Latest / Sid & Friends In The Morning / Michael Barasch | Barasch & McGarry's Chief Advocate for 9/11 First Responders & Others Harmed by Toxic Dust at Ground Zero

Transcript

Michael Barasch | Barasch & McGarry's Chief Advocate for 9/11 First Responders & Others Harmed by Toxic Dust at Ground Zero · Sid & Friends In The Morning

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: You guys know that I've got a nice relationship with
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: the guy that I believe is the, the 9-11 community attorney.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: His name is Michael Barish, Barish and McGarry. Here he'd
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: do his commercials for years on this show. And he
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: genuinely cares, and he knows his stuff. And you know, Mike,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: this week, just a couple of days ago, the mayor
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: took a little victory lap. He was so proud of himself.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: They just happened to find, amazingly, 72 hours later, before
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: this emotional day, they just happened to find at City
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: Hall like 70 boxes of information about the air quality
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: down by Ground Zero back then and 170,000 documents. And
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: while I think all that is important, and you know
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: better than anybody, I was told you lose two clients
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: a day. The timing for me was so grotesque. Clearly,
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: Mayor Mamdani just wanted to stick it in Rudy Giuliani's face.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: So I know you're not here to talk politics, but
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: I got to tell you, to use people who died
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: and are still dying as a political tool, Michael Barish,
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: really pissed me off.
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: Well, Sid, first of all, thanks for calling and inviting
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: me to join your show today. You know I appreciate that.
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: I would have loved to have been in Dallas with you,
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: but I had so many 9-11 commemorative events this week.
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: And I also want to thank you for not using
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: the word anniversary when we talk about 9-11. Because, you know,
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: you think of anniversary as the day you got married.
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: You got married, and it ended that day. Well, 9-11
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: sadly hasn't ended for anyone in the 9-11 community, and
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: that includes the 100,000 responders and volunteers, the 300,000 office workers,
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: the 50,000 students and teachers, and let's not forget about
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: the 25,000 downtown residents who all were told by the
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: EPA five days after 9-11. that the air was safe
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: to breathe. You remember that?
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but I will tell you this. Christine Todd Whitman
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: told us the same thing at the time she was
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: the governor of New Jersey. People aren't stupid, okay? I
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: lived in Chelsea on 21st and 8th, and I walked
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: back and forth almost every day to that site. You knew,
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: unless you're a moron, you knew it wasn't safe. It
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: wasn't right. The smell, the smoke, you knew it. And
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: I got to tell you, Michael, It wouldn't have mattered,
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: knowing some of the people that went down there those days.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: Not just one day, but days and days. They would
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: have gone anyway, because that's what New Yorkers do. So
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: to come back now and say, well, you know, they
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: should have told us. I guess that's true. But the
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: truth is, nothing would have changed. I know you know that.
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: You're 100% right. Look, half of my 50,000 clients are responders.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: They all tell me the same thing. It wouldn't have
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: made a difference. I was going to go down there
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: and look for my brothers. Remember, at the beginning, there
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: was hope that they would find people alive. That soon ended.
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: But then they were hoping to find... the bodies so
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: families could have meaningful and respectful funerals. Well, they certainly
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: didn't find all the bodies, but that's what they were
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: going to do no matter what they knew. And you're
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: absolutely right. The office workers like me, I'm only three
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: blocks from ground zero. We wanted to believe the EPA,
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: even though the air reeked, but we wanted to do
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: our duty and return to work. Look, they opened Wall
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: Street the next week. And, look, I'm certainly no fan
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: of our current mayor, but I give him credit for
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: bringing these documents to light. We can argue about the timing,
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: but the fact is we knew it wasn't safe. You know,
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: I represented Detective James at Rogher who died of pulmonary
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: fibrosis at the age of 34. When the family asked
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: me to arrange the autopsy, they found ground glass. benzene, mercury, lead,
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: asbestos in his lung tissue. And if he had it
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: in his lungs, so do all of us. But we
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: did what we had to do as citizens, and it
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: wouldn't have made any difference if we had been told Then,
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: what the city knew a month later, which the air
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: was not safe. So, look, why didn't the de Blasio administration,
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: why didn't the Bloomberg administration release these records? They deserve
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: a lot of blame. I don't blame Rudy's administration because
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: at the time, first of all, he was only there
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: until the end of December. And his people returned to
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: City Hall as well. and they were breathing this stuff.
