9/11 Firefighters at Higher Cancer Risk
Well, it has been almost ten years to the day that the awful thing that changed America forever happened. 9/11 happened almost ten years ago to the day. It will be the ten year anniversary of this tragic event tomorrow. It is forever ingrained in the American psyche as a day that will live in infamy not because of any greatness, but because we were all so dumbfounded that this could happen in such a great country.
The brave firefighters who helped people out of the burning building are now under a new threat, and it is becoming more apparent after the events unfolded and it has been several years that any toxic effects of the fumes they inhaled may actually be something to worry about.
The new study that was recently published showed that the firefighters who were involved in the 9/11 mission to help rescue people from the World Trade Center, have about a nineteen percent higher risk of developing cancer of all kinds than their coworkers who did not work on this event.
The fumes they were exposed to, and the victims were exposed to, included a lot of volatile chemical compounds that, when they enter the body can have cell altering effects and causing cancer to spawn from healthy cells. Often times, when something happens of this nature, it can take years for the true damage of the exposure to surface, and apparently now researchers are starting to piece it together.
Not only has there been a higher rate of many different kinds of cancer among the 9/11 workers, but there has also been a higher occurrence of respiratory disease and problems that are associate with lung inhalation of several toxic agents found in the biproducts of burning materials.
These chemicals that they were exposed to are known cancer causing agents, or carcinogens. They include but are not limited to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls and dioxins.
Because of contact, inhalation, and subsequent blood stream absorption of these chemicals, people’s cells can alter and begin to mutate and become cancerous. It may not happen to everyone exposed, but it certainly does make one’s chances higher of developing cancers and health issues associated to toxin exposure.
This is a sad state of affairs, but there may not have been more that could be done to protect these brave workers. They all wear protective masks, but the scope and breadth of the 9/11 event was just too hostile and penetrating to overcome realistically with simple masks.