BEYOND GROUND ZERO

·Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund·Chinese Staff and Workers Association·Commission on the Public's Health System·
National Mobilization Against SweatShops·Urban Justice Center·

For Immediate Release Contact: Tosh Anderson - (212) 518-1274
September 5, 2008 Celia Correa - (973) 919-7081

Press Advisory

Residents, Workers, Students, and First-Responders Demand Presidential Candidates Make 9/11 Health a National Priority

DENOUNCE 7 YEARS OF BUSH AND CONGRESSIONAL FAILURE TO RESPOND TO THE 9/11 HEALTH CRISIS

WHAT: Press Conference

WHEN: Sunday, September 7th, 1 p.m.

WHERE: Foley Square (Worth St. between Lafayette and Centre St.)
Trains: 4/5/6/J/M/Z/R/W to BROOKLYN BRIDGE/CITY HALL, 1/2/3/A/C to CHAMBERS

WHO: Ground Zero clean-up workers, first responders, volunteers, Lower Manhattan workers and residents joined by representatives from the Beyond Ground Zero Network

WHY: Sick first responders, workers and residents will gather to demand Presidential candidates Obama and McCain make 9/11 a national priority and provide health treatment, monitoring and study for all those sick. Over 400,000 workers, residents, students and first responders that were exposed to lethal toxic air after 9/11 are still waiting for federal support 7 years later. Today, more of us are sick and getting sicker. Many can no longer work or support our families. Women's health has been especially hit hard -- suffering a wide range of gynecological and reproductive health problems including breast and uterine cancer and heavy bleeding.

Bush and his supporters in Congress want to continue to cover up the extent of this national scandal by denying lifelong treatment to non-responders. Bush's CDC is blocking the first-ever federal funding to the only treatment program for all residents and workers, the "Bellevue" program. National leadership on 9/11 health crisis is long overdue. The presidential candidates must make 9/11 health a national priority and provide lifelong treatment for all those affected as well as a comprehensive study into the connections between our health and 9/11 toxic air.

# # #

The Beyond Ground Zero Network (BGZ) is a group of community-based organizations that came together shortly after September 11, 2001 to address the severe health and economic impact of the World Trade Center's collapse on Lower Manhattan's low-income communities, especially among immigrants in Chinatown and the Lower East Side. BGZ helped to found the first-ever 9/11 treatment program for Lower Manhattan residents and workers at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan, now called the WTC Environmental Health Centers.

BGZ's member organizations include the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Chinese Staff and Workers' Association, the Commission on the Public's Health System, the National Mobilization Against SweatShops and the Urban Justice Center.