That is an advertisement by the Environmental Protection Agency. They placed it on subways and street corners around lower Manhattan eight months following the collapse of the World Trade Center. The vague and dismissive wording of the advertisement represents the lack of involvement of the EPA in the clean up after September 11th. Days following September 11th, the EPA told New Yorkers it was safe to return to lower Manhattan. Actions such as these, caused residents and workers to file a lawsuit against the EPA. The class action lawsuit claims the EPA failed to give proper warning to families of toxic inhalants in the interior of buildings and failed to provide proper clean up of those buildings. Sherrie Savet is one of the attorney’s filing the suit. She says there are “very dangerous dust particles, highly pulverized, containing asbestos and other toxic materials still in most of the homes and businesses in lower Manhattan.” Lower Manhattan houses 15,000 resident units, the EPA professionally cleaned 3,425. Zero businesses were cleaned under the scope of the EPA. Reports conducted by the EPA and Congressman Jerrold Nadler of New York both found high levels of asbestos and other toxic chemicals in numerous buildings. The EPA gave warnings to rescue workers who breathed outside air. But failed to acknowledge the dangers breathing the behind closed doors and windows. Richard Shandall, another attorney filing suit says asbestos poisoning can have a twenty-year dormant period, yet, health problems are beginning to arise. Innumerable residents are coming forward with respiratory problems. Suzanne Mattei, Executive for the Sierra Club’s New York office, said this lawsuit “is very much a public interest law suit.” The plaintiffs are not seeking monetary compensation; rather they are suing for a thorough clean up and medical monitoring. Twelve residents of the lawsuit represent the population of those affected. They include students, residents, and workers whose lives incorporate lower Manhattan or areas hit by the down wind. The EPA did not begin offering clean up until May of 2002. For the eight months following the collapse of the World Trade Center, they directed people to the New York City’s Department of Health, which told people to wipe the dust off their windows and floors with a wet rag.