Credit: © Rob Schumacher/The Republic via Imagn Content Services, LLC
Syndication: Arizona Republic
NEW YORK (77WABC) — A new report from the CDC says nearly 60% of 9/11 World Trade Center first responders and survivors in a government program now have a medical condition directly linked to their exposures at Ground Zero.
The report is a comprehensive look at the condition of people enrolled in the World Trade Center Health Program, which has provided screening and treatment for those in certain jobs and neighborhoods exposed to toxic chemicals and dust on 9/11. Just over 104,000 people were enrolled as of last year; about three-quarters are first responders and the rest survivors from a designated area around the towers.
Just over 60,000 have at least one certified condition, the CDC said in the report. That is more than double the number as of 2012.
“Continued WTC research has led to better understanding of 9/11 exposures and physical and mental health associations for its members,” says the report. “The research component of the WTC Health Program has guided programmatic decisions on certifying new WTC-related health conditions. Continued research is essential to better understand long-term effects from 9/11 exposures and the treatment of these WTC-related conditions in an aging population.”
Most of the conditions are non-cancerous, such as upper respiratory disease, reflux, COPD, PTSD and depression, and cancerous conditions including skin and male genital cancers. But the fastest growth is in the cancer category which increased more than 1,000% from 2013 to 2020. As of last year, there were more than 12,000 certified WTC-linked cancer cases among first responders alone.
