Marking a turning point in the public health response to the WTC disaster, a partnership of celebrities, rescue workers, public health advocates and philanthropists raised $1.2 million this week to expand availability of a unique treatment regimen that has brought relief to more than 200 rescue workers suffering debilitating effects from toxic exposure during the September 11 rescue and recovery effort. (Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040405/NYM149 )
The benefit for the New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Project, hosted by Project co-founder Tom Cruise, was held at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
Cruise described to the audience at the fundraiser why he became involved in the Detox Project: "Once the towers had gone down and we were faced with the aftermath of their collapse, I could not get out of my mind that huge cloud billowing across Manhattan. I worried about those who had survived and been exposed. Shortly thereafter I visited Ground Zero and knew immediately that not only would people be getting ill, very ill, but that it would be sooner rather than later."
The Project consists of a medically monitored regimen of exercise, sauna sweat-out, vitamins and minerals to help rescue workers cleanse their bodies of toxic residues. For more than two decades physicians have used the procedure, developed by L. Ron Hubbard and described in his book Clear Body Clear Mind, to treat occupational and environmental chemical exposures.
Retired fire fighter Joe Higgins, who regained his health after undergoing the detox regimen for maladies from his duty at the World Trade Center, said, "Hundreds of rescue workers are waiting for a slot in this program, and it just isn't right that they have to wait for a program that can provide relief right now. Thanks to those who stepped up and donated, the facilities can be expanded and many more suffering people will be treated. I hope the size of these donations will be an embarrassment and a wakeup call to public officials. This program is working, it is wanted and it deserves support."
New York Detox Project Director Keith Miller says the new funds have moved them closer to their goal of doubling the number of rescue workers served last year. The Project plans to immediately put 400 more fire fighters and rescue workers through the program, at the existing downtown facility just blocks from the World Trade Center site, and at a medical facility on Long Island that is implementing the detox procedure to serve the large number of rescue workers who live there. The New York Project makes the program available at no cost to those who are treated.
"We have now seen hundreds of cases where patients who have not responded to other forms of treatment are recovering through detoxification," said David E. Root, MD and MPH, an occupational medicine specialist who has treated more than 4,000 patients with the Hubbard program.
New York City Council member Margarita Lopez, who chaired a hearing on the recoveries being achieved through detoxification, said there are too many "experts who are happy to talk to the press about the terrible illnesses that rescue workers can expect in the future. I find it very disturbing that they continue speaking as if nothing can be done when detoxification has helped over 200 men and women regain their health."
"The more time passes, the more we learn that public officials have not told the truth about the exposures or their health consequences," said Israel Miranda, Health and Safety Coordinator for Local 2507, the Uniformed EMTs and Paramedics of FDNY. "My members have been sick for more than two years. That's long enough. This is the only program that is offering them a chance to fully reclaim their lives, but just last week we hear that $81 million is going to be spent to document rescue workers' declining health."
"It's already established that this exposure event was so unprecedented and complex that we will never understand it completely," said James Dahlgren, MD, a member of the clinical faculty at UCLA School of Medicine and an advisor to the Project. "What we really need to focus on is helping victims recover. This is the only program that addresses the causes of toxic illness."
Cruise said: "Knowing that there are fathers who can play with their children again and heroes from New York's bravest who are back on the job-that brings me immeasurable joy and pride. I know that the work we are doing is not just improving the quality of life of people we owe so much to, it is also giving so many the hope they didn't have before."
To find out more about the detoxification program described in the book Clear Body Clear Mind visit www.clearbodyclearmind.com.
