Nearly a quarter-century after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center, cancer diagnoses among survivors, residents, workers, and rescue personnel exposed to the disaster site continue to climb at an alarming rate.
According to data from the World Trade Center Health Program, confirmed cancer cases enrolled in the program have risen from 3,204 in 2015 to 57,044 this year, a staggering increase of approximately 1,680% over the past decade.
The figures reveal that at least 9,425 people have already died from illnesses related to exposure following the Twin Towers collapse, more than triple the 2,977 people killed in the attacks themselves.
"September 11 didn't end on September 11. The cancer clock is ticking 24 hours a day," attorney Michael Barasch, who represents thousands of affected individuals, told the New York Post. His firm loses an average of two clients daily, he said, and a new cancer case is certified through the program approximately every 50 minutes.
Leslie Lane, who worked near the Twin Towers and was later diagnosed with a rare thymus gland cancer, described the air quality after the attacks: "You could taste the dust and the fuel." She recalled that "for months you could feel the taste of fuel in the air. They kept telling us the air was safe. I don't think it was safe."
