Seventeen years after the infamous terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 involving the deliberate collision of two commercial airlines into the twin towers in lower Manhattan, 9/11 health effects are still being felt.

According to an article by Sputnik News, the Victim’s Compensation Fund (VCF) which was reopened in 2011 after being closed in 2004, has issued a recent report indicating that up to 19,000 people qualify for 9/11 health effects compensation.

This qualification is because of exposures and subsequent conditions arising as a consequence of living, working, or volunteering in the region of the attacks at that time. To date, the VCF has paid on claims to the tune of $3.6 billion.

These qualifying claimants and other people who haven’t come forward to make claims were subject to breathing and ingesting aluminum, asbestos fibers, burned jet fuel, and glass and concrete particulates to just name a few.

The 9/11 health effects vary, according to the article, and illness severity runs along a continuum from chronic and minor to life-threatening such as bronchitis, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), sleep apnea, sinusitis, and about 70 different types of cancer.

9/11 Health Effects Expected to be Felt for Some Time

There are many types of cancer that take time to develop after various toxic exposures. Mesothelioma, a cancer that is directly related to breathing or ingesting asbestos fibers which were spewed into the air on Sept. 11, 2001, can take up to 30 years after exposure to become activated. It most often ends in the demise of the patient.

While mesothelioma has been identified as one of many 9/11 health effects and is being diagnosed often in those exposed during the attacks or during clean-up, it may take another 13-15 years before the full impact of this cancer is felt.

Cancer diagnoses are many and varied, however, as counted among 9/11 health effects. Here are just some that qualify an individual to make a claim against the VCF:

• Leukemia
• Colon Cancer
• Breast Cancer
• Prostate Cancer
• Thyroid Cancer
• Kidney Cancer
• Brain Cancer
• Melanoma
• Bone Cancer
• Liver Cancer
• Stomach Cancer
• Esophageal Cancer
• Lung Cancer
• Ovarian Cancer
• Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma
• Head, Neck, Nasal, and Mouth Cancers
• Sarcoma
• Non-Melanoma Skin Cancer
• Multiple Myeloma
• Bladder Cancer
• Kidney Cancer

World Trade Center Health Registry Statistics

According to the World Trade Center (WTC) Health Registry, 410,000 individuals were exposed to airborne toxic chemicals and debris during the terrorist attacks and the eight-month cleanup effort which spanned from Sept. 11, 2001-May 31, 2002.

First responders, city workers, paramedics, firefighters, police, and volunteers that worked to rescue survivors seem to be most often diagnosed with asbestos-related illness like mesothelioma.

Other less dramatic 9/11 health effects may beleaguer them, however, and those living, working, or going to school in lower Manhattan at the time. According to the Sputniknews.com article, the WTC health registry estimates that nearly 40,000 people might have a health issue related to this tragic, historical event.

If you lived, worked, or volunteered near Ground Zero from Sept. 11, 2001-May 31, 2002 and have a chronic or acute health condition, you may qualify for compensation from the VCF. The advice of a knowledgeable VCF attorney can help victims get all the compensation they are entitled to.