Son of dead Fil-Am 9/11 cop presses Bush on health funding

NEW YORK (AFP) — The son of a New York cop who died last week of lung problems developed since working at Ground Zero after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, urged US President George W. Bush Wednesday to push for better care for those suffering health problems related to the attacks.

Ceasar Borja, a 21-year-old college student, welcomed a decision by Bush to provide $25 million of federal money to help care for thousands of rescuers reporting health problems but said that the funds should be increased.

"I expressed how the funding should be expanded, not for just the heroes and heroines that were present there," Borja told reporters after talks with Bush, who was in New York to visit the stock exchange.

"Everyone should be taken care of and paid for completely by the federal government," he added.

Borja’s father, Cesar, a Filipino immigrant, died last week at the age of just 52 of lung disease. Thousands of others who sifted through the rubble of the World Trade Center or lived in the area have reported similar respiratory complaints.

"My father was fortunate enough to have his own health insurance," Borja said. "There are those there that have to pay out of their own wallets for health monitoring, doctors’ appointments, for all their medicines."

"I asked for all of that to be paid for by the federal government."

Borja, who was invited to Bush’s State of the Union address last week as a guest of New York Senator Hillary Clinton, said he was pleased with the talks.

"Everything Mr. President told me... reassured me wholeheartedly," he said.

"There is $25 million as down payment, which is the first time that there’s a down payment included in the president’s budget toward the relief and help and aid and rescue of all of those 9/11 victims," he said.

New York Representative Carolyn Maloney said that the money, destined for a program at New York’s Mount Sinai hospital tackling Sept. 11-related health problems, would have to be matched by more funds in the future.

"Obviously $25 million is but a fraction of the money that is needed. Mount Sinai had estimated that there was a need of roughly 256 million to treat fully" all of those reporting health problems, the US lawmaker said.

"This is a down payment and a first step. It is an important one and what is incredibly important is that it’s the first time we’ve received a funding line in the federal budget, which has elevated the health crisis to a federal understanding and a federal level of commitment.

‘Unsung heroes’ group

Marvin Bethea, a paramedic who was trapped under rubble in the attacks and now helps run a group called "Unsung Heroes Helping Heroes," said the money was welcome but that more funds were needed.

"It’s nice, but it’s a drop in a bucket. Twenty-five million is not going to do it," he told AFP, adding "there’s a lot of frustration too, because this has been going on for five years."

Research by Mount Sinai Medical Center released in September found thousands of police officers, firefighters, construction workers and volunteers were suffering respiratory problems.

An estimated 40,000 people helped clear debris from the site of the World Trade Center in late 2001 and early 2002, many of whom did not wear face masks.

Five years on, office workers, residents and rescuers alike are reporting respiratory problems that scientists believe to be linked to the fine particles released from the debris and inhaled deep into the lungs.

An autopsy carried out on a 34-year-old police officer last year for the first time established an official link between respiratory complaints and the hours workers spent sifting through the rubble at Ground Zero.