Disgraceful, disgusting, and despicable are the only words that I can think of to describe the government’s ruling that it won’t provide health care and additional resources to 9/11 responders who’ve developed cancer since that day almost a decade ago. For those of you with a short attention span, these are the people who ran into burning and collapsing buildings to save people as hell was unleashed around them, the first responders who dug through the rubble bit by bit on their hands and knees, handful by handful, searching for remains of the thousands murdered in one of the most horrible tragedies ever to hit the United States of America.
In short, they are the good guys and they are getting screwed.
Earlier this week, federal officials announced that first responders who have been stricken with cancer will not get help from the government for their illness, because it cannot be directly linked to the terrorist attacks. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has determined that there is too little scientific evidence linking cancer to time spent amid the dust and wreckage and prolonged exposure to whatever was in the air at Ground Zero during the rescue and recovery efforts.
How is it possible that a government that could ask so much of its citizens is not able to provide for their basic needs at this most critical time? The world calls these men and women heroes; their own government makes them victims, victims of terror by bureaucrats who abandon them in their hour of need. When the calls came in, they rushed to the scene to do their job. No questions asked – they ran into the fire. Why is it that the government is not willing to do its job and help these heroes when they need it most?
The decision is truly disgraceful, disgusting and despicable and it needs to change.