September 13, 2011 9/11 World Trade Center Responders: Cancer
Victims and Compensation The tenth anniversary of the 9/11
tragedies has drawn attention to the government’s response to
victims of exposure to pollution during rescue/cleanup
operations at the World Trade Center (WTC). Over the years,
Congress created federal compensation and insurance funds as
well as nine federally funded programs that attempt to address
responder health issues, described neatly in a background memo
issued by the office of Representative Carolyn Maloney. The
centerpiece legislation was the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and
Compensation Act, providing for health care and compensation for
New Yorkers who have been sickened by the dust from WTC attacks.
Its price tag was to $4.2 billion. The challenge is to determine
which health problems were caused by activities at the WTC, thus
compensable under the Zadroga Act. Respiratory illnesses and
other serious diseases were among the suspected problems, with
cancer capturing the most recent