9/11 rescue dogs: Most don't suffer from WTC dust

Five years after an estimated 350 fearless canines spent 14-hour days with their noses to the ground, searching for signs of life amid the smoldering, toxic rubble, veterinary researchers have found surprising results.

Although nearly 70% of World Trade Center human responders suffered lung symptoms during or after the Sept. 11 attacks, surprisingly, researchers say hundreds of the heroic search-and-rescue dogs have suffered few health issues related to the attacks.

"We have found no profound patterns of disease," said Dr. Phil Fox, a veterinarian at Manhattan's Animal Medical Center, who conducted a five-year study on 27 NYPD canine and bomb detection unit dogs deployed after 9/11. "It tells us these dogs are more resilient than we thought."

Half or more of the heroic NYPD search-and-rescue dogs, whose average age when deployed was between 4 and 5 years old, have since retired or died, most from age-related ailments or diseases common in older dogs, including cancer.

Despite working without masks or protective gear, dogs may have had several advantages over humans: Asthma is uncommon in dogs, most dogs arrived after the collapse and a dog's longer nose allows him to filter the air more effectively.

A second study at the University of Pennsylvania of 97 dogs that worked at the World Trade Center, Pentagon and Fresh Kills Landfill on Staten Island also found no evidence of adverse health effects.

Still, some critics question the results. NYPD Capt. Scott Shields, whose 11-year-old golden retriever, Bear, was one of the first dogs to search the rubble at Ground Zero, believes a study of this magnitude should be run by a "viable" agency with a bigger budget, more dogs and a team of expert toxicologists and epidemiologists.

Bear was injured while working at the site, and the periphery of his wound became cancerous. The brave dog recovered and continued working but then died one year later, just shy of his 13th birthday, from multiple forms of cancer.

Today, Shields remains uncertain whether it was related to 9/11.

http://www.nydailynews.com/city_life/story/450721p-379379c.html

Comments

[peace out]

sup DOGS!

[I LOVE PIE]

yo, i think that this is kool

[Frank Callahan]

Scott criminal trying to capitalize on the horrific events of 9/11. He is not qualified to comment of the fine work of these vets. This article is another example of sloppy journalism on behalf of the Daily News. How about finding out who Shields is before printing his quotes?

[Scott]

I have a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn

Looking Backwards- 9/11-Katrina

As the anniversary of both Katrina and 9/11 reaches us, my thoughts turn to those whose kindness has kept us going these last few years.

As you know, we have fought a lot of battles for all of us. We have spent too much time in the halls of Congress and too much time looking backwards so we may help change the future.

You may remember on the site of the WTC I was mad about the EPA saying it was clean and telling us there was no need to wear masks (despite what they said afterwards), while the Operating Engineers Lab (the only complete lab on the site) under Don Carlson kept telling us how dirty it really was. The Operating Engineers supplied the real data on what was in there every day (they have never been given any credit for telling the truth). I did write about it immediately so no one may call me a late bloomer. I was mad that I listened to our political leaders who obviously had no training in Hazmat or major incident command or what any agency really does, and went ahead, oblivious to advice from professionals in National Disaster Management.

I am mad that the very well done health study based on good science done by FDNY is in direct contradiction to a very unprofessional study done by the New York City Dept of Health. Often I think it is our political leaders that need the training that the First Responders get. As I am writing we just got a call from a CNN reporter that, the NYC Dept. of health has just changed their minds and we all were exposed to deadly chemicals. Maybe history does eventually provide the truth.

I was mad that when they finally decided to study the animals they let a single FEMA vet (a very part time job) without a background in toxicology or epidemiological studies run a supposed major health study of the WTC search dogs although she refused to allow or cooperate with the Department of Agriculture strike team with two dozen PhD’s in toxicology or epidemiology and world wide experience studying the animals in biological, chemical and radiological major incidents (we have all the correspondence on trying to get them deployed) .

