WASHINGTON, December 19 (RIA Novosti) A newly released study has cast doubts on whether the dust, debris and fumes released by the burning wreckage of the World Trade Center twin towers in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks caused a higher prevalence of cancer to those who were exposed, researchers with the New York City Health Department found.
"The operative word is it's early: The majority of cancers take a very long time to develop from exposure to chemicals, it can take years to decades to know for sure," said Steven Stellman co-author of the study in an interview with US News and World Report.
The study, published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, is the most comprehensive assessment of potential World Trade Center-related cancers released to date.
Nearly 56,000 people participated in the study including rescue and recovery workers who were at the World Trade Center location, on barges or at a landfill where debris was taken, as well as residents, workers, students and passers-by exposed to the debris and fumes on the day of the attacks.
Researchers found first responders had a higher rate of prostate, thyroid, and blood cancers than would be expected in the normal population, though the report’s authors said the results should be, “interpreted with caution.”
“Overall, the total number of cancers detected in rescue workers was not significantly different from what would have been expected, though the appearance of those three types of cancer was significantly higher,” Stellman said.
Despite public concern that exposures to debris at Ground Zero may have resulted in increased cancers, the study stopped short of making a direct link, and some findings seemed contradictory.
According to the study, emergency personnel and recovery workers who had prolonged exposure to toxic dust had an increased risk of cancer. But cancers were not more prevalent among these workers, a finding that seemed to contradict the notion that exposure was cancer-causing, an Associated Press analysis of the report found.
The release of these findings comes just months after the US federal government added dozens of cancers to the list of diseases eligible for access to the $4.3 billion World Trade Center compensation fund.
Only cancers diagnosed through 2008 were included in the study, and New York City’s health commissioner, Thomas Farley, told the New York Times the study does not invalidate the government's earlier decision.
"Cancers take 20 years to develop," he told the Times, "and we might see something different 20 years down the line. You don't want to wait 20 to 30 years to get a definitive answer to which people may be suffering today," he said.
