Firefighters who participated in the rescue operation in the twin towers in the United States began to suffer more from cancer than their colleagues who did not participate in the aftermath of the disaster, writes Welt.de. The same trend is observed with respect to asthma and mental disorders. The grave consequences for the health of the victims after the events of September 11 are still not forgotten.
A study shows that after 10 years, it is safe to say that there is an increased cancer risk for firefighters who were on the ground floor of skyscrapers during rescue operations after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.
Thus, for former employees of the rescue service, the risk of getting sick from a malignant tumor is 19 percent higher than for other firefighters who stayed away from toxic dust from the rubble. These results were published in the British medical journal The Lancet. The authors – David Presant and his colleagues from two New York universities – are the leading fire doctors in New York.
Firefighters who took part in rescue operations on the ruins of the twin towers were carefully examined in the first seven years, and it was found that at 9/11, various neoplasms appeared. Among them were diagnosed with cancer of the stomach, colon, prostate, thyroid gland, bladder, kidney and pancreas. However, the number of lung cancer did not increase.
The authors attribute this to the fact that lung cancer is usually detected only after two or more decades.
“In this case, toxic dust and other pathogenic factors are of key importance in the development of cancer,” the Prezant team said. Dust particles such as dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are known to be carcinogenic. Some of these substances can lead not only to the development of cancer, but also to chronic inflammatory processes and autoimmune diseases.
The study involved nearly 9,000 people. These were the specialists of the rescue service.
Other factors affecting the pathogenesis of cancer in patients in the radius of the disaster are also published in The Lancet. 9 out of 11 people experienced asthma and other respiratory diseases, as well as depression, panic disorders and post-traumatic stress. According to Juan P. Wisniveski and his colleagues from the Institute of Medicine in New York at that time, more than 50,000 people worked at the epicenter. In addition to firefighters, police and military, there were also thousands of volunteers involved in the rescue mission.