Northwell Health, a major New York hospital system, has reported a 75% increase in 9/11-related cancers over the past three years, with 132 new cases identified in the first half of 2026 alone. The system's World Trade Center Health Program has documented a significant rise in diagnoses, accumulating 800 new cases in the 42 months leading up to Tuesday's announcement.
Officials from Northwell Health gathered at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park to highlight this "slow-motion health disaster." The program's 9/11-certified cancer cases grew from 177 in 2023 to at least 235 in 2025. Since its inception in 2013, the program has logged a total of 2,445 cases as of June, a substantial increase from the 1,630 cases recorded in its first decade. The hospital system currently treats nearly 1,500 patients for these illnesses.
This surge in cancer diagnoses comes just ahead of the 25th anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks. It also follows the recent release of 170,000 pages of documents by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, which shed light on the toxic air quality at Ground Zero. These documents suggest that past city officials may have been aware of the risks and potentially misled the public about the safety of the air in downtown Manhattan after the attacks.
"When officials declared the air ‘safe to breathe,’ we knew that couldn’t be true — we saw the dust, smelled the fumes, and understood the environmental catastrophe in front of us," stated Dr. Jacqueline Moline, director of Northwell's WTC Health Program. She emphasized the ongoing need to support and care for all those exposed to the dust and fumes from the World Trade Center.
Nationally, cancer certifications among survivors, downtown Manhattan residents, and workers at or near the World Trade Center site have seen a dramatic increase since the attacks. Reports indicate a rise from 3,204 confirmed cases in 2015 to over 57,000 as of this year, a nearly 1,700% escalation. According to data from the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, approximately 10,000 first responders and survivors have died from illnesses linked to the attacks as of July 31.