Nearly 17,000 first responders are suffering from at least one cancer or disease directly linked to the 9/11 terrorist attacks 23 years ago.
According to the New York Post, at least 45,200 civilians and officers from the FDNY, NYPD and Port Authority of New York and New Jersey have an illness linked to the tragedy.
The total is 1,408 percent greater than the death toll from that day, as 2,997 victims were killed in the Twin Tower collapse and aftermath, the Post noted. But this figure could be higher (via NYP):
The shocking number reflects the amount of victims enrolled in the World Trade Center Health Program with verified illnesses — but because the project only recognizes some cancers and diseases, officials warn the true total of sick survivors is much higher.
As of March 31, 2024, there were about 28,320 “living members with at least one physical or mental health condition related to their exposure to dust, smoke, debris, and the traumatic events,” a spokesperson from the US. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told The Post.
This figure, the Post explained, does not include 1,872 program members who have passed away in the years since Sept. 11, 2001 (via NYP):
It also doesn’t cover the estimated 400,000 people who lived, worked and went to school in the area in the tragedy zone who were exposed to toxic contaminants, risk of physical injury, and physically and emotionally stressful conditions in the days, weeks, and months following the attacks, the CDC said.
Reportedly, there are about 15,500 FDNY first responders enrolled in the World Trade Center Health Program for at least one cancer or disease that is certified. About 200 of these 9/11 survivors were diagnosed in the last six months.
FDNY has lost 370 members to 9/11-related illnesses, also. On that fateful day, 343 FDNY members died. Twenty-eight died in the past year, alone.
Other illnesses, like pulmonary fibrosis, are not covered by the program but are growing increasingly common.
“It’s not that it’s becoming more common. It’s because it’s evolving in terms of respiratory diseases,” Dr Prezant, the FDNY’s Chief Medical Officer, told The Post.
“Fibrosis takes a long time to develop. We know that from asbestosis, where the fibrosis takes 20 to 30 years to develop. In terms of cancer, it’s a combination of the exposure impact as well as the aging phenomenon, these things can’t be separated,” Prezant added.
“It tells us that these patients still need 23 years later to be monitored and treated for these evolving, changing and new diagnoses that are recurring.”
As for the NYPD, between five and ten officers who responded to the 9/11 attacks are being diagnosed with 9/11-related illnesses. Prostate cancer is one of the most common.
Reportedly, the number of members who passed from 9/11-related illnesses has surpassed 400.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey lost 37 members when 9/11 occurred. Since then, reportedly, 16 others have died as a result of 9/11-related illnesses.
In remarks to the Post, Prezant added that every FDNY officer who responded to the 9/11 attacks and survived would do it again.
“I am 100% confident that if you walked up to any one of the 15,500 members in our program who have mild to severe disease, every one of them would do it again,” Prezant said.
“They would be there again. In fact, the majority of them would say that if tomorrow, they would volunteer, despite their illness, to be there again … We cannot ever forget that despite the tragic illnesses that our members have developed and other responders as well.”
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