The danger for first responders, residents, and others present at the site of Ground Zero during and in the immediate aftermath of the devastating September 11, 2001 attacks was extreme, with 2,977 recorded deaths. Many firefighters and other volunteers were injured or even lost their lives.

However, the danger is still not over for these heroes and victims, who may still face substantial 9/11 health hazards. Many who responded to the attacks, worked, or lived there in the following months may have been exposed to dangerous toxins that can cause major complications, including cancer. If you have been diagnosed with cancer because of these 9/11 health hazards, you may be able to pursue compensation for your injuries.

9/11 Health Hazards

After the immediate physical dangers presented by responding to and cleaning up Ground Zero, the site also presented major 9/11 health hazards in the air, like aluminum, asbestos, glass, and burned jet fuel, which may present an increased risk of cancer. Many volunteers and first responders worked constantly for days, weeks, or even months to help with the cleanup effort, leading to hundreds of hours of exposure to significant 9/11 health hazards.

9/11 health hazards may increase the risk of more than 70 types of cancer. Many cancers from these toxins can take many years to emerge. The qualifying cutoff for these cancers is that diagnosis was made at least four years after initial exposure at Ground Zero (though that number drops to one year or more for blood and bone cancers, which develop faster).

Patients diagnosed with one of the dozens of different cancers from exposure to 9/11 health hazards may be eligible for compensation from the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. These cancers include lung cancer, prostate cancer, melanoma, leukemia, brain cancer, sarcoma, and many others. A full list of these cancer types is available on our investigation page.

September 11^th Victim Compensation Fund

The September 11^th Victim Compensation Fund was created to compensate anyone harmed by 9/11 health hazards, out of more than one million people exposed to these toxins.

Those who may have been exposed to 9/11 health hazards, and may be eligible for compensation from this fund include firefighters, police, EMTs, construction and sanitation workers, volunteers, nearby employees and residents, and more. See our investigation page for more specifics on who may be eligible for compensation.

The fund is currently set to stay in operation until 2020.

Filing a Claim Over 9/11 Health Hazards

If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with cancer and were present in the area around Ground Zero sometime between September 11, 2001, and May 31, 2002, you may be eligible for compensation from the September 11^th Victim Compensation Fund. The fund contains billions and is used to compensate those who were harmed by exposure to dangerous toxins at Ground Zero.