Covid-19 Research

Review Article

Review of Environmental Exposures after the World Trade Center Disaster and its Effects on Health and Disease

Journal of Biomedical Research & Environmental Sciences article abstract with citation details, DOI, publication dates, subject areas, full text links, and references.

View DOI Submit Manuscript

Article Details

Publication record, authors, dates, abstract, and full text access.

Open Access
Article Type Review Article
Subject Environmental Sciences
OCLC JBRES Record
Megha Verma and Aditi Shastri*
Issue: Volume6-Issue8
Pages: 1082-1087
Received: 2025-08-04
Accepted: 2025-08-16
Published: 2025-08-18

Abstract

The World Trade Center (WTC) disaster created an environmental exposure to aerosolized dust and gases that contained various genotoxic and carcinogenic chemicals. Various analyses of the WTC particulate matter have shown that it contained high concentrations of heavy metals, ionics and asbestos derived from pulverized building materials. WTC dust collected from the site also contained organic carcinogens including Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls, polychlorinated dibenzodioxins and other hydrocarbons. These chemicals can lead to DNA damage, contributing to an increased risk of prostate cancer, thyroid cancer, myeloma and other cancers in first responders. Exposure to the dust cloud also potentially led to systemic inflammatory responses that contributed to lung and heart diseases seen in the exposed population. The effects of WTC exposure continue to be felt in first responder and other exposed populations, even many years after the exposure, underscoring the impact of the environment on human health.

FullText HTML FullText PDF DOI: 10.37871/jbres2162 Crossmark

Certificate of Publication

Certificate of Publication

Copyright

© 2025 Megha Verma, et al. Distributed under Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 Creative CommonsAttribution

How to cite this article

Megha Verma, Aditi Shastri. Review of Environmental Exposures after the World Trade Center Disaster and its Effects on Health and Disease. J Biomed Res Environ Sci. 2025 Aug 18; 6(8): 1082-1087. doi: 10.37871/jbres2162, Article ID: JBRES2162, Available at: https://www.jelsciences.com/articles/jbres2162.pdf

Subject area(s)

