Public Employee Press

Panel: WTC law should cover cancer

On April 2 a vitally important scientific committee recommended that the Zadroga Law for 9/11 victims cover 30 types of cancer.

Controversy and protest arose shortly after the law was enacted when World Trade Center Health Program Administrator Dr. John Howard announced that while many of the first responders and recovery workers exposed to the toxic air of Ground Zero were suffering and dying of cancer, the program would not cover the disease.

The World Trade Center Health Program Scientific/Technical Advisory Committee - known as the STAC panel - was asked to study the issue. Dr. Howard has 60 days to accept or reject the recommendations, said Guille Mejia of the DC 37 Safety Dept., who served on the panel.

The 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, signed into law Jan. 2, 2011, by President Barack Obama, pays in full for medical care for workers exposed at the disaster site, so its coverage rules are matters of life and death and economic survival for thousands of families. The panel voted to exclude brain, prostate, and pancreatic cancers, citing a lack of scientific evidence connecting them with work at Ground Zero.

Mejia explained that imminent publication of major studies by Mt. Sinai Hospital, the city Health Dept. and the Fire Dept. could provide additional support for the panel's recommendations. The Fire Dept. study "is particularly important for our members, because it includes Emergency Medical Service personnel," Mejia said.

"There was disagreement among the committee members as to whether all or some of the cancers should be covered," said Mejia, who had urged covering all of the cancers.

More research needed

The panel voted to support future research. "There are still questions that need to be answered," Mejia said. One of these areas is gender-specific research. "Most studies are done on men. The physiology is different and women react differently to medications. There are no studies yet on exposures and symptoms for women. The FDNY study is important because EMS has a lot of women."

Eight DC 37 members in the Emergency Medical Service have died since their exposure on 9/11. Local 1087 Radio Repair Mechanic Glenford Pennington, 49, died in August 2007 of lymphoma, a form of cancer, after working at Ground Zero and subsequently cleaning equipment used there.

—JL