The dust, the sick and the fund

The EPA inspector general found that when the agency announced on 18 September 2001 that the air was “safe” to breathe, “it did not have sufficient data and analyses to make such a blanket statement,” with data lacking for particulate matter and PCBs. It found the White House Council on Environmental Quality convinced EPA “to add reassuring statements and delete cautionary ones,” and that the desire to reopen Wall Street also played a role. [1]

In September 2023 the FDNY said 343 of its members had died of 9/11-related illnesses, matching the number killed on the day; some 11,000 current and former employees had 9/11-related illnesses, 3,500 with cancer. [1] By the 25th anniversary the department counted 453. [2][3]

The World Trade Center Health Program was created in 2011 under the Zadroga Act, reauthorized in 2015 and extended through 2090. [1] In February 2026 Congress approved a fix to head off a projected multibillion-dollar shortfall. [2] The separate Victim Compensation Fund was fully funded in July 2019, with claims accepted until 1 October 2090. It covers people who lived, worked or went to school in the exposure zone, not just responders. [3]