Ex-EPA Chief Apologizes for Saying Air in Lower Manhattan is Safe After 9/11 Attack

Former chief of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and ex-governor of New Jersey Christine Todd Whitman apologized, for the first time in 15 years, for assuring the people living near the ground zero that water and air are safe after the tragic 9/11 attack.

"Whatever we got wrong, we should acknowledge and people should be helped," Whitman said in a report from The Guardian. "I'm very sorry that people are sick. I'm very sorry that people are dying and if the EPA and I in any way contributed to that, I'm sorry. We did the very best we could at the time with the knowledge we had."

The terrorist attack at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001 has been embedded in the minds and hearts of Americans. After the planes hit the building, making it collapse, massive plume of ash covered a wide area in lower Manhattan.

A week later, Whitman reassured people living near the ground zero in lower Manhattan that "their air is safe to breathe and their water safe to drink." In 2013, however, EPA inspector general criticized the claim made by the former chief, saying that the agency has no basis for its swift pronouncement anout air quality.

According to a report from the New York Daily News, more than 37,ooo people registered to the World Trade Center Health Program (WTCHP) were declared sick. This includes more than 1,000 people who have died in the past 15 years.

Furthermore, about 10,233 firefighters, who responded during and after the attack, had at least on 9/11-linked illness. Among them, 1,396 are suffering from cancer, 5,723 with gastroesophageal problem, 5,577 afflicted with upper respiratory illness and 5,456 diagnosed with lower respiratory illness.

EPA did recommend the first responders on the ground zero to wear masks and respirators while conducting searches and retrievals. However, they declared the surrounding areas to be safe, despite knowing the presence of asbestos, lead and other toxins lingering in and near the wreckage of the Twin Towers.