After nearly 3,000 people died in the September 11th terrorist attacks, many more New Yorkers say they continued to suffer from health problems as a result of bad air quality that caused cancers and other complications.

A September 11th Victim Compensation Fund was set up to help those citizens who continue to experience respiratory and other health problems because of the 9/11 attacks.

After the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001, the public in lower Manhattan was told that the air was safe. Rescue and recovery workers as well as residents were reportedly told by the Environmental Protection Agency that even though there were “low levels of asbestos” in the air and it was safe to breathe.

According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, the EPA’s report stated, “The levels of lead, asbestos and volatile organic compounds in air samples taken Tuesday in Brooklyn, downwind from the World Trade Center site, were not detectable or not of concern.” This was issued just two days after Sept. 11, 2001.

Five days after that, the EPA further reassured residents that the air was safe to breathe and the water was safe to drink. EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman said, “Given the scope of the tragedy from last week, I am glad to reassure the people of New York and Washington, DC that their air is safe to breathe and their water is safe to drink.”

However, reports have indicated that in the days, weeks and months following Sept. 11, 2001, 2,000 tons of asbestos and hundreds of thousands of tons of concrete dust were released into the air of lower Manhattan. Other toxins in the air included glass, burned jet fuel and aluminum.

It is estimated that over 1 million people were exposed to this toxic air during the 8 months it took to clean up the wreckage of the 9/11 tragedy.

In the wake of this exposure to toxic air, residents, first responders and other people in lower Manhattan say they began developing signs of certain cancers. Other people may have also been affected by the toxins released into the air during 9/11 including firefighters, police officers, EMTs, sanitation workers, construction workers, utility workers, city workers, cleaners, volunteers and out-of-state responders, as well as employees and students working or going to school below Canal Street.

A September 11 Victim Compensation Fund has been set up to help those who have been injured as a result of these attacks, including those who have developed cancers as a result of proximity to Ground Zero.

This September 11 Victim Compensation Fund has reached a total of $7.3 billion dollars and was put in place to help those victims and families of victims of the terrorist attacks. These individuals who qualify for the September 11 Victim Compensation Fund include those who were physically hurt by either the attack itself or who have developed long term conditions as a result of being exposed to the air toxins.

Some who have been compensated for their injuries via the September 11 Victim Compensation Fund have received payouts ranging up to millions of dollars.

If a cancer diagnosis was made four years or more after exposure to the toxins, a victim may qualify for the September 11 Victim Compensation Fund. Over seventy types of cancers qualify under this fund.