So far, that list has more than 90 health conditions. The Zadroga Act created the WTC Health Program, which provides treatment and covers medical expenses for a list of conditions directly linked to 9/11. In January 2011, nearly a decade after the attacks, President Obama signed into law the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010. Read more: Why rheumatoid arthritis is plaguing 9/11 first responders » These include chronic bronchitis, reactive airway disease syndrome, gastroesophageal reflux disease, sleep apnea, and sinusitis so severe that he required surgery.Īccording to the WTC Health Program, more than 37,000 people have at least one medical condition related to the 9/11 attacks. He recalled the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announcing in the days following the terrorist attack that the air was safe to breathe.įifteen years later, McGuire, now 38, suffers from several illnesses certified by the World Trade Center (WTC) Health Program as related to 9/11. McGuire worked in the area as part of the search and rescue effort to find survivors, and later to recover bodies, until the end of October. The enormous mass of debris from the fallen towers, referred to as the Pile, continued to smolder until mid-December, heating and combining the toxins. It held a mixture of toxins and irritants that included asbestos, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), benzene, dioxin, glass fibers, gypsum, cement particles, and heavy metals such as lead, among other substances. That dust, which remained in the air for days, covered everything and everyone in the area. “You couldn’t see what street you were on because the dust was just as thick as snow, and you really didn’t have much vision,” McGuire told Healthline. Together with a group of other off duty firefighters, McGuire, then 23, rushed to lower Manhattan.īy the time they arrived, both towers had collapsed. 11, 2001, he was off duty from his job as an emergency medical technician with the New York City Fire Department (NYFD), when he saw United Airlines Flight 175 hit the south tower.
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