still suffering from World Trade Center smoke and dust held a vigil Thursday outside the hospital where one of their colleagues - a retired New York City police officer - is awaiting a lung transplant.

"I want the federal government to give money to not just research, but to treat and cure these people," said James Zadroga, whose 34-year-old son, a retired police detective also named James Zadroga, died of pulmonary disease one year ago after spending hundreds of hours in rescue and recovery efforts after Sept. 11, 2001.

Zadroga joined a handful of trade center first responders and their family members outside Mount Sinai Medical Center, where Cesar Borja, 52, is in critical condition with pulmonary fibrosis.

Borja, a 20-year police veteran who volunteered to work at ground zero during the cleanup effort there, can only breathe through a tube. One of his doctors, Dr. Maria Padilla, told the Daily News his chances of survival without a lung transplant are slight.

After the attacks, the U.S. government spent $90 million on health monitoring programs and this year spent an additional $75 million (euro58 million) - the first federal dollars specifically for treatment. Health experts estimate that funding could run out in about a year.

Ailing ground zero workers and family members said it is not enough.

A report issued in September by Mount Sinai found that nearly seven out of every 10 ground zero workers suffered lung problems as a result of the exposure.

But proving specific ailments were caused by trade center dust and smoke has not always been easy. The city has fought lawsuits by workers seeking compensation for claims of ground zero-related sicknesses, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg said last year the federal government should assume responsibility since the attacks were a national crisis.