Stop stalling on WTC sick

Why is the federal labor department at odds with the rest of the U.S. government and universal opinion of the medical and scientific community in recognizing that the airborne toxins released in the destruction of the World Trade Center cause deadly aliments — from lung disease to cancer?

And why is the New York City Employees Retirement System such a laggard in approving disability pensions for city workers, from EMTs to Sanitmen, who were sickened by service connected to 9/11 and its aftermath?

Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta must immediately get his agency in line with Congress, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Justice.

The medical consensus here is deadly clear: presence at the WTC on or after 9/11 and exposure to the poisoned air leads to possibly fatal sickness. That is the settled truth, after being argued for years during the administrations of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

Yet the Department of Labor, which approves workers’ compensation for federal employees, is still doubting cause and effect, meaning that some sickened 9/11 rescue and recovery personnel are unable to get their workers’ comp — and that in turn delays DOJ’s Victims Compensation Fund from issuing them payments for economic loss. This is nuts. Why can’t Labor agree with the rest of the government bureaucracy and Congress and the doctors and scientists? Acosta has to act.

And NYCERS, dominated by the mayor, is too slow in granting 9/11 pensions, unlike sister funds for fire and police. Until pensions are known — you guessed it, Victims Compensation Fund cash has to wait. NYCERS should learn from the other funds and share info more readily to speed payments. Getting work records from city agencies faster would help NYCERS move quicker.