August 25, 2022 – September 11, 2001, changed America, and today we are learning more about the long-term health impacts of unprecedented environmental exposure to carcinogens at the World Trade Center disaster site.
New research suggests that emergency response and recovery workers, law enforcement and construction workers, who reported to the site were exposed to carcinogens that doubled their risk of developing myeloma, a type of cancer.
Ola Landgren, M.D., Ph.D., with Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Health System, and the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY), led the study.
The research details exposure to aerosolized dust and toxic fumes from burning jet fuel and building materials, a toxic dust cloud and other harmful exposures, throughout the clean-up effort that ended the summer of 2002.
Research:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41408-022-00709-2
An initial study published in 2018 showed comparable results. Only, the study participants were male FDNY firefighters, some who researchers say were diagnosed with myeloma at an early age and/or presented with particularly aggressive cancer.
Initial Research:
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaoncology/fullarticle/2678962
