Toxic air quality was being recorded in Manhattan soon after the 9/11 attacks even as officials played down health risks to the public, according to a trove of newly released files
The report indicates that toxic air quality was being recorded in Manhattan soon after the 9/11 attacks even as officials played down health risks to the public, according to a trove of newly released files.
It further notes that asbestos was found “nearly everywhere” tested near Ground Zero, where the World Trade Center towers collapsed in 2001, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said.
“People got sick because the leaders they trusted lied and told them they were safe to breathe in toxic air,” he said, announcing the release of 170,000 documents related to the attacks.
Illnesses related to the dust and smoke from the towers’ collapse have claimed more lives than the nearly 3,000 who died in the attacks, US health officials say.
Thousands of people have experienced health effects like cancer, including many who have died, after breathing in hazardous contaminants after the Twin Towers collapsed.
Speaking alongside Mamdani at Tuesday’s news conference, TV host and 9/11 survivor advocate Jon Stewart stated the new files show the city knew by October 2001 – a month after the terrorist attacks – that the air in Manhattan was toxic.
“So to be fair to them, they only buried that information for 25 years,” he stated sarcastically.
The records show asbestos was found near Ground Zero for months after the attacks at the same time people were being advised it was safe to go there.
The files, which include air-quality reports and communications among city officials, include October 2001 correspondence known as the “Harding Memo”.
In it, an aide warned former Deputy Mayor Robert Harding that the city could face as many as 35,000 legal claims for its response to the attacks.
The document states that the city could be sued because health advisories caused individuals “to return to the area too soon (causing toxic exposure or emotional harm)”.
City officials also told citizens to clean up dust and debris with “wet mops and rags” despite the presence of asbestos, which is only supposed to be cleaned by licensed professionals, according to another memo documenting the concerns of congressman Jerry Nadler.
The memo pointed to testimony from the city’s top health official at the time saying a study had found “no elevated levels of asbestos in indoor air”, but that tests showed dust had “low levels of asbestos in some samples”.
The memo, attributed to Ester Fuchs, a special adviser at the time to Mayor Michael Bloomberg, acknowledged “potential problems for City Hall”.
