Twenty-five years after the September 11 attacks, new data indicate that cancer diagnoses considered related to World Trade Center (WTC) exposure are continuing to emerge, highlighting the long latency of some malignancies associated with the disaster. 

Northwell Health’s World Trade Center Health Program recently reported ongoing 9/11-certified cancer diagnoses, with 177 cases reported in 2023, 235 in 2025, and another 132 through the first half of 2026. 

“A quarter century allows the long-term health effects of such an exposure to become clear,” Steven Phillips, MD, MPH, a vice president at the COVID Collaborative, wrote in a JAMA Internal Medicine Viewpoint. “Cancers of long latency, mesothelioma among them, are only now entering their expected windows for diagnosis.” 

The 9/11 attacks exposed roughly 400,000 people to the dust, smoke, and combustion products of lower Manhattan, Phillips explained. The federal WTC Health Program was established shortly after to provide no-cost monitoring and treatment for conditions formally deemed related to 9/11 exposure. 

Since the federal WTC Health Program began, cancer has been the most frequently certified condition, with more than 57,000 documented cases. Nonmelanoma skin cancers are the most common, followed by prostate and breast cancer and melanoma. Thyroid, kidney, lung, bladder, hematologic, and other rare malignancies have also been certified.

Over the 42 months through June 2026, Northwell Health — one of the federally funded New York metro organizations to offer free diagnosis and treatment — reported 811 cancer cases, compared with 1634 during the program’s first decade, from 2013 to 2022. Prostate and skin cancers were the most common, followed by breast and urinary tract malignancies. 

Research has also shown elevated cancer incidence among 9/11 responders. A 2020 paper reported higher-than-expected incidence for all cancer sites combined and for prostate, thyroid, and leukemia. 

“Our fear is that cancer diagnoses will only rise as we move into the next 25 years,” said Jacqueline Moline, MD, director of Northwell WTC Health Program, in Northwell Health’s report.

Despite the ongoing health impacts among responders and survivors, the WTC Health Program provides an important potential benefit: access to no-cost monitoring and treatment.

“Although WTC exposures are associated with increased disease risks, access to no-cost care for covered conditions may improve survival,” wrote Alejandro Azofeifa, PhD, DDS, MPH, and colleagues at the WTC Health Program in a JAMA paper reflecting on lessons learned in the 25 years since the attacks.

Screening rates for breast, cervical, colorectal, and lung cancer were high in the program. In 2024, a little more than half of eligible program members underwent lung cancer screening, while the rate was 18% in the US population in 2022, Azofeifa and colleagues noted. 

The authors also pointed to a 2021 analysis that found that WTC responders with cancer who participated in the program had lower cancer-specific mortality (hazard ratio [HR], 0.72) and all-cause mortality (HR, 0.64) than the New York State nonresponder population. 

If an eligible individual is not yet enrolled, clinicians should be aware of the exposure history and “guide them toward the program,” Phillips wrote. 

Phillips explained that many eligible individuals may no longer live near New York or may not connect current illnesses with past exposures, making exposure history an important part of clinical assessment.

His advice: “Ask the question, and let the answer inform the care.” 

Phillips, Moline, and Azofeifa reported no relevant disclosures. 

Alicia Ault is a Saint Petersburg, Florida-based freelance journalist whose work has appeared in many health and science publications, including Smithsonian.com. You can find her on X @aliciaault and on Bluesky @aliciaault.bsky.social.