Residents of the Upper East Side are wondering if their respiratory problems are connected to subway work. Our Town reports on the recent complaints, pointing to one woman who says in the past two years her asthma has gotten worse — she's blaming the Second Avenue subway construction.
The MTA says the sites are all safe, and free from harmful materials or chemicals that cause illness — adding that sites are hosed down to reduce dust. However, a spokesman says they have "received a few complaints about asthma cases since the project began." The amount of calls hasn't been significant enough to warrant an investigation, apparently.
The project site manager says the virgin ground they're digging into is pure "mother earth," and while the DEP's soil tests have shown more than 200 materials that could be harmful — there have only been trace amounts detected.
Amongst the illnesses locals and health providers have been seeing are headaches, asthma, allergies and severe coughs. The UES's Dr. Joseph Raeanelli said he sees up to 4 new patients a week complaining of air quality issues, and that "residents may be affected by construction dust, or pollutants in the air from traffic jams, dirt being moved or compounds in sewer gases." In other words: welcome to New York.
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