More than 9,500 people have died from illnesses linked to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks — more than three times the 2,977 people killed in the attacks themselves — according to attorney Michael Barasch, managing partner of Barasch & McGarry, a law firm representing more than 40,000 9/11 victims and their families.
“I lose two clients a day, just in my law firm alone, to 9/11 illnesses,” Barasch said in an interview ahead of Friday’s 25th anniversary of the attacks, in which al-Qaeda hijackers crashed passenger jets into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
“Over 9,500 people have now died of 9/11 illnesses. That’s three times as many who died on 9/11,” he said. “So while I get it — a lot of people think that an anniversary is only one day — it’s certainly not the case for the 9/11 community.”
A Fading Memory, A Growing Toll
Barasch said the passage of a quarter-century has produced both a rising health toll and a generation with no direct memory of the attacks. “This is crazy — 100 million Americans have been born since 9/11, and they have no memory of 9/11,” he said.
The Barasch & McGarry Charitable Foundation recently awarded six college scholarships to students whose parents or grandparents died from 9/11-related illnesses. “All six of them told me that none of their schools had taught anything about 9/11,” Barasch said.
Civilians Left Out of Federal Programs
Barasch said he is trying to reach civilians exposed to toxic air in Lower Manhattan who may not know that federal 9/11 health and compensation programs cover more than police officers and firefighters. “It’s not just cops and firefighters,” he said, pointing to roughly 300,000 office workers, 50,000 students and teachers, and 25,000 downtown residents exposed to toxins after the attacks.
He estimated only about 15 percent of eligible civilians have enrolled in the programs. “The frustrating news is that still so many people are not yet enrolled, and it’s almost all the civilians,” he said.
Eligibility can extend to diseases diagnosed years or decades after exposure. The federal system recognizes a presumption covering 69 cancers for qualifying members of the 9/11 community, meaning patients need not independently prove the toxins caused their cancer. “If you were working, living, or going to school downtown, or if you were a responder and you got cancer later, years later, there’s a presumption that it’s caused by your toxin exposure,” Barasch said. “But people don’t realize it.”
The World Trade Center Health Program and the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund have both been extended through 2090, and the health program now serves nearly 150,000 members.
Tensions Over Mayor Mamdani
The anniversary has also stirred political tension within the 9/11 community over New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Barasch said numerous 9/11 family members had told him they do not want Mamdani appearing at commemorative events unless he unequivocally condemns the terrorists responsible for the attacks.
“A lot of family members have told me that until the mayor condemns the terrorists, they don’t want him showing up at any of these events. They don’t understand why he won’t just come out and say that terrorism is wrong.”
Barasch said the anger should not be mistaken for hostility toward Muslims. “We don’t hate Muslims. We don’t blame all Muslims, but we condemn what these people did,” he said. “And the mayor can’t seem willing to even do that.”
He said he hopes Mamdani uses the anniversary to address families directly. “I hope he is a little bit sensitive and listens,” Barasch said, urging the mayor to “come and denounce terrorism, denounce the terrorism that’s happened.” “Until he does,” he added, “he’s not going to be welcomed.”
Barasch also criticized an episode last week in which Mamdani used a ceremonial pen to sign executive orders related to the anniversary before handing it to his chief counsel, Ramzi Kassem, who previously represented an al-Qaeda detainee held at Guantanamo Bay. “For a smart guy, he’s really tone deaf, not realizing how insulting something like that would be,” Barasch said, though he declined to say Mamdani intended to send an inflammatory message. “I think it would be conjecture,” he said. “Even smart people make stupid mistakes… but it nevertheless was insulting.”
Barasch also credited the Mamdani administration for releasing more than 170,000 pages of previously unavailable city records this week concerning air quality, health risks, and the city’s response after the attacks, ending a years-long push by 9/11 health advocates for access to the material. “Mamdani — let’s give him credit,” he said. “I don’t always agree with everything, but give him credit. His administration released those records.”
The city said the release is the first installment of a larger public portal, with more records expected over the coming year. The administration also committed city personnel to helping New Yorkers obtain documents needed to establish eligibility for federal 9/11 health and compensation programs. Barasch urged the city to use that effort to reach civilians who still don’t know they may qualify. “Let’s now do something constructive and let the mayor and the City of New York lead the fight to spread the word to the civilians that you should enroll in these programs,” he said.
Staffing Shortages Slow Care
Barasch also warned that staffing shortages at the World Trade Center Health Program are delaying treatment. Congress authorized 120 doctors, nurses and other staff for the program, he said, but only 82 currently work there, leading to roughly five-month waits for an initial appointment. “Early detection is the key to beating cancer,” he said. “And if you get an appointment early, you’ll get diagnosed earlier.” He called on Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to fill the vacancies: “Please, hire the staff that Congress authorized you to hire.”
“That’s the big story of this 25th remembrance — that 9/11 didn’t end 25 years ago,” Barasch said. “It’s an ongoing story that sadly is still causing so many people to get sick and die.”
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