Second Wave: People Still Getting Sick 17 Years After 9/11 Attacks – Report

Many residents and workers who volunteered, lived or worked in Lower Manhattan in the days and months following the September 11, 2001 attacks are complaining about “increasing numbers and types of illnesses” according to a new report, just released by the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund (VCF).

According to the report, released on Thursday, the VCF has already awarded $3.6 billion to people who have filed claims since the 9/11 attacks and who happened to be near the twin Towers and were exposed to smoke, debris, toxic dust and chemicals.

The fund has found that just over 19,000 individuals are eligible for compensation because of their connection to the 9/11 attacks.

Seventeen years after the incident, people still suffer from illnesses certified by the World Trade Center (WTC) Health Program as related to 9/11.

These include chronic bronchitis, reactive airway disease syndrome, gastroesophageal reflux disease, sleep apnea, and sinusitis so severe that he required surgery.

The World Trade Center Health Registry estimates about 410,000 people were exposed to a host of toxins including asbestos during the rescue, recovery and clean-up efforts that followed 9/11. People most affected by asbestos at Ground Zero were people assigned to rescue survivors.

According to the WTC Health Program, more than 37,000 people have at least one medical condition related to the 9/11 attacks.

The September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon building in Washington left nearly 3,000 people dead and caused an estimated $10 billion in property and infrastructure damage.

On September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda suicide bombers hijacked four airliners in the United States, sending two to New York's World Trade Center towers and the other two to the Pentagon and, presumably, the White House or the Capitol.

Three planes reached their targets while the fourth crashed in a field near the town of Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

The number of casualties in the 9/11 amounted to 2,977, including 343 firefighters, 60 policemen, and foreigners from 92 countries.