Paul J. Lioy Writes Book on Dust in the Aftermath of September 11 and Homeland Security

 

NEW BRUNSWICK, N. J.— Paul J. Lioy, professor and vice chair of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Medicine at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson, Medical School, offers an analysis and interpretation for general audiences of the science of dust particles, smoke and debris that emanated from the collapse of the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center in his new book DUST: The Inside Story of its Role in the September 11th Aftermath.

What was in the material that rained down after the buildings disintegrated? How did the unusual size of the dust particles influence the development of the “World Trade Center cough” among rescue workers and other New Yorkers? Why should probes of the immediate exposures have focused on materials beyond asbestos? Lioy explores and answers these and other questions about the environmental exposure, health outcomes, and public policy and homeland security initiatives that arose from the debris that covered the area that fateful day. He also provides comment and guidance on issues that still remain, which can influence responses to future disasters in a constructive way.

In the book, Lioy, an internationally recognized researcher in environmental and occupational exposure and health, describes his own role and that of his colleagues in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of the complex mixture called the “WTC Dust” that spread throughout southern Manhattan and beyond after the tragic events of September 11.

Lioy said, “The book is for general audiences. The data and the analyses completed on the samples by a group of highly skilled scientists are placed into the context of events that started moments after the planes hit the towers, and continued for much of the decade.”

Lioy is currently deputy director for government relations at the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute (EOHSI) a joint program of UMDNJ and Rutgers University and is the director of the institute's program in exposure science. He has received lifetime achievement awards in both exposure science and air pollution research. In addition, he is recognized by the Information Sciences Institute as a most high cited researcher in the fields of environment/ecology.

The Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute (EOHSI) is jointly sponsored by UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and Rutgers University. EOHSI provides research, education and service programs with experts in environmental health, toxicology, occupational health, exposure assessment, public policy, and health education working cooperatively in one setting.

The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) is the nation's largest free-standing public health sciences university with more than 5,900 students attending the state's three medical schools, its only dental school, a graduate school of biomedical sciences, a school of health related professions, a school of nursing and its only school of public health, on five campuses. Annually, there are more than two million patient visits at UMDNJ facilities and faculty practices at campuses in Newark, New Brunswick/Piscataway, Scotch Plains, Camden and Stratford. UMDNJ operates University Hospital, a Level I Trauma Center in Newark, and University Behavioral HealthCare, a mental health and addiction services network.