9/11: 20 Years Later
Firemen work around the World Trade Center after both towers collapsed.
Long-term risks still haunt 9/11 survivors
BY BEN VERDE
Twenty years after 9/11, health risks
are as prevalent as ever forfi rst
responders and survivors.
For New Yorkers exposed to the toxic
air in lower Manhattan in the aftermath of
the World Trade Center attacks, 9/11 never
ended, says attorney Michael Barasch, who
represents thousands of victims.
“Not a day goes by without one of my
clients dying,” he said.
In the months after, while fi rst responders
worked at Ground Zero, aware of the
risks it carried, thousands of offi ce workers
returned to lower Manhattan, assured by
the government that the air was safe to
breathe — a fatal mistake, according to
Barasch.
“The air is safe to breathe — that was a
lie,” he said. “The government wanted to
reopen Wall Street, they wanted people to
come back to their homes to their schools
to their places of work, to show our enemy
how resilient we are.As a result, a huge
price was paid.”
Now, that price has folded out in the
form of over 400,000 non fi rst-responders
who have been diagnosed with a respiratory
illness traceable to being in Lower
Manhattan after the attacks.
Many victims have found themselves
growing ill over a decade after the attack,
like fi refi ghter William Gormley of Engine
310/Ladder 174 in East Flatbush. Gormley
spent months working at Ground Zero
after the collapse and arrived home safely,
only to develop bladder cancer in 2016 and
die in 2017 at the age of 53.
His untimely death inspired his daughter
Bridget Gormley to dedicate herself to
raising awareness about the prevalence of
post-9/11 illnesses among fi rst responders
and survivors, which she says even she was
blind to before her father’s death.
“I was a bit ignorant of the post-9/11
health crises,” she said. “This ignorance
really threw me for a loop.”
‘Our own government lies to
people’
While the coronavirus pandemic poses
a health risk to all Americans, particularly
the immunocompromised, 9/11 survivors
have faced particular peril. With COVID
19 attacking the respiratory system,
those with preexisting respiratory conditions
are especially vulnerable.
But with a life-saving vaccine widely
available, many survivors have opted not
to take it, borne out of a distrust in the
government that authorized it —the same
government that told them it was safe to be
in lower Manhattan.
That mistrust pared with the government’s
downplaying of the virus in 2019
— with then-President Donald Trump
insisting it was an unserious fl u that would
one day disappear despite knowing this to
be untrue — has made many reluctant to
take the vaccine, according to Barasch.
“That’s twice in the past twenty years
that our government has lied to us,” Barasch
said. “So now when the government
comes out and says the vaccination is safe
—no wonder so many people don’t trust
the government.”
By the numbers
While 2,751 people died in the attacks
of 9/11, that tragic number will soon be
REUTERS
eclipsed by the number of individuals who
have since perished from disease linked to
their presence at Ground Zero.
According to the non-profi t Cancer
Center,over 2,000 individualshave already
succumb to illnesses attributable to 9/11-related
sicknesses.
In a study of fi rst responders that were
at Ground Zero, the center found that
they were getting cancer at a stunning a 9
percent higher rate when compared with
the general public — representing just one
type of sickness related to the toxins at the
rubble site.
In chastising members of Congress in
June 2019, one fi rst responder who had developed
cancer — retired NYPD Detective
Luis Alvarez —blasted the legislatorsfor
underfunding the compensation fund while
visibly ailing.
“You made me come down here the day
before my 69th round of chemo, and I’m
going to make sure that you never forget
to take care of the 9/11 fi rst responders,”
he said.
Alvarez died a week later.
Additional reporting by Aidan Graham
Schneps Mediia September 9, 2021 15