Sept 11 clean up worker dies from lung disease aged 34

[align=left]Sept 11 clean up worker dies from lung disease aged 34[/align]

[align=left]LINDSAY FABER / Newsday | January 8 2006[/align]
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[align=left]Comment: Note that Zadroga was in building 7 when it collapsed. This again proves that people were not evacuated from that building even though we have the owner on record saying it was intentionally "pulled". [/align]
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[align=left]Many sniffer dogs used at ground zero have died through respiratory disease, raising the question what exactly was in the air when those buildings were brought down?[/align]
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[align=left]A young police detective who spent nearly 500 hours sifting through rubble at Ground Zero has died of a lung disease connected to his cleanup efforts, police union officials said yesterday.[/align]
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James Zadroga, 34, who died Thursday at his parents' New Jersey home, retired from the NYPD in July 2004 because of his deteriorating health. He is the first emergency worker to die from constant exposure to the Sept. 11 wreckage at the World Trade Center, said Michael Palladino, president of the Detectives' Endowment Association.

A high-ranking police source said the department does not have the medical authority to link Zadroga's death to his work at Ground Zero.

An autopsy was being done by the Ocean County, N.J., medical examiner's office.

Zadroga was inside Building 7 at the World Trade Center when it began to collapse on the afternoon of Sept. 11, 2001. After narrowly escaping death, he spent nearly 500 hours over the next month and a half at the site, searching for victims amid tons of debris and dirt, Palladino said.

According to Palladino, many detectives even stayed at the site beyond their daily tours of duty, working on their own time.

Zadroga became ill about a month after returning to the Manhattan South Precinct in late 2001. He died at his parents' home in Little Egg Harbor, N.J., of black lung disease and mercury on the brain, Palladino said.

Zadroga joined the force in January 1994, working in the street crime unit of Greenwich Village's Sixth Precinct, the Bronx anti-crime unit, the 25th detective squad in Harlem and the Manhattan South homicide task force, his final stop.

Zadroga's wife died in 2004. He is survived by his 4-year-old daughter, his parents and his brother. His funeral is scheduled for Tuesday morning in North Arlington, N.J.