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Chernobyl on the Hudson

Chernobyl on the Hudson

Date: Jan 11 2008

Themes: Health, News

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

It snowed on September 11, 2001 in New York. For a few miles around the World Trade Center, everything was covered in white dust. The government said the air was safe to breathe. They were glad to get the city back to normal as quickly as possible.

But now, thousands of people who helped clean up the attack site, or who simply lived nearby, have severe lung and sinus problems as well as other issues. It turns out the dust was toxic and that government officials had known it was all along. Over 100 people have died of illnesses caused by the dust and many more will soon.

Yet almost no help is available to people who have become sick. And Manhattan was never completely cleaned. It seems that 9/11 was a nightmare that only began six years ago. Listen to Jason and Marni talk about this problem.

Dialog

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Jason

Jason

Marni

Marni

Jason:  So, you know how every now and then the United States has one of these, like, enormous blunders, like the Japanese internment camps or something?

Marni:  Uh, yeah, that would qualify, yes.

Jason:  I think we’re on to one of those blunders right now with the whole 9/11 ills thing, with all the people getting sick in New York.

Marni:  Absolutely, yeah.

Jason:  I mean, it’s just crazy that there’s thousands of people being denied treatment and they all got sick because of this thing that’s this huge rallying point for the whole country, yet, they’re totally ignored.

Marni:  Yeah, isn’t it interesting? All those those people who are getting sick? And I know, Sicko, Michael Moore talked about that because he brought the people who worked there to Cuba to get treatment because they couldn’t get treatment here. It’s so messed up. It’s kind of creepy. And obviously, we’re six years out now from that event and more and more people are getting sick from it.

Jason:  Absolutely. There’s 70,000 people, is what I read, who were within the range of the toxic dust, who probably will become sick at some point in the next 20 years…

Marni:  Agh. So disturbing.

Jason:  ...which is crazy! And it’s so much more easily dealt with if it was just given money right now, you know? But instead if we wait until it’s this massive disaster and we just look horrible to the international community and to our own people and it costs way more, and people are going to die…

Marni:  Well that’s how our health care system is in this country. It’s not at all based on preventative care. It’s all about, like, “Oh, let’s see how bad it gets” and then, “Oh, we have a catastrophe.” And then we try and fix it. You can’t put a Band Aid on a gaping wound. It’s just ridiculous.

Jason:  But it’s just so crazy with this particular thing because it’s like, everyone has that bumper sticker, “9/11 never forget,” but all these people are totally forgotten.

Marni:  Exactly. No, you’re right, you’re right. It’s sad.

 

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Discussion

Jason says that he thinks the lack of treatment for illnesses related to 9/11 will go down in history as a horrible injustice. He compares it to when Japanese-Americans were imprisoned during World War II.

Marni points out that the American health care system isn’t really into preventative care. So while the situation is sad, it’s really not unusual.

But Jason says it’s very unusual because 9/11 is such a source of pride and patriotism for many Americans that it’s particularly terrible to let people who are sick because of it go untreated.

What do you think? Did you know about this issue before? Were you surprised to learn that people are still getting sick as a result of 9/11?

For more information on 9/11 ills check out this article in Discover Magazine.

The title of this lesson is taken from a statement by George Tabb, one of the most outspoken victims of 9/11 ills. Click here to see a video he made about it.

 

Comments

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lando520

China

    Hello,I'm a freshman,and I wanna make friends with you to practise my English.

    Would you like to make friends with me ?

08:18 AM Jan 11 2008 |

lando520

China

    Hello,I'm a freshman,and I wanna make friends with you to practise my English.

    Would you like to make friends with me ?

08:17 AM Jan 11 2008 |

Bhayap

Bhayap

Nepal

 

 main things is i don't understand why the people denied to get treatment, maybe all the people wanted to die?

08:06 AM Jan 11 2008 |

Freaky$Sam

Freaky$Sam

Saudi Arabia

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey every oneCool

07:48 AM Jan 11 2008 |

Bhayap

Bhayap

Nepal

 

  i am trying to understand it, although it is a great calamighty, it ios out off human being.

07:43 AM Jan 11 2008 |

lllldclove

lllldclove

China

A terrible thing! As we known,People do not know the value of health till they lose it.So we should love ourselves life more from known the 9/11 ills crisis.

07:29 AM Jan 11 2008 |

mahmoudjeexaa

Somalia

Uh,Yeah This lesson is about true story and tragic it was 9/11/2001 all americans cry and been shock Twin towers have been collapsed by Gentlemen Islam guys.
Well, it’s Okey American Dictators and aggressive country always attack and collapse’s Islam countries like Afghanistan,Iraq etc.

05:39 AM Jan 11 2008 |

Jens

Jens

China

Love your life,it's perfect!

04:51 AM Jan 11 2008 |

Ireane Jia

China

it's injustic.what a terrilble thing.

04:50 AM Jan 11 2008 |

bsrao

India

It reveals the inhuman, uncivilized and irresponsible nature of the American state towards it's peoples health both in preventive and later stages also.People have to fight it out.

04:46 AM Jan 11 2008 |

Jameli

Jameli

Philippines

This lesson is very informative…

04:41 AM Jan 11 2008 |

Jameli

Jameli

Philippines

How, sad and frightening it is to know that the event that happened on 9/11 is still taking toll of many people's lives… and worst is America's health care system doesn't cover the treatment of these 9/11 casualties… where's the justice to that?

04:33 AM Jan 11 2008 |

LuisFelipe

Peru

It's terrible US government must worry about these people and try to help them it's a right that these pople have and deserve from This huge country.I think many people who were there at that moment tried to scape but there were some people who tried to help even without worrying about that toxic dust.

03:24 AM Jan 11 2008 |

448465535

China

oh,god!it`s really terrible.i knew it from SICKO,but i just didn`t know the number would be that huge. it`s really unfair to those people.

02:11 AM Jan 11 2008 |

GavinZheng

GavinZheng

China

Pretty horrible things.

 

01:56 AM Jan 11 2008 |

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