"Deaths From 9/11 Diseases Will Soon Outnumber Those Lost On That Fateful Day" -Nancy Cutler
Seventeen years out from the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, nearly 10,000 first responders and others who were in the World Trade Center area have been diagnosed with cancer. More than 2,000 deaths have been attributed to 9/11 illnesses. It will get worse. By the end of 2018, many expect that more people will have died from their toxic exposure from 9/11 than were killed on that terrible day. “We’re nervous,” said Michael Crane, MD, MPH, director of the World Trade Center Health Program Clinical Center of Excellence at The Mount Sinai Hospital. The average age of a 9/11 first responder is now about 55. While many people face a cancer diagnosis as they age, the rate of some cancers among first responders is up to 30 percent higher than in the general population, Dr. Crane said.
- Michael Crane, MD, MPH, Associate Professor, Environmental Medicine and Public Health, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Director, World Trade Center Health Program Clinical Center of Excellence, The Mount Sinai Hospital
Additional coverage: