The DEA would like to thank all our members who participated in the 9/11 Health and Compensation Act (also known as the federal “Zadroga bill”) law enforcement press conference on the morning of Thursday, November 12, 2015 in Brooklyn.
The press conference, coordinated by U.S. Congressman Dan Donovan, was a great success. Participants included the DEA, PBA, LBA, CEA and the NYS Court Officers Association, as well as Congressman Peter King, New York State Senator Martin Golden, and New York State Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis. Speakers included DEA President Michael Palladino, Joseph Zadroga, the father of Det. James Zadroga, and retired NYPD Detectives George Taylor and John Muller, both of whom were diagnosed with 9/11-related cancers and utilize the services of the current Zadroga bill.
If the federal “Zadroga bill” is not renewed, then screening, diagnosis and treatment of 9/11 related illness will not be equitable. Responders who were diagnosed earlier will be covered under the original bill, but those who are in the pipeline now will not be getting their due.
Michael Palladino also cited the strength and resolve of the Zadroga family who have fought so tirelessly for the bills named in their son’s honor. There is no more painful loss than that of a parent losing a child, and despite the emotional turmoil of watching their son die of cancer, the Zadroga family has been in the center of the fight for the continuation of these critical 9/11 benefits.
We desperately need this bill extended to continue the funding of medical monitoring and health care for our nation’s 9/11 first responders, including countless members of the NYPD who are sick because of their work on the rescue and recovery from the World Trade Center attacks. As of this writing, 35 DEA members have died from cancers and other debilitating illnesses as a result of their work at Ground Zero, the morgue locations, and the Staten Island Landfill.
We must continue to have our members screened and supplied with life-saving medical care.
Our members, along with other police and fire first responders, saved this nation during its bleakest hours, and we now implore the United States Congress not to turn its back on those who sacrifice so much every day to ensure the safety and security of our great country.
