Increased Risk of Cancer for 9/11 Firefighters
The biggest study of cancer in 9/11 firefighters has been published in this week’s 9/11 edition of The Lancet. The research found a 19-percent increase in the development of cancer in New York firefighters who had been exposed to the toxic 9/11 environment, in comparison to their non-exposed colleagues.
9,853 WTC exposed and non-exposed servicemen were studied over the course over the 7 years following 9/11. The evaluation looked at the potentially harmful materials present at the World Trade Centre site, which included glass fibres, lead, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, cement, dioxins, polychlorinated furans and burning jet fuel. Due to the violence of the destruction these materials all became airborne and so the vast majority of workers at the WTC site would have inhaled them on a daily basis. The equipment used to move the debris and clear the site also produced large amounts of smoke and fuel, which would have had further affects upon the lungs of the firefighters.
The report hopes to highlight potential problems in the firefighter’s future health to allow for quick detection and treatment for those who have already put their lives at risk.
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