Environmental ImpactsEnvironmental Contamination

References

  1. Olson DA, Norris GA, Landis MS, Vette AF. Chemical characterization of ambient particulate matter near the World Trade Center: elemental carbon, organic carbon, and mass reconstruction. Environ Sci Technol. 2004 Sep 1;38(17):4465-73. doi: 10.1021/es030689i. PMID: 15461151.
  2. Boffetta P, Hall CB, Todd AC, Goldfarb DG, Schymura MJ, Li J, Cone JE, Zeig-Owens R. Cancer risk among World Trade Center rescue and recovery workers: A review. CA Cancer J Clin. 2022 Jul;72(4):308-314. doi: 10.3322/caac.21723. Epub 2022 Mar 24. PMID: 35325473.
  3. Cleven KL, Rosenzvit C, Nolan A, Zeig-Owens R, Kwon S, Weiden MD, Skerker M, Halpren A, Prezant DJ. Twenty-Year Reflection on the Impact of World Trade Center Exposure on Pulmonary Outcomes in Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY) Rescue and Recovery Workers. Lung. 2021 Dec;199(6):569-578. doi: 10.1007/s00408-021-00493-z. Epub 2021 Nov 11. PMID: 34766209; PMCID: PMC8583580.
  4. Landrigan PJ, Lioy PJ, Thurston G, Berkowitz G, Chen LC, Chillrud SN, Gavett SH, Georgopoulos PG, Geyh AS, Levin S, Perera F, Rappaport SM, Small C; NIEHS World Trade Center Working Group. Health and environmental consequences of the world trade center disaster. Environ Health Perspect. 2004 May;112(6):731-9. doi: 10.1289/ehp.6702. PMID: 15121517; PMCID: PMC1241968.
  5. Lioy PJ, Weisel CP, Millette JR, Eisenreich S, Vallero D, Offenberg J, Buckley B, Turpin B, Zhong M, Cohen MD, Prophete C, Yang I, Stiles R, Chee G, Johnson W, Porcja R, Alimokhtari S, Hale RC, Weschler C, Chen LC. Characterization of the dust/smoke aerosol that settled east of the World Trade Center (WTC) in lower Manhattan after the collapse of the WTC 11 September 2001. Environ Health Perspect. 2002 Jul;110(7):703-14. doi: 10.1289/ehp.02110703. PMID: 12117648; PMCID: PMC1240917.
  6. McGee JK, Chen LC, Cohen MD, Chee GR, Prophete CM, Haykal-Coates N, Wasson SJ, Conner TL, Costa DL, Gavett SH. Chemical analysis of World Trade Center fine particulate matter for use in toxicologic assessment. Environ Health Perspect. 2003 Jun;111(7):972-80. doi: 10.1289/ehp.5930. PMID: 12782501; PMCID: PMC1241534.
  7. Lioy PJ, Georgopoulos P. The anatomy of the exposures that occurred around the World Trade Center site: 9/11 and beyond. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2006 Sep;1076:54-79. doi: 10.1196/annals.1371.002. PMID: 17119193.
  8. Gibb HJ, Lees PS, Pinsky PF, Rooney BC. Lung cancer among workers in chromium chemical production. Am J Ind Med. 2000 Aug;38(2):115-26. doi: 10.1002/1097-0274(200008)38:2<115::aid-ajim1>3.0.co;2-y. PMID: 10893504.
  9. Jackson JS, Rout P. Treasure Island (FL) ineligible companies. Disclosure: Preeti Rout declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies. StatPearls. 2025.
  10. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Methylene chloride toxicity. Am Fam Physician. 1993 Apr;47(5):1159-66. PMID: 8465711.
  11. Swartz E, Stockburger L, Vallero DA. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and other semivolatile organic compounds collected in New York City in response to the events of 9/11. Environ Sci Technol. 2003 Aug 15;37(16):3537-46. doi: 10.1021/es030356l. PMID: 12953863.
  12. Goldfarb DG, Zeig-Owens R, Kristjansson D, Li J, Brackbill RM, Farfel MR, Cone JE, Kahn AR, Qiao B, Schymura MJ, Webber MP, Dasaro CR, Lucchini RG, Todd AC, Prezant DJ, Hall CB, Boffetta P. Cancer survival among World Trade Center rescue and recovery workers: A collaborative cohort study. Am J Ind Med. 2021 Oct;64(10):815-826. doi: 10.1002/ajim.23278. Epub 2021 Jul 19. PMID: 34288025; PMCID: PMC8515734.
  13. Brackbill RM, Kahn AR, Li J, Zeig-Owens R, Goldfarb DG, Skerker M, Farfel MR, Cone JE, Yung J, Walker DJ, Solomon A, Qiao B, Schymura MJ, Dasaro CR, Kristjansson D, Webber MP, Lucchini RG, Todd AC, Prezant DJ, Boffetta P, Hall CB. Combining Three Cohorts of World Trade Center Rescue/Recovery Workers for Assessing Cancer Incidence and Mortality. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Feb 3;18(4):1386. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18041386. PMID: 33546187; PMCID: PMC7913216.
  14. Zeig-Owens R, Goldfarb DG, Luft BJ, Yang X, Murata K, Ramanathan L, Thoren K, Doddi S, Shah UA, Mueller AK, Hall CB, Giricz O, Verma A, Prezant DJ, Landgren O. Myeloma precursor disease (MGUS) among rescue and recovery workers exposed to the World Trade Center disaster. Blood Cancer J. 2022 Aug 22;12(8):120. doi: 10.1038/s41408-022-00709-2. PMID: 35995768; PMCID: PMC9395354.
