World Trade Center First Responders have 15 Percent Higher Cancer Rate

A recent study focuses on the world's most shocking incident that occurred more than a decade ago: the 9/11 attacks. A new report reveals a disturbing fact, stating that the first responders of the Sept. 11 attack have a 15 percent elevated risk of developing cancer.

The report, published in the journal Environmental Health Perspective, was produced by researchers from Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the New York Cancer Registry and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, who observed the risk of cancer in first responders of the 9/11 attack.

The study, "Cancer Incidence in World Trade Center Rescue and Recovery Workers, 2001-2008", was founded on self-reported health information.

The study focused on people who participated in the rescue, cleanup and recovery efforts after the World Trade Center attack. There were 20,984 responders, of which 85 percent were male, 59 percent were white non-Hispanic and 58 percent had never smoked, reports Counsel & Heal.

These people were exposed to a complex mix of several pollutants and carcinogens. The study focused on the first seven years after the attacks. The participants then had a median age of 38 years.

Researchers noticed a 15 percent increased risk for cancer, especially those of the thyroid and prostrate, and certain blood cancers. The researchers warn that the results may be skewed for a number of reasons, however, they suggest that had the attack not occurred, the responders would have had a decreased risk for cancer when compared to the general population.

"WTC responders, like many employed populations, were substantially healthier than the general  population at the time when they began their service at the WTC site, and were therefore at lower risk of cancer than the general US population, which includes persons who are chronically ill, hospitalized, or otherwise unemployable," the researchers were quoted as saying in Counsel & Heal.

The World Trade Center Health Program covers the health issues of most of the first responders.