Normally (and historically), all the animals, including in the neighborhoods would have been studied in a hazmat incident (by Dept. of Agriculture teams). Because the animals are the precursors to all the humans will eventually get they are a valuable predictor of the long term human health consequences for biological and chemical incidents. Unfortunately, this was never done (although Agriculture was ready to do its mission) and we only now (five years later) perceive the consequences of not having a National Disaster Action Plan that includes studying exposure to animals by people with an intensive background in this type of research in N.Y.. Five years later we still do not have this as one of our standard mass casualty protocols for major hazmat events.

I was mad that we had to fight a battle with the nation’s largest insurer of animal health to get policies they promised for all the search K9's..........there are many out there who served that where never informed of these policies. I am amazed that the vet running the study forgot to tell some handlers that the insurance company had promised to pay the medical bills for dogs that served at the WTC. I am upset, that the study she conducted had to beg for funding and seek it from private sources (agriculture was funded for millions to do this if they had been deployed) and had to accept partial funding from the insurance company (a definite conflict of interest) and other private sources. In 2004, the Dept of Agriculture (same strike teams) spent upwards of $3,500,000 to study a Rocky Mountain Spotted Tick epidemic in the Southwest (more then two and a half times the five year budget for the current “private” K-9 health study for the worst major city hazmat incident in our history). The current “study” has only gotten funding for a little over a million dollars the last five years. I was mad that the Vet in charge of the “Study” spent $100,000 to MRI the noses of the K-9’s and did not MRI their lungs the ultimate depository for what the dogs breathed in. Question is, did she assume that the dogs stopped breathing through the mouth? Would any respiratory specialist have MRI the dog’s noses and not their lungs?

I am mad that after Bear's death I arranged for his toxicology samples to be sent to the Department of Agriculture lab and the Army's Chemical warfare lab, and that this lone FEMA vet running the study informed the Doctors at the Animal Medical Center in New York that if they sent any sample to any other lab it would be a "breach of the study protocols" and that Bear's "medical bills would not be funded" $18,000 (by the insurance company) if the samples where sent to any other lab (we have this in writing). In the case of studying chemical exposure, more labs are always better, and not all labs are created equal. I am mad because I will never know the motivations behind this.

I am mad because it took four years for FDNY to replace the rescue harnesses that every Firefighter carried before 9/11 and had been taken away for insurance liability reasons just before the incident and not replaced for budget concerns, I am mad because five years after the WTC FDNY still has the same communications system we all heard failed us inside the WTC. I am mad that NYPD is in charge of all incidents in NYC; as opposed to the national incident command system (and adopted by foreign countries) that puts experts in the particular type of incident in charge, (one shoe does not fit every foot).

I am mad because we held the nations largest mass casualty marine rescue training two months before Katrina in New York harbor for twenty nine agencies and two months later when Louisiana was overwhelmed the first question asked of these team leaders by FEMA was "how much will it cost to deploy your unit" (not how many personnel and how long to get there or what equipment do you have). I think that sums up the current civilian response system (yes, it is about money). We have created a national response system based on cost and liability. It is important to remember Fire Departments origins come from insurance companies and our whole civilian method of response comes from that heritage. It is a system based on cost analysis. This entire system needs a total revamping of its basic tenants!

I learned a whole different method of response from the Coast Guard and the 82nd Airborne in New Orleans. It was goal driven and not method oriented. The military was not fixated on doctrine but goals (yes, they do have great training in doctrine but it does not supersede their goals). I think, that is the sublime difference between civilian and military response. Being goal driven is much more important to saving lives. No one in the United States Coast Guard asked permission to rescue fellow Americans.

I was mad that Michael Brown (a basically good man) who had no background in disaster management is still going around saying he was a disaster manager when on the fourth morning of Katrina on NBC he made the pronouncement:

"I have deployed every Urban Search & Rescue Team in the Country”.

At the time, he had not deployed the State USAR Teams (not FEMA) but he was responsible for asking for them! In fact, it seems he did not realize he was ultimately responsible for every state team’s deployment! It is a complex and intricate system we have established. He did not have an emergency management background and he should never have had the job. Given his lack of background, he did do an excellent job. Someone who was more familiar with the system (and had the guts to change it to suit the incident) might have done better. One should be aware that because of the EMAC agreement, the emergency management compact between municipalities, states and the federal government, (basically who is responsible for deployment and who is going to pay for it). Brown was not deploying the State USAR Teams and a hundred teams around the country where waiting for permission to deploy. Many never got permission because they where to expensive to deploy!

