Childhood 9/11 survivors get new CDC project for 25th anniversary

Childhood and adolescent survivors of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks are getting renewed attention from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the 25th anniversary of the tragedy.The World Trade Center Health Program, run by the CDC, recently announced the launch of its new Early Life Exposure initiative to investigate the long-term health ramifications for those who were children or in utero during the attacks. The WTC Health Program, created in 2011 during the Obama administration, provides free medical monitoring, diagnostic testing, and treatment for certified physical and mental health conditions related to the terrorist attacks to eligible first responders and survivors. An estimated 400,000 people who lived, worked, or attended school in Lower Manhattan and western Brooklyn at the time, including more than 40,000 children, were exposed to over 350 toxic contaminants, such as asbestos, carbon monoxide, heavy metals, and construction material.Individuals who were under 21 years old or whose mothers became pregnant in the months and weeks after the attacks and lived in the 1.5-mile radius surrounding the World Trade Center at the time of the attack could now be eligible to join the WTC Health Program and participate in the Youth Research Cohort.Captain Matt Karwowski, chief of research and evaluation at the WTC Health Program, told the Washington Examiner in a statement that the CDC’s new effort is intended “to fund the establishment of a research coordinating center dedicated to studying the long-term health and educational outcomes of 9/11 on children and young adults.” “This important initiative will help us and our dedicated clinicians to better understand, detect, diagnose, and provide the best possible care for illnesses that can take years or decades to develop and come to attention,” Karwowski said. In this Sept. 11, 2001 photo, firefighters work beneath destroyed mullions, the vertical struts which once faced the outer walls of the World Trade Center towers, after a terrorist attack on the twin towers in New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan) Chemical and physical contaminants from the attacks lingered in the air of the disaster zone for months following the event. The most common delayed health effects from the toxin exposures include asthma, gastroesophageal reflux disease, chronic respiratory or digestive issues, various types of cancer, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other mental health conditions.According to the WTC Health Program, over 9,000 people have died from illnesses linked to the attacks and their aftermath, a toll now more than triple the 2,977 victims of the terrorist attacks.Many survivors of 9/11, including young adult and childhood survivors, might not connect their current chronic illness to toxin exposure from the event, but awareness of the research and treatment cohorts through the CDC is growing among the survivor community. Rear Admiral Lisa Delaney, director of the WTC Health Program at CDC, said during an address at Mount Sinai hospital in New York City on Sept. 3 that survivor enrollment in the program has grown rapidly in the past several years. At the start of the WTC Health Program in 2011, only 9% of participants were survivors while the rest were first responders, Delaney said. Today, civilian survivors of the attacks account for roughly four in 10 program participants.GUILIANI SCORNS MAMBADNI’S PRESENCE AT 9/11 ANNIVERSARYDelaney said much of the focus now “is raising awareness among people who may not know the program exists or may not realize they are eligible,” especially those who were children at the time. “Young adults are a particular focus because they were so young at the time and may not have the same memories of the attacks or recognize the connection between their exposures and current health conditions,” Delaney said.