Mental Health and Disorders
|skos:definition - en||Scientists have called the dust, smoke and ash unleashed by the destruction of the World Trade center on September 11, 2001 the greatest acute environmental disaster in New York City history. Fires burning at 1,000 degrees created a toxic plume that clouded lower Manhattan and spread to adjoining areas. The collapsing towers pulverized cement and everything the buildings contained, including some asbestos, while the tremendous pressure of the collapsing floors fused materials together in potentially dangerous combinations that scientists had not seen before.
Health studies have consistently shown that those at greatest risk were the rescue, recovery and cleanup workers who were at ground zero on September 11 when the towers collapsed or who started working there soon afterward. Officials and medical experts estimate that in all, between 40,000 and 90,000 workers and volunteers spent time on the debris pile and may have been affected in some way by the dust.|
|skos:prefLabel - en||Mental Health and Disorders|
|skos:scopeNote - en||Used for all coverage of mental health and disorders in general or any coverage where a more specific term (related to a specific condition or disorder) does not exist.|