Visibility 9-11 Welcomes Ground Zero First Responder John Feal
The 9-11 Dust (Part III)
In this the 3rd of our series on the 9-11 Dust, Visibility 9-11 welcomes to the program John Feal, president of the Feal Good Foundation. One week after September 11th, Christie Todd Whitman stated that, “Given the scope of the tragedy from last week, I am glad to reassure the people of New York and Washington D.C., that their air is safe to breathe and their water is safe to drink.”, even as the EPA had information to the contrary. In fact, the 9-11 dust was extremely caustic and in August of 2003, the EPA issued a report showing the changes the Bush administration made to the initial cautionary statements which were originally meant to warn the public of the dangers in the dust. These warnings were changed to reassurances and the public never heard the truth. These lies have resulted in thousands of people getting sick from breathing the toxic dust, and now, over 5 years later, they are dying. If you think our own government isn’t capable of deliberately killing its’ own citizens, think again.
Soon after 9/11, our guest John Feal (a US Army veteran) started experiencing serious respiratory problems, a condition they now call “The World Trade Center Cough.” He spent two months in the hospital while he battled with a host of health problems. Because of an arbitrary exclusion in the law, Feal, like many search and rescue workers who were injured during a two-week window at Ground Zero did not qualify for the 9/11 relief fund. Like thousands of others, John risked his own life to save others, but when he became sick and injured, he was abandoned and forgotten.
Since 2003, John has acted as a leading advocate for 9/11 heroes who where denied both the benefits promised by the federal, state, local governmental and the charitable aid collected on their behalf. John is also a former board member of Unsung Hero’s Helping Hero’s, a not-for-profit raising awareness of the plight of 9/11 responders. In addition to assisting 9/11 workers as a whole, John has been active helping Ground Zero workers on an individual basis with administrative issues and by helping first responders get media coverage.
Direct Download this episode of Visibility 9-11.
