(Newswire.net — September 26, 2018) –As the 17th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of 9/11/01 passes, a new worry has emerged for survivors of the tragedy, particularly those from New York City. Many of those survivors were exposed to highly toxic dust that resulted when the Twin Towers succumbed to the impact of the airliners combined with the high-temperature burning jet fuel and collapsed down to the surrounding city streets. Diseases too numerous to count resulted from exposure to this toxic dust, leading to long-term disability and death in many cases and adding to the overall victim count for the attacks.
In the aftermath, a 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund was established to help offset the mounting costs faced by survivors now battling serious illnesses as a result of the attacks and toxic dust exposure. The fund was stocked with a whopping $7.3 billion dollars and initially set to payout funding for victims through 2020. To date, about $4 billion has been paid out to victims, including those suffering from various forms of lung disease from toxic dust inhalation like mesothelioma. Although some $3 billion remains in the fund, both the money and years available for it to payout are rapidly depleting, leaving some to worry if future victims will receive any coverage at all.
Not all illnesses appear right away when exposure and inhalation has occurred. Outlining the history of mesothelioma, Vogelzang Law reveals that National Institutes of Health data indicates that it could be decades after exposure that mesothelioma results. Rupa Bhattacharyya, the special master of the 9/11 Victim’s Compensation Fund, concurs. Addressing the fact that the number of claims made to the fund are growing year over year, she says, “there are diseases with long latency periods. Mesothelioma is one that is talked about often, and you won’t even see it for 15 or 20 years. We won’t see those claims for a while.”
The number of deaths due to the exposure and aftermath continues to grow year over year, as well, according to the same reporting, and the number who have died from resulting illnesses will soon outnumber those who died during the immediate attack itself. This statistic could be fulfilled as soon as the end of 2018. In the meantime, the future of the Fund is surrounded by uncertainty as to whether the timeframe for claims may be extended or any additional funding may be added to help those with diseases that take longer to appear.