Just four months before the sixth anniversary of the World Trade Center attack in New York City on 9/11/01, the death toll of that fateful day has just climbed by one after New York officials announced the first reported death blamed on dust from the terrorist attack.
Felicia Dunn-Jones of Staten Island, New York died February 10, 2002; at the time, the cause of death was determined to be sarcoidosis with cardiac involvement. The New York City Chief Medical Examiner has concluded that Mrs. Dunn-Jones’ exposure to WTC dust on 9/11 contributed to her death, and her death has now been ruled a homicide.
This ruling on Mrs. Dunn-Jones is the first to be directly linked to the dust and certainly will incite further review of other similar cases. To date, there are thousands of people with 9/11-related illnesses, and for years, doctors have asserted the Ground Zero dust was extremely harmful and even deadly. As time goes by and cases are examined more closely, the death toll from the attacks of 9/11 will surely rise, perhaps into the hundreds of thousands.
Over 700,000 people have added their names to a registry of those who believe they were exposed to toxic substances; the actual figure could be smaller, or it could run into millions – 10,000 of them so far have filed court claims. In the year following the attacks, firefighters developed sarcoidosis at five times the rate they had done so before; 26 firefighters who were working at Ground Zero within 72 hours of the attack subsequently developed the disease, according to the findings of a study published last month in the medical journal Chest Physician.
The first 34 floors of the twin towers contained asbestos sprayed on beams, floors and ceilings as fire retardants. More than 2,500 other contaminants were released into the air on 9/11, including fiberglass, mercury, cadmium, lead, dioxin, crystalline silicon and benzene – substances which, when breathed in, can cause cancer, cardiac, kidney, liver and neurological diseases, and pulmonary disorders such as asthma.
If you or a loved one has suffered or been killed due to the inhalation of toxic air, please visit the website of experienced Mesothelioma Litigation Attorney Peter G. Angelos.