  15. Landgren O, Zeig-Owens R, Giricz O, Goldfarb D, Murata K, Thoren K, Ramanathan L, Hultcrantz M, Dogan A, Nwankwo G, Steidl U, Pradhan K, Hall CB, Cohen HW, Jaber N, Schwartz T, Crowley L, Crane M, Irby S, Webber MP, Verma A, Prezant DJ. Multiple Myeloma and Its Precursor Disease Among Firefighters Exposed to the World Trade Center Disaster. JAMA Oncol. 2018 Jun 1;4(6):821-827. doi: 10.1001/jamaoncol.2018.0509. PMID: 29710195; PMCID: PMC6145680.
  16. Jasra S, Giricz O, Zeig-Owens R, Pradhan K, Goldfarb DG, Barreto-Galvez A, Silver AJ, Chen J, Sahu S, Gordon-Mitchell S, Choudhary GS, Aluri S, Bhagat TD, Shastri A, Bejan CA, Stockton SS, Spaulding TP, Thiruthuvanathan V, Goto H, Gerhardt J, Haider SH, Veerappan A, Bartenstein M, Nwankwo G, Landgren O, Weiden MD, Lekostaj J, Bender R, Fletcher F, Greenberger L, Ebert BL, Steidl U, Will B, Nolan A, Madireddy A, Savona MR, Prezant DJ, Verma A. High burden of clonal hematopoiesis in first responders exposed to the World Trade Center disaster. Nat Med. 2022 Mar;28(3):468-471. doi: 10.1038/s41591-022-01708-3. Epub 2022 Mar 7. PMID: 35256801; PMCID: PMC9394171.
  17. Goldfarb DG, Hall CB, Choi J, Zeig-Owens R, Cohen HW, Cannon M, Prezant DJ, Weiden MD. Association of Lung Function Decline with All-Cause and Cancer-Cause Mortality after World Trade Center Dust Exposure. Ann Am Thorac Soc. 2023 Aug;20(8):1136-1143. doi: 10.1513/AnnalsATS.202212-1011OC. PMID: 36961515; PMCID: PMC10405606.
  18. Goldfarb DG, Putman B, Lahousse L, Zeig-Owens R, Vaeth BM, Schwartz T, Hall CB, Prezant DJ, Weiden MD. Lung function decline before and after treatment of World Trade Center associated obstructive airways disease with inhaled corticosteroids and long-acting beta agonists. Am J Ind Med. 2021 Oct;64(10):853-860. doi: 10.1002/ajim.23272. Epub 2021 Jul 13. PMID: 34254700; PMCID: PMC9292780.
  19. Gargano LM, Mantilla K, Fairclough M, Yu S, Brackbill RM. Review of Non-Respiratory, Non-Cancer Physical Health Conditions from Exposure to the World Trade Center Disaster. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2018 Feb 3;15(2):253. doi: 10.3390/ijerph15020253. PMID: 29401643; PMCID: PMC5858322.
  20. Cohen HW, Zeig-Owens R, Joe C, Hall CB, Webber MP, Weiden MD, Cleven KL, Jaber N, Skerker M, Yip J, Schwartz T, Prezant DJ. Long-term Cardiovascular Disease Risk Among Firefighters After the World Trade Center Disaster. JAMA Netw Open. 2019 Sep 4;2(9):e199775. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.9775. PMID: 31490535; PMCID: PMC6735414.
  21. Trowbridge JJ, Starczynowski DT. Innate immune pathways and inflammation in hematopoietic aging, clonal hematopoiesis, and MDS. J Exp Med. 2021 Jul 5;218(7):e20201544. doi: 10.1084/jem.20201544. Epub 2021 Jun 15. PMID: 34129017; PMCID: PMC8210621.
  22. Vegivinti CTR, Keesari PR, Veeraballi S, Martins Maia CMP, Mehta AK, Lavu RR, Thakur RK, Tella SH, Patel R, Kakumani VK, Pulakurthi YS, Aluri S, Aggarwal RK, Ramachandra N, Zhao R, Sahu S, Shastri A, Verma A. Role of innate immunological/inflammatory pathways in myelodysplastic syndromes and AML: a narrative review. Exp Hematol Oncol. 2023 Jul 8;12(1):60. doi: 10.1186/s40164-023-00422-1. PMID: 37422676; PMCID: PMC10329313.
  23. Aggarwal RK, Sidoli S, Wang J, Sahu S, Sanawar R, Gupta V, Aluri S, Sukrithan V, Vegivinti CTR, Zavras PD, Verma D, Gordon-Mitchell S, Agarwal B, Verma T, Starczynowski DT, Steidl UG, Shastri A, Halmos B, LaFave LM, Cheng H, Verma A, Zou Y. Smoking-Associated Carcinogen-Induced Inflammation Promotes Lung Carcinogenesis via IRAK4 Activation. Clin Cancer Res. 2025 Feb 17;31(4):746-755. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-24-2182. PMID: 39704655; PMCID: PMC11832316.
  24. Aldrich TK, Gustave J, Hall CB, Cohen HW, Webber MP, Zeig-Owens R, Cosenza K, Christodoulou V, Glass L, Al-Othman F, Weiden MD, Kelly KJ, Prezant DJ. Lung function in rescue workers at the World Trade Center after 7 years. N Engl J Med. 2010 Apr 8;362(14):1263-72. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa0910087. PMID: 20375403; PMCID: PMC4940972.
Publish with JBRES — Peer-reviewed, multidisciplinary Open Access with rapid review, DOI, and global visibility.
Double-Blind CrossRef DOI Discoverable
Submit Manuscript Membership