To my knowledge, Borja, a NYPD police officer for 20 years, never made any public statements which were untrue, and he was too sick in the last several months of his life to speak directly with the media. According to the records, his most intense exposure to contaminants was over a period of 17 days beginning in December, 2001, when he officially worked near Ground Zero, as a traffic and security police officer. According to Police Union President Patrick Lynch, even with just 17 days downtown, Borja still would have qualified under the 40-hour minimum required under the state 9/11 disability law.

"December was still a dangerous month, and the toxins and the smoke didn't just stop at the immediate boundary line of the WTC site," said Joel Kupferman, an environmental lawyer.  The cleanup went on for months after that, and those toxins were still present.

The fact that Borja’s exposure occurred away from the “pile” is even more evidence that the dust was more dangerous than residents, workers, volunteers and first responders were told. That means his status was more akin to that of a resident.

The fires under the World Trade Center Buildings apparently burned for more than three months, and would have been still smoldering when Borja was working near Ground Zero. Anyone who lived or worked in lower Manhattan, not just south of Canal Street, would be at some risk from the toxic contaminants.  People in Chinatown, Brooklyn, and New Jersey were also at risk, for months afterwards, because the contaminated dust particles had lodged inside their homes and work places. And the contamination is still there, in indoor locations which were never properly cleaned — still being kicked up by removal and construction.

One of the people I interviewed - Rachel Hughes - volunteered at Ground Zero for four days, giving out sandwiches to workers. Her litany of health issues includes: difficulty breathing; 30 percent lung capacity; sleeplessness due to body pain; open, bleeding sores; pneumonia, flu-like symptoms, constant fever, and various medical crises requiring numerous hospitalizations. Rachel had difficulty getting into the monitoring program and getting medical help, partly because there was no record of her volunteering. She had been given an official “badge” for volunteering — which one agency, several years later, requested as “proof” of her having been there, since her name did not appear on any lists. She couldn’t find that badge.

Apparently, the part in the Borja story which has caused the uproar is that Borja’s work log shows him as being at Ground Zero in December, but not before, which is what had apparently been reported in the press. Without being able to question Borja directly, since he is dead, much information is second hand. Is it possible Borja did volunteer time at Ground Zero but there simply is no record? I don’t like to speculate, but this was the case with Rachel and I’m sure many others, especially in the first few weeks when everything was chaotic.