Report: Cancer rates high for WTC workers

NEW YORK, NY, United States (UPI) — Nearly 300 rescue and recovery workers from the World Trade Center site have been diagnosed with cancer since Sept. 11, 2001, the New York Post reports.

Blood-cell cancers such as leukemia, lymphoma and Hodgkin`s disease are being reported at a much higher rate than normal from World Trade Center rescue workers, attorney David Worby told the Post.

Doctors say these cancers typically strike three to five years after exposure to toxins such as benzene, which was widespread at the Trade Center site due to burning jet fuel, the newspaper said.

Worby`s law firm Worby, Groner, Edelman, & Napoli, has filed a class-action lawsuit with 8,000 participants.

Dr. Robin Herbert of Mount Sinai Hospital would not say the cancers are directly related to the Sept. 11 terror attacks, but told the Post that there have been several ‘red flags.’

Thirty-three workers have died of cancer since the attacks, the newspaper said.

Copyright 2006 by United Press International
Source: news.monstersandcritics.com/northamerica/article_1171945.php/Report_Cancer_rates_high_for_WTC_workers

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