The cloud never really cleared

Twenty-five years after the attacks, thousands of people are still developing illnesses researchers tie to the toxins they breathed in lower Manhattan.

What the CDC found

A CDC review in JAMA, published September 10, found exposed people developing multiple conditions at once: cancer, respiratory disease, acid reflux and mental illness.

Illness arrives late

Many of these conditions show up years after the exposure, which is why the researchers argue monitoring cannot be a short-term project.

“underscoring the importance of sustained clinical monitoring and research to address the evolving health needs of the 9/11 population”

9,400 versus 2,977

More than 9,400 people have now died of 9/11-related illness, per the World Trade Center Health Program. The attacks themselves killed 2,977.

57,000 cancer diagnoses

That is the number of cancers the WTC Health Program has certified as linked to the attacks, on top of the deaths already counted.

The queue keeps growing

More than 154,000 responders and survivors were enrolled in the health program as of June 2026, with a median of over 6,500 joining every year since 2012.

Sicker, and more expensive

People directly exposed have more chronic illness and worse quality of life than the general population, plus more disability, harder treatment and higher care costs.

Asbestos, lead, benzene

The collapse and burning jet fuel threw off thousands of tons of particulates and volatile compounds: asbestos, lead, pulverized cement, glass fibers, benzene.

Ground Zero burned for months

Much of the material stayed on site as a six-story pile of smoking rubble that kept burning, on and off, for more than three months.

Alkaline dust goes deep

Dr. Jacqueline Moline says the dust's alkalinity let it reach deep into body tissue, hitting sinuses, throat and lungs on contact.

“So people were breathing this in and it was causing immediate reactions”

From irritation to transplants

Chronic sinus problems, reflux from swallowed mucus, asthma, lung scarring. Some people needed lung transplants. Later came the cancers, especially blood cancers.

170,000 pages, finally public

New York City opened a searchable database of air quality reports, health records and city correspondence, funded with $34 million in Mayor Mamdani's 2027 budget.

“For too long, New Yorkers have had to fight for access to records that should have been available to them in the first place.”

The safe-to-breathe lie

Files show officials found asbestos at least 10 months after the attacks while assuring New Yorkers the air was fine. One memo weighed the city's liability for toxic exposure claims.

“Our warnings were not heeded”