Children of 9/11 to Finally Receive Major Health Study 25 Years After the Attacks
Nearly 25 years after the September 11 attacks, the U.S. government is launching a CDC-overseen study of children and fetuses exposed to toxic dust and pollutants near the World Trade Center. Researchers will investigate whether childhood or prenatal exposure is linked to health problems emerging decades later.
Authorized by Congress in 2022, the study will compare exposed individuals with similar people who were not exposed. Although locating participants may be difficult, researchers hope the findings will improve protections for children affected by future environmental disasters.
Nearly 25 years after the September 11, 2001 attacks, the U.S. government is preparing a major health study to examine the long-term effects on children who were exposed to the toxic environment surrounding the World Trade Center. About 25,000 children were living or attending school near Lower Manhattan at the time, with thousands more in nearby communities.
Many of those children were exposed to dust and pollutants released when the Twin Towers collapsed. The debris included pulverized concrete, glass fibers, asbestos and other substances. Some of those exposed were infants and toddlers, while others were still in the womb.
Unlike many first responders and adult survivors, most children exposed to the disaster were not included in the major government health studies that followed. As a result, scientists have had limited information about whether childhood exposure could contribute to health problems that emerge decades later.
The new research initiative was authorized by Congress in 2022 and will operate under the oversight of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Researchers are expected to establish a youth research center and identify people who were 21 or younger, or still in the womb, and who lived in Lower Manhattan or Brooklyn around the time of the attacks.
Researchers will compare the health of people who were exposed to the World Trade Center environment with similarly aged people who were not exposed. Scientists hope the study can provide new information about long-term risks, including illnesses that may appear as members of the affected generation enter their 30s and 40s.
Experts say finding participants may be difficult because nearly 25 years have passed and many former children now live across the United States. However, researchers believe the findings could help authorities better protect children exposed to major environmental disasters, including children living through conflicts and war zones today.
