Ground Zero toxic dust whistle blower reinstated

Manhattan was engulfed in a cloud of toxic dust after the
collapse of the World Trade Center, scientists claimed.

A senior chemist got her job back at the EPA after she said she was let go in retaliation for accusing the agency of underestimating the danger of the dust at ground zero.

An administrative board ruled in her favor, saying she was not informed of all the charges against her when she was fired in 2010.

The chemist sued under the federal whistle-blower protection act, saying that the agency fired her for accusing them for relying on data that it knew measured the wrong pH levels of the dust released by the World Trade Center collapse in 2001.

The EPA said it fired her for threatening a supervisor. The chemist had a record of disagreeing with colleagues and supervisors and was suspended for two days in 2009.

Now that the chemist was reinstated with back pay, the EPA is free to bring charges against her again.

The particles released by the towers’ collapse were more toxic to workers’ lungs that experts thought.

The collapse shot up a cloud of unknown gases, chemicals and particulates into the Manhattan area, which also may have contained asbestos fibers.

Source: New York Times

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