The British Lung Foundation and the GMB union have sent thousands of dust masks to New York to help in the World Trade Centre clean-up.
A GMB spokesman said: 'The scale of the rescue and recovery operation is so large that there is a real shortage of protective equipment.'

The foundation co-ordinated the delivery of around 4,500 masks, helped by £10,000 given by the GMB union, to aid the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which said it is 'desperately trying to ensure' that rescue workers are properly protected.

US Occupational Safety and Health Administration head John Henshaw said: 'We have lost too many lives, we intend to lose no more.' Protection of rescue workers is the agency's 'number one priority,' he added.

The masks were supplied at cost price by a British firm and the Lung Foundation hopes to send more in the coming weeks.