(37th in a series on Martin Tower)
Martin Tower demolition May 19
www.martintowerbethlehem.com
Informational meeting
Thursday, May 9, 6PM
Nitschmann Middle School
“It is amazing to me that so many people are reacting to this implosion
as entertainment or spectacle rather than a health risk.”
Barbara Diamond
Gadfly tip o’ the hat and wave o’ the wings for the following thought-provokers to Steve Diamond, Nalyn Marcus, Marty Romeril, and Peter Crownfield.
Gadfly is not taking time right now to comment in detail on the information here, just getting some things “out there” providing some resources for you to consider.
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- I am a forensic pathologist. I recently performed an autopsy on a person who frequented the 911 World Trade Center location in New York City. He simply walked by the disaster site a few days a week. Now 15 years later, the person died of lung disease and is part of the 911 lawsuit settlement.
- Lung disease may occur secondary to different aerosols of particulates. It does not have to be related to asbestos. A hyperimmune response may cause interstitial fibrosis of the lung, which causes decreased oxygenation of the blood. The fibrosis in the lung and decreased oxygen of the blood strains the heart and may cause congestive heart disease. Sadly, this process may take many years, and those effected may not realize the cause and effect of the exposure.
- It is the mission of the city of Bethlehem to protect its citizens and ensure a safe environment. We must have assurances that the implosion of Martin Tower will be done in a competent and safe manner. What will be done to protect the hospitals, medical offices, businesses, schools, parks and residential homes?
- “Best practices” for imploding a building have been published. The implosion should adhere to those parameters.
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COMMUNITY INFORMATION: STORMS HALL AND KNAPP HALL DEMOLITION Iowa State University 2005
especially:
F.A.Q.
General Community Notice of Implosion (pdf)
6-28 Letter to Residence of Safety Zone (pdf)
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should be prohibited in metropolitan areas.
Public advisories to mitigate personal exposure and indoor migration of the implosion dust cloud constituents should extend to 10 or 20 km around an implosion site.
They found that immediately after the implosion, concentrations of airborne dust particles were as much as 3,000 times higher than they had been prior to the demolition. As expected, sites nearest to the implosion had a more dramatic and earlier peak when compared to sites further away. Even at the furthest site, seven and one-half blocks from the implosion, there was a 20-fold increase in particulate matter. The good news, according to the researchers, is that the peaks were very short-lived, lasting only 15-20 minutes. No measurable effect was found upwind of the implosion, nor in the indoor sample sites. The researchers suggest that remaining upwind of a building demolition and staying indoors offers protection from high outdoor concentrations of dust particles.
The Dirt on Atmospheric Dust
It might seem small, but atmospheric dust is a big deal. Consisting (mostly) of tiny pieces of metal oxides, clays and carbonates, dust is the single largest component of the aerosols in Earth’s atmosphere, and it likely has a significant impact on the Earth’s climate, as it effects a wide range of phenomena, including from temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean to the rate of snowmelt in the southwestern U.S.