Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. Kenneth L. Zwick, Director Office of Management Programs Civil Division U.S. Department of Justice Main Building, Room 3140 950 Pennsylvania Avenue Washington, DC 20530 September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 Special Master Kenneth Feinberg Victimcomp.comments@usdoj.gov(encouraged delivery method) Fax 301-519-5956(alternative delivery method) Re: Smoke inhalation/Dust ingestion Dear Special Master: In relation to the rules of reference, you wrote: VICTIM COMPENSATION FUND FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS C VOLUME 1 C (Updated January 10, 2002). In it, you posed to yourself the following question at paragraph 1.18: 1.18. What if I did not suffer a bodily injury but I inhaled smoke and dust, and was covered with cinders and ash? To be eligible, you must have received medical treatment within 24 hours and you must have been hospitalized or suffered disability or disfigurement. By stating in your question that the hypothetic victim "did not suffer a bodily injury", you did not really pose a question, at least not a useful question. By definition, if the victim did not suffer bodily harm, s/he is not entitled to compensation under this Law. This hypothetic that you posed is useless. However, it manages to confuse the public as well. You go on this question to state that the hypothetic victim inhaled smoke and dust. By definition of the law, if the smoke and dust did not provoke bodily injury, the victim must receive no compensation. Yet, you must seriously guide and educate the victims. Members of our group, among other perhaps, had prior conditions including heart surgery and ailments, and respiratory diseases from asthma to asbestosis in different degrees. Properly cared, they lived useful normal lives. The inhalation of the dust (smoke is an euphemism under these circumstances as it was not produced solely by combustion) provoked medically diagnosed physical injury in some of these persons. Serious damage flowed. The dust produced by the air crashes and collapse of the buildings at the World Trade Center was composed of ground-up mortar, polyvynils, polychlorinates, PVCs, asbestos, incinerated bodies and human bones and other solid particles, toxic and poisonous inside the chest cavities of the victims. Scientists and doctors agree that-depending on the prior condition of the person-this dust produces the physical harm of which some members in our group suffer after 9-11. The statute under which you labor- Public Law 107-42- states, in relevant part, that a person is eligible for the compensation under the law if two conditions are met: that the person "(i) was present at the World Trade Center..." and "(ii) suffered physical harm or death as a result of such an air crash." Physical harm produced by this black dust is not excluded in this text. You saluted this law as "an unprecedented expression of compassion on the part of the American people to the victims and their families..." Your introduction to the interim final rule acknowledges receiving comments from many organizations. Notably, you do not mention any medical and scientific basis. Medical scientific and psychiatric associations are in agreement that "physical harm" can not be defined by what produced the physical injury. Each human being is different. The federal medical institutions- from Center for Diseases Control to NIOSH to the US Department of Health agree that respiratory and heart diseases are physical harm. Over 100 WTC victims and their families integrate the Hispanic Victims' Self-Help Group. Some of them suffered physical harm from ingesting dust(or as you seem to be calling it, inhaling smoke). Please make a question and answer that defines clearly your policy so that the victims are treated with dignity and compassion. Comments by: Hispanic Victims' Self-Help Group September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-02-04 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojN002539.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-02-04