Anthony Scarduzio on the Zadroga Act Reauthorization

(Newswire.net — May 24, 2016) Huntington Beach, California — The events of September 11, 2001 changed thousands of lives. Besides the people killed in the terrorist attack on U.S. soil, many police, fire, and rescue responders to the attack sites were affected. Anthony Scarduzio, a responder to the World Trade Center, has dedicated his life to helping those who continue to struggle with the lasting physical and mental health issues caused by the tragedies. As a staunch supporter of those responders and their families, Anthony has lent his support to the reauthorization of the Zadroga Act by the U.S. Congress. He signed a Change.org petition and encouraged many other responders and their families to pressure government officials in order to see the Act funded once again. As he stated in his petition, “I need this bill to stay alive.” “Many responders suffer terrible diseases from toxic exposure at the disaster sites,” says Anthony. “The reauthorization of the Zadroga Act will continue to provide health monitoring and financial aid to those responders affected by their exposure on 9/11 and the weeks after the attack.”

The Zadroga Act was named after James Zadroga, a New York City Police Department officer who was struck down by respiratory disease in 2006. His death was attributed to exposure to toxic substances in the rubble of the World Trade Center (WTC), where Zadroga was involved in rescue and recovery activities. The Act named after him was first authorized in 2010 and enacted by President Obama in 2011. It allocated over $4 billion to create a program which provides ongoing testing and treatment for those people who worked at the WTC disaster site and for those survivors of the terrorist attack. When it expired in 2015, Anthony and thousands of others sprang into action, pressuring their elected officials to reauthorize it immediately. In the reauthorization, passed in December, 2015, Congress extended the program funding for an additional 75 years, thanks to the efforts of Scarduzio and the many supporters who took it upon themselves to help.

Anthony Scarduzio suffers from lung disease from his exposure to dust and chemicals at the WTC site. He still finds the time to serve as a lead mechanic for the Castle Plumbing Company of Ossining, New York, and he gives freely of his time to helping other 9/11 responders get the medical care and psychological treatment benefits they deserve. Read more on Anthony’s work: http://www.houzz.com/pro/anthonyscarduzio/anthony-scarduzio