US to study health of people who were under 22 at the time of 9/11
In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) plan to seek researchers to establish a coordinating center that will study the health of people who were aged 21 or younger, or were in utero, at the time of the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York. This was reported by the Jerusalem Post.
Who they plan to involve
Researchers are to establish the World Trade Center Youth Research Coordinating Center, form a research cohort, and track its participants. Under CDC criteria, the cohort may include people who were no older than 21 on September 11, 2001, as well as those who were in utero at the time and lived on or after that date below 14th Street in Manhattan or anywhere in Brooklyn.
For comparison, they plan to involve people of the same age who were not exposed in this way. The number of participants has not yet been determined. A CDC representative said that total funding for the program could reach $50 million, with July 1, 2027, as the projected project start date.
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Possible long-term consequences
After the destruction of the World Trade Center towers, approximately 25,000 children lived or attended school nearby in Lower Manhattan, while thousands more were in surrounding areas. In the first days and weeks after the towers collapsed, they were exposed to a toxic cloud and dust containing pulverized concrete, fiberglass, asbestos, and other pollutants.
Only a small number of these children were included in government health monitoring programs for people affected by the attacks, which were mainly focused on rescue workers and other adults. Scientists are still determining whether toxins and psychological trauma may have increased long-term risks of cancer and cardiovascular disease, as well as reproductive health problems.
According to the publication, the effects of exposure on children have so far been studied only in small-scale research. Dr. Joan Reibman of NYU Langone Medical Center noted that support from community organizations is needed to recruit participants, as potential participants now live in different US states.
