The story of this Filipino family is in the latest issue of People magazine. The authors emphasized that the nature of such exposures to pollution is unprecedented. There was nothing to tell all those involved what the health effects will be.

Officer Borja spent six months working 12 to 16 hour days at Ground Zero, first as part of the bucket brigade recovering body parts, and then providing security.

The following summer, Officer Borja developed a persistent cough. The cough worsened despite prescribed medications for allergies and asthma. He died early this year from infectious pneumonia and pulmonary fibrosis. The latter is a disease that hampers the lungs’ ability to process oxygen. Borja smoked, but quit 10 years ago.

He left behind his wife Eva, children Nhia, Evan, and the eldest son, Ceasar, 21, a journalism student in NY.

The devastated Ceasar is working to gain recognition and financial compensation for Ground Zero workers. "I was fighting for my father, but now that he’s passed away, I’ll fight for everyone else."

It’s been five years since the World Trade Center fell, but many are still not sure of the effects of the toxic cloud. NY City’s Mt. Sinai Medical Center has examined 19,000 of the 40,000 workers at the site. On the first 9,442 workers studied, 70 percent had potentially permanent respiratory problems. In all, 8,000 lawsuits alleging toxic exposure as a cause of illness have been filed.

"That the dust is potentially fatal is pretty certain," says Alan Fein, an NYU professor of medicine who has studied the issue.

"We cannot say with certainty whether dust is responsible for deaths until it is proved over time."–J. Graziano, Columbia U. Public Health School.

There is no consensus among scientists. In 2004 the family of Felicia Dunn-Jones, 42, who died from a rare lung disease was awarded $2.6 million from the Victim’s Compensation Fund.

Two years later, the New Jersey medical examiner blamed toxins for the death of police officer James Zadroga, 34. "It is felt with a reasonable degree of medical certainty that the cause of death in this case was directly related to 9/11," stated the report from the medical examiner’s office in Ocean County, N.J.

That "reasonable degree of medical certainty"–coroner language for "as sure as I can be"–provides the first official link made by a medical expert between the hazardous air at Ground Zero after the Trade Center collapse and the death of someone who worked in the rescue effort.

The report of toxic mixture of dust and fumes reignited a fierce debate over whether to classify deaths like that of Zadroga as being "in the line of duty," making survivors eligible for more benefits.