- Wednesday and Thursday, April 6 and 7, Manhattan:
Two Days of Special Events Highlighting the Connection between Two Public
Health Disasters and the Fight for Justice -- from Libby Montana to
Lower Manhattan No matter where it's from, asbestos is a killer
Wednesday, April 6, Noon, Manhattan
Gayla Benefield and Les Skramstad, representatives of workers and
residents of Libby, Montana, where an epidemic of asbestos-related
disease has killed hundreds of people and sickened more than a thousand,
will take a guided walking tour of the Ground Zero area beginning
at noon, co-sponsored by NYCOSH and the World Trade Center Community-Labor
Coalition, with plans to hold brief discussions with workers in various
buildings that border the site, to share experiences of working in
an asbestos-contaminated environment. The tour, which is open to anyone
who is concerned about the contamination of Lower Manhattan, will
gather on the north-east corner of Church and Dey Streets (adjacent
to Century 21) Call 212-627-3900 x 14 for more information.
Wednesday, April 6, 6:30 pm, Manhattan
A community meeting and discussion on the ways that people living
in contaminated communities can learn from and support each other,
with presentations by representatives of the workers and residents
of Libby, Montana, and by representatives of workers and residents
of Lower Manhattan and vicinity. Co-sponsored by NYCOSH and the World
Trade Center Community-Labor Coalition, at Borough of Manhattan Community
College, 99 Chambers Street (just east of West Street) Room 404N.
The event is free, but you must bring a picture ID to enter the building.
Thursday, April 7, 6:30 pm, Manhattan
The New York premiere of "Libby, Montana," a feature-length
documentary on the fight by that Montana town's residents and workers
to remove the asbestos that contaminates the town and to obtain compensation
from the corporate killers who poisoned an entire community. Produced,
directed, shot, and edited by Drury Gunn Carr and Doug Hawes-Davis
of High Plains Films. "Eschewing rhetoric, hysteria, or commentary,
the filmmakers employ a form of direct cinema that in its restraint
and layering of details has a cumulative power. Still in the news
- in February W.R. Grace received a federal indictment stemming from
the Libby cover-up - this story is but a chapter in a much larger
on-going tale of the uneasy balance between corporate self-interest,
government control, and the health of a society." – IFP/New
York. After the film there will be a Q&A session with the filmmakers
and the Libby activists, to be followed by a reception. At the Walter
Reade Theater, located on the north side of West 65th Street, between
Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue.
Sponsored by the Lincoln Center Film Society and IFP/New York.
The Environmental Health Consequences of 9/11: Where Do We Stand One
Year Later?
One year after the attack on the World Trade Center, concerns still
exist about the environmental and health consequences of 9/11. Among
the areas of concern are indoor and outdoor air quality, clean-up efforts
by EPA and DEP and the health registry for downtown residents and workers.
A panel of health and environmental experts will present their assessment
and provide an opportunity for the public to ask questions.
DATE: Thursday, September 19, 2002
TIME: 7:00 pm
PLACE: Performing Arts Center-Theater 2
BMCC - 199 Chambers Street
The panel will include:
Marc Wilkenfeld, M.D., Columbia University School of Medicine
Tom Matte, M.D., New York Academy of Medicine and CDC
Stephen Levin, M.D., Mt. Sinai Medical Center
George Thurston, Ph.D., NYU School of Medicine
Roy Grant, Ph.D., Children's Health Fund
Susan Paula, Ph.D., Children's Health Fund
Neil Feldsher, Certified Industrial Hygieninst
Christopher Ward, NYC Commissioner of DEP
This forum is sponsored by City Council Member Alan Gerson, in conjunction
with NY State Senator Martin Connor. For further information, please
call Robin Forst at 788-7722.
Message from Our Friends at 9-11 Environmental
Action Read their flyer
for their upcoming demo of which we are one of many sponsors
---------------------------------------------------------
On television screens the world over, people watched the
Twin Towers disintegrate into fine dust which spread for miles. As the
fires burned unabated, New York City residents began to realize that
they and the many volunteers who had come to their aid had been exposed
to an unprecedented mix of asbestos, fiberglass, lead, mercury, cadmium,
dioxins, and hundreds of toxic substances that continue to endanger
lives. School parents, residents, safety experts, environmentalists,
labor unions, religious and charitable organizations began to organize
to protect themselves and each other, as it became all too obvious that
government institutions were misleading or ignoring New Yorkers.
To call attention to these health risks, many people testified at the
public hearings, participated in conferences, and staged demonstrations.
We came to understand the geographical extent and the economic and political
context of the environmental problems caused by this terrorist attack
. The environmental issues of the disaster require open sharing of complex
data and interpretations, and a comprehensive clean up. Instead we?e
gotten a cover up -- as the insurance and construction industries seek
to minimize their liabilities.
With the discovery that the federal government had the legal responsibility
for investigation and clean up, 9/11 Environmental Action was born.The
EPA had abandoned us, hidden the data, and silenced their own ombudsman.
We demand a comprehensive remediation of the environmental devastation
of our beloved city. Our government must never again fail to take precautionary
actions to protect the public health after an environmental disaster.
Join us in our campaigns to make our land a safe place to live.
On
Sept 18, 2001, one week after the worst environmental disaster ever
to hit an American city, EPA Administrator Christie Todd Whitman told
New Yorkers that our air was SAFE TO BREATHE!!!
Join us, Sept. 18, 2002 at 290 Broadway
at noon: TELL CHRISTIE:
WE JUST SAY NO!!!
NO TO ASBESTOS & FIBERGLASS!
NO TO LEAD, MERCURY & CADMIUM!
NO TO DIOXIN AND MOLD!
NOT IN OUR HOMES, NOT IN OUR SCHOOLS,
OUR PARKS, OUR STORES, OUR OFFICES!!!
NO MORE: EPA MIA!!!
NO MORE TAXATION
WITHOUT DECONTAMINATION?
COMPREHENSIVE CLEAN UP NOW!!! IN ALL AFFECTED AREAS!!!
ADHERE TO ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATIONS!!!
ACCESS TO ALL SCIENTIFIC DATA AND CLEAN UP PROCEDURES!!!
COMPENSATION FOR NEGLIGENCE NOW!!!
FUNDING FOR PREVENTIVE HEALTH CARE AND FOLLOW-UP NOW!!!!!
Partial List of Sponsors: 9/11 Environmental Action, Asbestos, Lead
&Hazardous Waste Laborers Local 78; Concerned Stuyvesant Community;
Downtown Independent Democrats; Family Association of Tribeca East;
Good Old Lower East Side; Independence Plaza Tenants Association; Lower
Manhattan Residents Relief Coalition; New York City Coalition to End
Lead Poisoning;, New York Environmental Law & Justice Project;Thurcon
Tenants Association;