WORKERS SUFFER BREATHING WOES:

Workers at the World Trade Center site developed respiratory problems that lasted more than a year after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks—much longer than health officials had anticipated, according to a government study. Nearly three years later, many of the people who helped with cleanup and recovery efforts at ground zero still have breathing problems associated with their exposure to the site, said Dr. Stephen Levin, associate professor of community and preventive medicine at Mt. Sinai Medical School in New York, which assisted in the study. Those problems include asthma, sinusitis, constant coughing and stuffy nose, facial pains, chest tightness, wheezing and shortness of breath. The study’s findings are similar to those found among New York firefighters, nearly 400 of whom had to be permanently placed on medical leave because of respiratory problems developed after the Sept. 11 attacks.