5 current events tied to the 9/11 terror attacks
3. Tens of thousands of first responders diagnosed with cancer
The official death toll for 9/11 is 2,977 people. That number includes 441 first responders — specifically eight paramedics, 55 military personnel, 71 law enforcement and 343 firefighters.
Since that day, tens of thousands of first responders who worked in Ground Zero have been diagnosed with cancer from exposure to contaminants from the building ruins.
According to a 2018 report by USA Today, by that point, around 10,000 9/11 first responders had been diagnosed with cancer, with more than 2,000 having died of 9/11-related illnesses.
The number has increased, as the World Trade Center Health Program recently estimated that more than 48,000 first responders and others had 9/11-linked cancer diagnoses.
The main diagnoses centered on skin, prostate and breast cancer, reported The New York Post last week, as well as lymphoma, leukemia, thyroid, kidney and bladder, which experts believed to have been triggered by toxic exposure from that day.
