NEW YORK -- Toxic chemicals have been detected at levels exceeding federal safety standards in the soil and air around the still-burning rubble of the World Trade Center, according to documents compiled by the Environmental Protection Agency.
In addition to the dioxins, PCBs, benzene, lead and chromium found at the site, the EPA data released Friday showed low levels of contaminants had been found in the water and sediment of the Hudson River.
Officials were quick to caution people not to apply the measurements taken near the trade center wreckage to other areas of the city. "The debris pile is different from the rest of Manhattan," said Nina Habib, an EPA spokeswoman.
The air around the city's financial district, where the World Trade Center stood, contains irritating smoke and dust comprised of materials in the buildings, but "those substances in and of themselves don't cause any long-term risk," Habib said. She said the city's drinking water supply had not been affected.
The people most at risk to exposure to the toxins -- the workers at the site -- are being using respirators and other protective equipment.
The documents, showing results of daily monitoring of the Trade Center site since the Sept. 11 attacks, were obtained under a Freedom of Information Act request by the New York Environmental Law and Justice Project.
Paul Bartlett, a research associate at the Queens College Center for the Biology of Natural Systems, said the data was incomplete. Readings for the initial days after the attack were not released, he said.
"We're not aware of any major health problem at this point," Bartlett said, but he added that limited information was available on toxic levels inside apartments in the area.
Fires still burning beneath the wreckage -- six weeks after the terrorist attacks on the twin towers -- are also releasing relatively high levels of benzene, a colorless liquid that evaporates quickly and can cause leukemia, bone marrow damage and other diseases in long-term exposure, the environmental law group said in its analysis of the EPA data.
According to information on the EPA's Web site, the levels of benzene in the smoke plume in the direct area of the debris pile remained above the guidelines prescribed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Habib said that while some samples were above EPA and OSHA guidelines, many of them, including those for benzene, were taken using deep probes into the rubble pile of the trade center. She said all toxic levels drop sharply away from the rubble pile, with a limited number of spikes in readings in other areas.
Joel Kupferman, of the law and justice project, said his group was considering litigation against federal health groups for failing to stress the potential danger of the air quality.
"The workers and the safety people needed this information," said Kupferman, referring to tests performed in September and early October.
LeVon Johnson, 34, a construction worker on his way to the site Friday, said word of the toxins "made me concerned enough that I'm going to see a doctor for a checkup." Johnson said he thinks the mask he wears at the site has protected him, "but there's just a lot of stuff in the air that could be dangerous."
On the Net: EPA's Web site: http://www.epa.gov/
Law and Justice Project: http://www.nyenvirolaw.org/
OSHA: http://www.osha.gov/
