September 10, 2005
WASHINGTON -- A federal probe has concluded that a program to monitor the health of federal employees at the World Trade Center disaster site in New York "accomplished little" even though city and state programs have screened more than 30,000 people.
A report by the Government Accountability Office found the health screening program only conducted about 400 exams, a small fraction of the thousands of federal employees who worked on the hazardous debris pile in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The GAO's findings were to be presented Saturday at a special congressional hearing in New York City, but the hearing has been postponed. The agency is expected to formally release the findings Monday.
The federal worker screening program established by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services "has accomplished little, completing screenings of less than 400 of the thousands of federal responders," the GAO determined.
http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/manhattan/ny-bc-ny--sept11-workerheal0910sep10,0,2512320.story?coll=nyc-moreny-headlines