After 9/11, health lessons ignored
The legacy of the 9/11 attacks in 2001 goes beyond the resultant war on terror and continued fighting in Afghanistan to include lies about public health threats at the time, ongoing health problems today, and a public health system that may be less secure in the present and future, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author said Thursday. In a talk at the Harvard School of Public Health’s (HSPH) Kresge Building, Laurie Garrett, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, outlined a litany of ongoing public health troubles and missed opportunities, beginning with 9/11 and extending through anthrax attacks and outbreaks of SARS, bird flu, and swine flu. “A lot of the most important public health aspects of 9/11 were completely buried and overlooked, and continue to be even today,” Garrett said. Garrett touched on ongoing health problems stemming from the attacks themselves, including elevated rates of cancer and depression among responders;...