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9/11 male breast cancer is a new phenomenon among men exposed to 9/11 toxins at Ground Zero.
In the 17 years since the 9/11 tragedy, individuals who were present in the Ground Zero exposure area — some 500,000 of them, according to The Congressional Budget Office — are still discovering the impact of the thick dust and environmental contaminants that blanketed Lower Manhattan.
Among those still dealing with the fallout of the tragedy are 15 men who have since been diagnosed with 9/11 male breast cancer, a condition which has historically only affected 1 percent of males. Of these 15 men, five were first responders who worked at Ground Zero right after the terror attack, while the remaining 10 worked or attended school in the area.
These men suffering from 9/11 male breast cancer aren’t alone in their alarming statistics. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), rates of Hodgkin’s lymphoma are more than 50 per cent higher among emergency responders to the World Trade Center attacks than they are in the general population, and since 2001, thousands of other exposed individuals have and continue to come forward with illnesses triggered by their proximity to Ground Zero, including a broad range of cancers, asthma and respiratory conditions, gastrointestinal illnesses, and more. As seen with the medical fallout of other chemical/contaminant-related tragedies throughout history, such as Hiroshima in 1945 and Chernobyl in 1986, these illnesses have since been directly linked to 9/11 exposure.
9/11 Health Conditions
In light of the fact that many of the health conditions triggered by 9/11 take time to surface (for example, some 10,000 known cases of 9/11-related cancer have been diagnosed in just the last five years) and with a growing number of exposed individuals coming forward with 9/11-related health issues over the years, the federal government established the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act in 2010 to provide and fund medical monitoring and treatment for responders and survivors who suffered or will experience health complications related to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The Act led to the creation of the World Trade Health Center Program, which provides medical testing and treatment, and reactivated the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund (VCF), which has provided for over $7 billion in compensation and has already paid out more than $3.3 billion in medical claims to eligible first responders and survivors since 2011.
Since passage of the act, roughly 29,000 claims have been submitted and more than 14,000 victims and families of victims have received compensation from the VCF, with the average dollar value of all awards amounting to over $223,000; the largest award to-date totaled more than $4.1 million and Pitta & Baione LLP successfully obtained a 9/11 VCF award totaling over $3 million for a cancer victim they represented who was exposed to 9/11 toxins while working in an office building in Lower Manhattan during the months following the tragedy.
9/11 Male Breast Cancer and the World Trade Center Health Program
However, while this overall level of registration and claim activity may appear robust, it actually only represents a fraction of the population of affected individuals — specifically, the roughly 89,000 registrants to the World Trade Center Health Program and 29,000 claims submitted to the VCF to-date represent just 18 percent and 6 percent of the 500,000 people exposed, respectively. For the vast majority of exposed individuals who haven’t registered with the WTC Health Program or are unaware of the opportunities available to them to receive free medical monitoring and possible financial compensation for health issues they’ve endured or may suffer in the future, time is running out, as the current deadline to submit claims to the VCF is Dec. 18, 2020.
Male breast cancer is very rare and the incidence of these recent cases among those who were exposed during 9/11 confirms that the nation is still finding out how vicious and far-reaching that dust cloud was 17 years ago. Individuals located in the exposure zone between Sept. 11, 2001 and May 30, 2002 are encouraged to register with the World Trade Center Health Program, capitalize on free medical monitoring and treatment for a condition linked to 9/11 exposure, and investigate their eligibility for financial benefits; families of those who suffered from a 9/11-related condition during their lifetime and have since passed may also be eligible for compensation.
Time is of the essence, so take the important steps to preserve your health and investigate VCF benefits that may be owed to you before the Dec. 18, 2020 deadline.
Contact the 9/11 Attorneys at Pitta & Baione LLP at (844) 982-2667 (982-2667) or email them at info@pittabaione.com for more information regarding 9/11 male breast cancer and health and compensation benefits for 9/11-related illnesses.
