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NEW YORK, NY June 21, 2007 —A new report says the Environmental Protection Agency “misled” the public regarding the presence of asbestos in Lower Manhattan apartments following 9/11. WNYC’s Fred Mogul reports.

REPORTER: The EPA paid for professional cleanup of more than 4,000 apartments in the 2 years following the attacks and reported that a “very small” number of units had unsafe levels of asbestos. What the EPA didn’t say was that most of the air testing was done in units after, not before, they had been cleaned.

REPORTER: The findings came in a report of the Government Accountability Office, released yesterday during hearings of the Senate Health Committee. One GAO official described the EPA’s asbestos testing as “misleading.” EPA officials also answered questions about giving the “all-clear” to workers and residents to re-occupy Lower Manhattan.

REPORTER: Senator Hillary Clinton said she would request another GAO study to look into the EPA’s preparedness to deal with future disasters. For WNYC, I’m Fred Mogul.