Last month, in advance of the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the office of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani made public a tranche of 170,000 pages of air quality reports and contamination records that had previously sat in a disused city office room for over two decades.
The early analysis of the files indicated that New Yorkers were, at the time, misled about the extent of toxic dust from the collapsed Twin Towers that permeated through Manhattan in the days following the attacks. This airborne material included significant amounts of asbestos, a toxic mineral used in the World Trade Center’s construction and is the only known risk factor for the deadly cancer mesothelioma.
Now, additional analysis of the documents published by The New York Times further underlined the dangers that New Yorkers faced from asbestos in the weeks and months following the attacks, and how local and federal officials ignored and covered up these hazards.
“You see the wishful thinking of decision makers saying, ‘Let’s get back to normal,’” said 9/11 Health Watch lawyer Andrew Carboy in the piece.
More on the 9/11 Asbestos Risks
Today, it is estimated that more people have died from health problems caused by the September 11 attacks than died in the terrorist attacks themselves, as the collapse of the Twin Towers released enormous amounts of toxic dust that caused many types of cancers and other health issues.
Approximately 400 tons of asbestos was used in the construction of the World Trade Center, and several cases of mesothelioma have already been documented in 9/11 survivors despite the disease’s long latency period.
Analysis of these recently released documents suggests that asbestos was more pervasive in and around Manhattan than previously believed. The tranche of documents included accounts of a survey of 30 Lower Manhattan residential buildings performed from Nov.-Dec. 2001, which found asbestos in 18 percent of indoor and 40 percent of outdoor samples, along with numerous other contaminants.
Although these results were shared with residents, they were not publicized more broadly. The city and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finally announced a residential cleaning and testing program in May 2002, but less than 20 percent of eligible homes used the program. By then, most residents had simply cleaned their homes themselves, exposing themselves to asbestos and other toxins.
The New York Times report also described a survey made by industrial hygienists that found elevated levels of asbestos inside apartments within several blocks of the World Trade Center, and warned city officials that residents dusting or vacuuming their homes could expose them to airborne asbestos.
These risks were downplayed publicly by elected officials, as were loose directives for landlords to sample dust for asbestos – this advice was not enforced and often not complied with. In the meantime, thousands of New Yorkers returned to their homes to find them caked in toxic dust.
Future Risks for 9/11-Related Mesothelioma
As we pass the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, it appears likely that the number of documented 9/11-related mesothelioma cases will continue to rise, owing to the disease’s particularly long latency period.
It often takes decades from a person’s asbestos exposure for them to develop mesothelioma symptoms, meaning that we will likely only start to see the full picture in the coming years. However, these documents have indicated that the risk of asbestos exposure, and therefore mesothelioma, may have been much greater in Lower Manhattan than previously believed.
With these details in mind, tracking the evolving phenomenon of 9/11-related mesothelioma will continue to be a major story in the years to come, and will likely add new chapters to the compounding tragedy of September 11.
Sources & Author
- Toxic Dust Was Everywhere After 9/11. Little Was Done for Months. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/08/nyregion/world-trade-center-dust-contamination.html. Accessed on 10/09/2026.
- More People Died of 9/11-Related Illnesses Than in the Initial Attack: Report. Newsweek. Retrieved from https://www.newsweek.com/more-people-died-9-11-related-illnesses-initial-attack-report-1626817. Accessed on 10/09/2026.
- After 9/11, Documents Suggest New Yorkers Were Misled About Air Quality. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/07/nyregion/sept-11-air-quality-cancer.html. Accessed on 10/09/2026.
