As the WTC towers fell four and a half years ago, most of Manhattan was engulfed by dust clouds from the massive amounts of debris produced by the collapse. Wall Street was closed on September 11th and re-opened on September 17th, as authorities were desperate to limit the economic damage of the attacks. The Environmental Protection Agency, with its history of administrative sucking-up (covering up global warming evidence, suppressing reports on car fuel efficiency, etc), declared the air in Lower Manhattan, which was loaded with asbestos, lead, americum and other toxins, “safe to breathe” on September 18th, and thousands returned to work.

Now, nearly five years on, reports of the effects to health of those living and working in the area are beginning to reach the mainstream media. BBC News reported yesterday that the count of those with medical problems linked directly to the 9/11 attacks has reached 15,000, many of whom say they were offered “false reassurances” by the government. 5,000 are now seeking a class-action lawsuit. January saw the first death ruled to be due to 9/11 dust - James Zadroga, who worked at Ground Zero.

A footnote on the report on the BBC News website states that “a special report on the dust fallout from the 9/11 attacks will be featured on BBC World starting on Wednesday 3 May at 1930 GMT. The documentary will also be carried on BBC News 24.” I first heard about the dust effects in the “Confronting the Evidence: A Call to Reopen the 911 Investigation” documentary - and that was nearly two years ago.

Problems mount from 9/11 fallout, BBC News, 12/4/2006
EPA’s 9/11 Air Ratings Distorted, Report Says, LA Times, 23/8/2003
“Confronting the Evidence: A Call to Reopen the 911 Investigation”, Reopen911.org
EPA Controversies, Wikipedia

The Internet is a dangerous place at the best of times, but April 1st is a special case. If you’re at all given to swings of naivete, compassion, or self-doubt, the best advice I can give is that you stay off the ‘net for the entire duration of April Fools Day, from its narrow-eyed waking beginning in Auckland, New Zealand (GMT +12) to its bloody, drunk and sadistic conclusion in San Francisco, USA (GMT -8). Gone is the safe haven of the over-by-noon convention - with the inexhaustible and global nature of the Internet as we know it, you can expect to be fooled all day.

Pretty much every major website has a piss-around for April Fools, including Slashdot, Wikipedia, Google, and so on. Other highlights this year included TuckerMax.com (a story about having sex with a pig) and Wordpress.com. Slashdot is a particularly knarly contender, as the majority of the gag stories it carries on April 1st require some scrutiny in order to verify their gag nature. This, especially to a fragile I’ve-just-woken-up me, is a stressful task.