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: They believed the EPA as well. But the good news
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: is that there are benefits available. The federal government in
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: 2010 passed the Zedroga Health and Compensation Act, creating the
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: Victim Compensation Fund and the World Trade Center Health Program.
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: So let's use this revelation about the air as a
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: good thing and encourage people who haven't yet enrolled, not
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: just responders, but the civilians who were exposed to the
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: same dust, they should enroll in the World Trade Center
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: health program. They should get themselves checked out, and they
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: should enroll themselves in the victim compensation fund in case,
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: God forbid, one day they get cancer. Do you know
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: that 69 cancers have now been linked? Over 9,600 people
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: have died of 9-11 illnesses since 9-11. That's three times
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: as many people that died on 9-11, Sid.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: No, I know, and I think Yvette Rodriguez told me
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: that you're losing... Some days, two clients.
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: Not some days. Every day, I lose two clients. There
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: are 56,000 people in the 9-11 community who have been
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: diagnosed with a 9-11 cancer, and they're all entitled to
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: up to $ 250, 000 from the government. This is a fully
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: funded program, and yet less than 15% of the civilians
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: are enrolled. It's just either they don't know about it,
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: or if they know about the benefits, they're thinking, oh,
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: it's just for cops and firefighters. Or they feel guilty
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: and they don't want to take away. Well, I assure everyone,
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: you're not taking away from the cops and firefighters, from
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: our heroes who went running down to the site. And
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: there's a presumption. So you don't, if your doctor says, well,
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: I don't know what caused your melanoma or your basal
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: cell skin cancer or your prostate cancer. It doesn't matter
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: whether your doctor knows it or not. The federal doctors,
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: they know that there's an increase in all these cancers.
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: So protect yourselves and your family. Get into these programs now. Again,
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: it's not a political issue. This toxic dust didn't care
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: if you liked the Republicans or if you were a Democrat.
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: What do you think? No, of course not. They only,
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: the toxic dust affected everyone.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: No, there's no question. And look, you're a good guy.
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: I like you.
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: We've been doing this for years together, Michael Barish, Barish
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: and McGarry.
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: I like you too.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you're a good soul. But the truth is, is
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: that this latest revelation, you would think at least, that
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: your phone would be winging off the hook. This is,
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: I would think, an opportunity for a whole new batch
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: of people who, like you said, didn't know and Now
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: that these documents have come out, I know you're not
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: happy about this necessarily. Yes, it means money, but it
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: also means sick people. But this sounds like a big
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: opportunity for people like you.
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: Well, forget me. I care about my clients. At this point,
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: it's all about my clients. It's about the people. I
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: am a member of the 9-11 community. I lost my secretary, Liana,
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: to breast cancer. My paralegal dentist to kidney cancer. I'm
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: a prostate cancer survivor. My secretary, Barbara, has lymphoma. And
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: we were like everyone else. We believed what we wanted
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: to believe, very naively in hindsight. But thank God, maybe
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: this is the wake-up call that people needed to say, oh, God,
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: it really was safe. I mean, shameful that the city
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: didn't release these records in the last 25 years. Because
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: you know what? Maybe people would have gone to doctors earlier.
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: I know it sounds corny, but early detection is the
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: key when you've got cancer. Even though you're much more
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: likely to get cancer if you're exposed to the World
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: Trade Center toxins, you're also much more likely to survive
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: the cancer if you're in the World Trade Center Health Program,
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: because you get detected earlier, because maybe you get treatment earlier.
