DONE. #12381
When I say "Rest in Peace, Brothers" I mean that. This situation is different, I want those who rest in Fresh Kills Landfill disturbed, just long enough to move them to their rightful resting place. That this situation even arose, is making me wonder about Committment to honor those who were murdered on 9/11/01, on the part of the City of New York. Stay Safe....
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Remains of 1,000 lost at WTC may never be identified
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The remains of as many as 1,000 people lost in the World Trade Center attack might never be identified, says the top forensic biologist leading the city’s monumental DNA project.
The medical examiner’s office has identified slightly more than half of the 2,792 people killed in the attack — only about 100 of those in the last year as technicians struggle with DNA degraded and damaged by fire and the elements.
Robert Shaler, chief of forensic biology, had once hoped to reach 2,000 identifications, but he said in an interview with The Associated Press that he no longer considers that a realistic goal.
Now, Shaler said he hopes for about 1,700 identifications — 1,800 at the outside — by the time the office exhausts available DNA matching methods within a year. City officials recently notified victims’ families of the outlook.
“I think once we’ve done all of the testing on all of the remains using the technology we have, I think we’re finished,” Shaler said.
He cautioned that he doesn’t mean the trade center DNA effort will be closed forever, but said scientists would have to develop new DNA processes for it to continue.
“If three years from now somebody comes up with something ... that really looks like it’s going to work, then we’re going to be poised to go after it,” he said.
Identifications were made quickly in the weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001 attack, many based on bodies recovered mostly intact. For smaller parts, the medical examiner has had to rely on DNA matching, drawing results from shreds of bone and tissue.
The medical examiner’s office has been aggressive in finding new avenues for DNA identifications, hiring companies to write software for each technique they try. Right now, Shaler is hoping an adapted version of a DNA process normally used for disease research will soon yield new identifications.
It enables technicians to examine unusually short pieces of DNA, which shrinks as it degrades. The DNA in about 61 percent of the remains recovered at the trade center did not yield workable pieces in initial tests because it was broken down by heat, humidity and time.
Shaler said the work in the next year will involve a tedious scrutiny of the badly damaged DNA. The samples will undergo every available process, each of which yield only partial results. Those test results are then compared; for a successful match, the idea is that each test fills in some of the gaps, like puzzle pieces fitting together.
“We’re marrying different pieces of information together,” Shaler said. “It’s just this slow trickle.”
Many of the new DNA matches made this year have yielded additional remains for people already identified. The highest number of body parts matched to one person is more than 200.
In most cases, victims whose remains have not been identified have been legally declared dead by the court and their families issued death certificates based on documents or other proof they were at the trade center or on the hijacked airplanes.
Shaler has begun looking beyond the lab to information about where people worked in the towers, where and when their coworkers’ remains were found, and who in those groups have been identified. With that data, the medical examiner’s office can cross-reference identified people with unidentified samples, narrowing the search to scrutinize a few DNA profiles instead of hundreds.
Shaler came up with one potential match when he was experimenting whether this technique was feasible. He then ordered software to be created that would do it for him.
“I’m still driven by the families,” he said. “When I see these people, they look at me with eyes that say, ’Did you find her yet?’ But when you’re only turning out a couple a week or four, five a month, it’s hard.”Leave a comment:
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just plain wrong
#12384 i signed
all FF in the FDNY give 'em hellLeave a comment:
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12283!!!! That is rediculous that we have to petition for something that should have been done in the first placeLeave a comment:
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NUMBERS of WTC as of 7/1/03
People identified 1505 out of 2792
Only 292 whole bodies were recovered
Nearly 13,000 body parts await DNA testing
135 FDNY firefighters (many friends)and 1152 other poor soles still missing.
OVER 45% were NEVER RECOVERED.
9-11-01 EVERYDAY for FDNY and The City of New York
MEMORIAL
New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner Identification Report
WORLD TRADE CENTER DISASTER March, 2003
Loved Ones Reported Missing 2,792
Identified 1,480 53%
Not Identified 1,312 47%
Remains Recovered at WTC Site 19,934
Remains Identified 6,483 33%
Remains Not Identified 13,451 67%
WTC Memorial
"AMERICA REMEMBERS"
United States Foreign Citizenship
Alabama 4 Australian 1
Arizona 1 Belgian 1
California 49 Brazilian 3
Colorado 2 British 67
Connecticut 65 Chinese 2
D.C. 11 Colombian 17
Delaware 2 Congonese 2
Florida 5 Ecuadorian 3
Georgia 4 Filipino 15
Hawaii 2 French 1
Idaho 1 German 5
Illinois 9 Ghanaian 2
Iowa 1 Guyanese 3
Kansas 2 Haitian 2
Kentucky 1 Honduran 1
Louisiana 3 Indian 1
Maine 4 Indonesian 1
Massachusetts 92 Irish 1
Maryland 50 Israeli 2
Michigan 2 Italian 4
Mississippi 1 Ivory Coast 1
Missouri 2 Jamaican 16
North Carolina 3 Japanese 23
New Hampshire 10 Lebanese 3
New Jersey 694 Lithuanian 1
New York 1,747 Mexican 15
Nebraska 1 Moldavian 1
New Mexico 1 Nigerian 1
Nevada 1 Peruvian 5
Ohio 3 Portuguese 3
Oklahoma 2 Russian 1
Oregon 1 Swedish 1
Pennsylvania 30 Taiwanese 1
Rhode Island 5 Ukraninian 1
Tennessee 1 Uzbek 1
Texas 6 Venezuelan 1
Utah 1
Virginia 81
Virgin Islands 1
Wisconsin 1Last edited by E40FDNYL35; 07-17-2003, 08:08 AM.Leave a comment:
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