World News
2 500 Ground Zero workers has cancer─── 14:44 Mon, 28 Jul 2014
New York - More than 2 500 Ground Zero rescuers and responders have come down with cancer, and a growing number are seeking compensation for their illnesses, The New York Post reports.
The toll has skyrocketed from the 1 140 cancer cases reported last year.
In its latest tally, the World Trade Center Health Program at Mount Sinai Hospital counts 1 655 responders with cancer among the 37 000 cops, hard hats, sanitation workers, other city employees and volunteers it monitors, officials told The Post.
The tragic sum rises to 2 518 when firefighters and EMTs are added. The FDNY, which has its own WTC health program, said Friday it counts 863 members with cancers certified for 9/11-related treatment.
A retired FDNY captain, 63, who toiled non-stop at Ground Zero for a week after 9/11, and months in all, recently received a $1.5 million award from the federal 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund for lung disease and inoperable pancreatic cancer.
He was forced to retire in 2008 after lung damage left him wheezing after fires. Last year, doctors found a huge tumor entwined around arteries: “They couldn’t take it out without killing me,” he said.
So far, 115 cancer claimants have been awarded a total $50.5 million, in sums from $400 000 to $4.1 million.
