New York Releases 9/11 Records Showing Asbestos Risks Near Ground Zero
Newly released New York records show officials found asbestos and other toxins months after the Sept. 11 attack while assuring the public the air near Ground Zero was safe. The documents are renewing accusations of concealment before the 25th anniversary.
More than 170,000 pages of newly released historical documents show that New York officials continued to find evidence of asbestos and other hazardous substances months after the Sept. 11, 2001 attack, even as the public was repeatedly told the air around Ground Zero was safe to breathe.
The documents, reported by The New York Times, were discovered only last year after spending more than two decades in 68 boxes kept out of public view in a municipal office. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani ordered their full publication on an online portal ahead of the 25th anniversary of the attack.
The records offer a detailed look at the chaotic period in which city leaders tried to balance the recovery of Lower Manhattan with fears of further terrorism and toxins left in the air. They significantly reinforce long-standing claims that residents, workers and rescue personnel were sent back to Ground Zero before it was safe, exposing them to life-threatening risks.
The consequences of that decision have been severe. The prevailing estimate today is that the number of people who died from attack-related illnesses, including lung cancer, blood cancer and heart disease, exceeds the nearly 3,000 people killed on the day of the disaster itself.
Evidence found months later
According to the report, health officials were still finding evidence of asbestos 10 months after the attack at a distance of about 800 meters from the disaster site. Reports on a building at 15 John Street, located less than 1.6 kilometers from the site, documented asbestos on the building facade, on the roof and on electrical cables months after the collapse.
Other carcinogenic substances, including benzene, were also measured at troubling levels elsewhere in Manhattan and at the debris disposal site on Staten Island.
Legal battle and renewed accusations
The release of the documents follows, in part, a legal campaign by the group 9/11 Health Watch. The organization says authorities were aware of the chemical danger but continued telling the public that the air was "safe and acceptable."
Congressman Jerrold Nadler commented on the findings and accused the authorities, led at the time by then-Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, of being concerned only with reopening Wall Street while completely disregarding public health. Christine Todd Whitman, who headed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency at the time, had also insisted that the air was safe, a claim for which she has since apologized.
Families say the damage continues
For victims' families, the disclosures reopen old wounds. Denise Varese, who lost her firefighter husband to lymphoma in 2022, summed up the continuing tragedy in an interview with The New York Times:
"They promised them the air quality was perfectly fine. I don't understand why they hid it in the first place. It's shocking that after 25 years, people are still continuing to get sick and die."
