9/11 Cancer Rates Have Ballooned Over 4,000 Percent – Survivors Now Account for More Cases Than First Responders

The towers are gone in all but memory, but the death brought to New York City 25 years ago on 9/11 continues to impact the city, leaving a trail of victims.

As the nation prepares to mark the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attack, cancer deaths linked to the attack on New York City’s World Trade Center have risen 1,680 percent in a decade.

Cancer certifications among Manhattan workers and residents who were not among the decimated ranks of first responders soared from 3,204 in 2015 to 57,044 this year, the World Trade Center Health Program said, according to the New York Post.

“Sadly, we lose roughly two clients a day and see a new cancer certification every 50 minutes,” lawyer Michael Barasch, whose firm represents thousands of people enrolled in the World Trade Center Health Program, said.

Twenty-four years later, our 9/11 heroes and survivors are still paying the price. Nearly 50,000 are now battling cancer.

Protecting the @WTCHealthPrgm is a moral imperative to honor their sacrifice and ensure they receive the care they earned. https://t.co/rM0ib99ZG4

— Rep. Andrew Garbarino (@RepGarbarino) September 8, 2025

“9/11 did not end on 9/11. The cancer clock is ticking 24/7,” Barasch said.

The toll that rare cancers have taken among first responders has been documented for years, but the new data shows anyone near Ground Zero — whether they worked, lived, or attended school nearby — have now become the majority of cancer victims.

Survivors not working on the Pile at Ground Zero amount to 28,913 of the overall cancer cases. That’s an increase of 4,066 percent from the 694 cases reported 14 years after the attacks in 2015. Responders account for 28,131 of the cancer cases.

Rare cancers have exploded among survivors.

There are a rising number of cases of neuroendocrine cancers, which are rare tumors found in the pancreas, bowel, lungs, or adrenal glands. The number stands at 591 after a 6 percent increase from March through June.

Brain cancer has risen 9 percent in the past quarter.

Recently met a guy who was in the twin towers that day, lost a lot of friends that day, he’s got cancer in three places. It’s crazy to think he survived Korea just to comeback home, survive 9/11 and live to be in his 90’s and get a lot of cancer. https://t.co/CSIYmLrCXo

— The Gunslinger (@PlayerJuan11) August 31, 2026

Although aging among survivors is part of the issue, federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data show that 67 percent of the 145,275 current World Trade Center Health Program members have at least one of 69 cancers linked to toxic substances unleashed when the towers fell.

Leslie Lane, now 76, worked in the World Financial Center Building for Merrill Lynch across from the World Trade Center and was in her office when the planes rammed into the towers.

Lane recalled seeing the “dust cloud” while evacuating.

“You could taste the dust. You could taste the fuel, greasy gas,” she recalled, noting that she returned to the area that November after her office relocated.

She was diagnosed with thymus cancer in 2020.

“Thymus cancer is a very rare form of cancer. I don’t drink. I don’t smoke,” she said.

“For months afterward, you could taste the fuel in the air in the back of your throat and mouth. They kept telling us the air was safe. I don’t think it was.”

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