6 Years Later, 9/11 Health Questi...(nants any one worker might have been exp...),Health

Worker's level of protection varied too -- something Geyh said she witnessed firsthand. A variety of masks -- everything from the plain white ones commonly sold, to more sophisticated half-face, canister-equipped versions -- were often available, she said. But workers got little direction on how to use them or which mask might be best for their particular level of exposure. "It was very clear to us that that information was not easily found by the people who were supposed to be wearing the mask," Geyh said.

Another expert pointed to the discord that exists between EPA air samples and those garnered by private testing firms. Those firms were hired by banks and other corporations to test whether it was safe for workers to return to their lower Manhattan offices in the weeks after 9/11.

Those private environmental testing services "found a list that was longer in terms of contaminants, and in higher concentrations, for weeks afterwards and possibly even for longer," compared to EPA readings, said Dr. Len Horovitz, a pulmonary specialist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. "There's a conflict of the information that we got at the time and what private companies were getting."

Stellman refuted that argument, however, saying that Horovitz was comparing "apples and oranges." She said that while the EPA was taking samples of outdoor air quality, most of the sampling done by the private firms was done inside buildings.

"It's very hard to make these comparisons because the EPA, I don't believe, had a lot of indoor air quality data," Stellman said.

But criticism of the Mount Sinai research program continues. In a Sept. 7, 2007, article in The New York Times, a number of critics charged th
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