FDNY Study Reveals Higher Cancer Rates Since 9/11
The results of a study that has not yet been published appears to provide a link between a higher incidence of cancer among firefighters - comparing pre- and post-9/11 rates:
Dr. David Prezant, the Fire Department’s chief medical officer, has found that firefighters who dug for victims at the World Trade Center are getting cancer at a higher rate than firefighters before 9/11 — and some types of cancer are “bizarrely off the charts,” say sources briefed on the seven-year, federally funded study.
Prezant discussed the findings with members of a WTC medical-monitoring committee last month, several attendees said.
He has not yet disclosed the data, but sources say he has cited unusual rises in three blood cancers — leukemia, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and multiple myeloma — as well as esophageal, prostate and thyroid cancers.
The bombshell report, planned for publication around the 10th anniversary of 9/11, would be the first to document a cancer-rate increase among rescue and recovery workers.
The city recently settled lawsuits by 10,000 WTC workers, more than 600 with cancer.
But officials have so far insisted there is no scientific proof that Ground Zero smoke and dust caused cancer.