We have to ask ourselves why Gov. Blanco was technically unable to deploy teams because our system required written authorization for deployment………at first, she had no ability to generate written documents…….she had lost all fax and e-mail capabilities in the storm Gov. Blanco could not even legally ask for help because she had no means to send the paperwork (Fax and E-mail systems where unavailable at first due to the nature of the event). Many teams would not move without written authorization (some of ours started on the road under her verbal authorization). How many lives would have been spared if teams had deployed days, hours or even minutes earlier. It is a hard thing to fathom in this nation born of the Minuteman. . What will we do when communication is knocked out across a half dozen states in some future incident?

I am mad because the Mayors and Fire Chiefs of Baltimore and Salisbury Maryland where threatened with prosecution for sending very well trained and supplied rescue teams to an overwhelming national disaster where time and permission was killing people. The press has not looked into the EMAC agreement enough; it killed people in the Gulf Coast as surely as Katrina did. It has changed little in the past year and will continue to kill people in the future. We are after all a nation founded by the minutemen!

I am mad that DNA identification for the victims of Katrina was sent out for bidding and that the low bidder won it then turned around and realized they were a mortuary company not a DNA research organization and gave it back. I am mad that the company that did do the work (Gene Codes Forensics) at the WTC and made no I.D. mistakes was not even asked! We do not have a national response plan for mass identification either!

The military arrived at Katrina (when finally asked) with overwhelming force to conduct life safety missions. They did it better then any FEMA managed event ever had (without the impressive certifications in rescue training). The nature of warfare made them better at improvising and adapting then any FEMA team, (I do believe there is an important place for FEMA teams) but there must be more reliance on state and local SAR teams and more funding of them and much more use of both trained and untrained volunteers.

Our Army and Coast Guard have learned from the past, the Coast Guard never asked for anyone's permission to rescue people in Louisiana and Mississippi. There is much to be learned form the military response as opposed to FEMA's. The military have learned how to maximize our response while our current civilian system minimizes civilian (Fire, PD, FEMA, Volunteer organizations') response due fear of liability or cost ............I am mad that these lessons are largely kept away from FEMA response managers. Human life is not our preeminent concern in deploying teams under the FEMA/EMAC method. Amazingly, it is those we charge with being our best killers in our society (the regular Army) that were our finest rescuers (although the Coast Guard may be considered our best “rescue service”).

I am mad that five years after the 9/11 attacks and two years after the Madrid train bombings Search & Rescue K9’s are allowed to travel on every private airline in the country but they are not allowed on Amtrak the “National Railroad”. I am mad that most of the search and rescue teams (99%) are not eligible for government assistance and that even the FMEA teams must pay for their own training.

I am proud of former Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld (and surprised) to personally take an active interest in the "real lessons learned" from Katrina (it was an unexpected source of encouragement). Through his lessons learned unit in Joint Forces Command (a leader is only as good as the information supplied them) he sought out the truth about the state of emergency management in our country. One can only hope that FEMA has done as extensive a self analysis as the Pentagon. The military has long learned it is about goal orientation and not method. It is a lesson lost on FEMA and especially NYC.

I have hope. I have hope, because the American people are always better at this then their government. I have hope because the American military is the best it has ever been...............I have hope because as much as we have seen the horrors that both man, mother nature and politicians can wreak on humankind; I have witnessed first hand incredible self sacrifice, men and women, Soldiers and Civilians, Firemen, Police, SAR & FEMA Teams and K9’s who would walk into certain death without hesitation to try and rescue strangers; and truly live or die by the motto of all who serve
"So that others may Live".

I am proud of my country and its people!


We hope this helps you understand us a bit better..........

Scott

[Tony]

He is a fraud!!!!!
Pure and simple and has been indited by US Gov - faces 35 years (he and his sister).
Trial 7th April 08 - New York.
then we will see who is a fraud!!!!

www.scottshieldsfraud.co.uk