A greater risk of liver disease is among the WTC related health conditions associated with first responders who acted to save others on 9/11.

Clinical Imaging published a study that indicates World Trade Center first responders develop liver disease three times more than non-WTC responders. Researchers looked at the number of people suffering from moderate to severe hepatic steatosis, commonly known as a fatty liver.

The study was led by Xiangmeng Chen of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. He and colleagues also noted the WTC first responders with liver disease had higher body mass indexes (BMI) and were former smokers. The newly discovered link of liver disease to 9/11 experiences was found when low-dose, non-contrast CT scans were taken on the patients for lung cancer screening.

Most patients diagnosed with a fatty liver are advised to lose weight, according to WebMD, which says losing three to five percent of body weight can reduce inflammation, fat content and scarring of the liver.

Reasons Why Liver Disease Among WTC Related Health Conditions

The liver works in 500 ways to maintain overall health, according to Hellan Kwon, M.D., a clinical assistant professor of hepatology at the University of Michigan.

Among the liver’s many duties is filtering toxins and allowing them to be flushed from the body through the urine or stool.

Not only the number of toxins, but also the sheer volume of them in the air following the 9/11 attacks in New York City have left many first responders fighting the health repercussions today. People who lived, worked, and/or went to school near Ground Zero in the days, weeks, and months after the attacks were exposed to particles of fiberglass, asbestos, mercury, benzene and billowing clouds of burning jet fuel.

Between 300 and 400 tons of asbestos was used to build the World Trade Center, according to estimates from the Natural Resources Defense Council.

The 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund (VCF) allows first responders and survivors of 9/11 to receive financial assistance to cope with eligible medical problems linked to the attacks on the Twin Towers. The claim deadline has been extended to Oct. 1, 2090, with funds appropriated to cover all eligible claims, per the Never Forget the Heroes: James Zadroga, Ray Pfeifer, and Luis Alvarez Permanent Authorization Act.

Prior to the signing of the Permanent Authorization Act, the VCF was running very low on funds. As a result, some claims submitted for WTC related health conditions were reduced by 50 to 75 percent. Within six months of the implementation of the newly approved funding, the VCF restored the reduced awards to what they would have been if they had not been filed when the money was scarce.

The 9/11 exposure zone includes the area in Manhattan south of the line that runs along Canal Street from the Hudson River. According to the VCF’s annual report, 61 percent of compensation determinations were awarded for non-cancer medical ailments, 20 percent were for cancer only, and 19 percent were for a combination of cancer and non-cancer medical diagnoses. By the end of 2019, the VCF had awarded a cumulative total of almost $6 billion to about 26,000 claimants.