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: That's the key. So, yes, I think the timing stinks.
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: As I said, I'm no fan of Mandany at all,
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: but at least he, his administration or his law department
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: is doing what the de Blasio and Bloomberg administrations didn't do,
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: which was release the records. I don't think they have
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: anything to worry about with a lawsuit. The Victim Compensation
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: Fund is so much of a better alternative for the
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: 9-11 community because there's a presumption linking the cancer. You
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: don't have to have doctors say that, you know, oh,
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: that exposure you got before 9-11, before October 15th, when
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: the city found out that wasn't the cause of your cancer,
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: but it was the exposure after October 15th, nobody's going
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: to win that lawsuit, Sid. So again, take advantage of
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: the benefits. If you were south of Canal Street, you're
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: entitled to free health care for the rest of your
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: life for any 9-11 cancers. If you're South of Canal Street,
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: you get compensated by the government and you don't waive
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: your future rights, Sid. So if God forbid one day
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: you die of cancer or a pulmonary illness, your family's
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: entitled to another three or four hundred thousand. And I
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: got to tell you, as sad as it is for
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: me to hear about my clients getting sick and dying,
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: it's so comforting for them when I tell them your
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: wife won't lose the house. Your kids can go to college.
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: I mean, that's the only good that I can think
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: of that has come out of all of this. And,
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: you know, maybe it'll just shed a light on the
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: fact that benefits are now available.
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: No, that is goodness. I just wish in my heart
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: of hearts I really felt like the mayor cared about
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: the people. Again, I just think that he wanted to
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: stick it to Giuliani.
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: Let him come out and condemn the cowardly Islamic terrorists.
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: That's what he should do. And, you know, again, this
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: isn't a political issue, but how can you sit there
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: and city hall... and not blame the people who are
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: really at fault for 9-11. Not the Giuliani administration, certainly
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: not the later administrations. Blame the Islamic terrorists. They're the
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: reasons why 3,000 people died that day and why another 9,600
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: people have died and will continue to die. 9-11 didn't
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: end on 9-11, which is why we don't call it
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: an anniversary today. at all it's a it's a memory
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: it's a commemorative day that we will take solemnly and
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: that's why i'm still here in new york because there
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: are there's so many events uh that are um memorializing
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: the people who died that day and the heroes who
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: helped that's a.
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: Heck of a job so michael on the way out
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: for folks that um are waking up to this and
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: want help what's the easiest way to contact you my
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: friend michael barris barris and mcgarry to make sure they
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: do get help down the road.
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: Go to 911victims. com. That's 911victims with an S dot com.
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: And I'm going to be the first to say, you
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: don't need a lawyer. No, you don't. But get a consultation,
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: a free consultation. Find out what your rights are and
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: enroll in the World Trade Center Health Program and the
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: Victim Compensation Fund. Protect yourselves. Protect your family.
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: Michael Barish, you're a sweet guy, and you're doing God's work.
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: You really are. It's great to talk to you this morning,
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: even on this solemn occasion, and we'll see you again very,
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: very soon. Thank you, buddy.
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: It's a privilege to do this. Thank you, Sid. I
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: appreciate it.
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, me too.
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: Thanks.
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: Michael Barish right there, Barish and McGarry. So again, if
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: you've been diagnosed with cancer, God forbid, or somebody you
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: love died, God forbid, and they were anywhere near that
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: area 25 years ago, the likelihood is You're entitled to compensation.
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: Contact Barish and McGarry today.
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: Thanks for listening.
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: You can hear Sid and Friends in the morning, weekday
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: mornings at 6. If you like the podcast, share it
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: with your friends and listen anytime at wabcradio.com and download
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: the WABC radio app. Hit that subscribe button on all
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: major podcast platforms. Plus, follow WABC on social, on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook,
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: and X.
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: See you next time for a new episode so you
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: never have to wonder.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: What the heck is going on here?