Health and Recovery
The attacks on the Twin Towers caused unprecedented destruction that required a months-long recovery and clean up effort. As of 2009, the identification of human remains found in the areas surrounding the WTC Site is still ongoing. In addition, public health authorities have come to understand the grave health impairments of many workers who toiled in the wreckage of the Towers. Their ailments, caused by breathing carcinogenic and toxic substances in the air at Ground Zero, require expensive long-term monitoring and care. Also, the question remains: who is legally liable for the workers’ sickness and is responsible to pay for their care?
Years after 9/11, the effects of the attacks are still reverberating in these three areas: identification of remains, health effects, and legal issues. Click the links on the sidebar to read the updates on these issues provided by VOICES.
An all-agency honor guard salutes the recovery truck carrying the flag-draped last steel beam as it moves up the ramp from the base of the World Trade Center site, during cleanup site closure ceremony in New York. Thursday, May 30, 2002 |
