(GoRealNewsNow.com) – Surpassing the number of department members who died during the 9/11 attacks, officials confirmed that the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) first responders who died from exposure to toxins at Ground Zero have now reached 370.
In the past year alone, 28 more FDNY members have succumbed to 9/11-related illnesses, and officials expect this number to keep rising, especially as federal funding is projected to run out by 2028.
President of the FDNY Uniformed Fire Officers Association, Lieutenant Jim Brosi, is pushing for the 9/11 Responder and Survivor Health Funding Correction Act of 2024, which would extend funding for the World Trade Center Health Program through 2033.
“The risk we run with not having additional funding now, permanent funding, is the further we get away from this tragedy, the less likely people will be sympathetic to the need,” Brosi said.
In addition, the World Trade Center Health Program monitors and treats over 132,000 first responders and survivors from the NYC, Pentagon, and Shanksville, Pennsylvania, sites who are dealing with long-term health effects from 9/11.
However, FDNY Uniformed Firefighters Association President Andrew Ansbro pointed out that lawmakers “habitually seem to underestimate” the number of people joining the program, even years later.
“Every time they go to Washington to get a funding bill, it never gets fully funded. It’s always a piece and they leave a piece on the table,” Ansbro said.
“Plus, with the dramatic improvement in cancer research, every time a new drug comes out, it’s usually much more costly than the drugs that exist currently in the market,” he said.
An analysis of the dust and other hazards at all three sites revealed “numerous toxic substances” that could cause both short—and long-term health conditions. According to the CDC, contaminants linger for months in Lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn.
If passed, the federal legislation would establish a new formula to determine funding through 2090 and boost funding for research on 9/11-related conditions.
As per a fact sheet from co-sponsor U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s office, without additional funding, the program will have to start turning away new applicants as early as 2028.
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