Mamdani releases records on toxic air in New York after 9/11 attacks

The New York City mayor said the document release shows victims were ‘lied to’ about health impacts from the attacks.

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks during a news conference on the release of 9/11-related documents on September 8 [Michael M Santiago/Getty Images via AFP]

Just days before the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks, New York City has released a trove of previously undisclosed documents suggesting government efforts to downplay – or even mislead – residents about dangerous air quality following the attacks.

At a news conference on Tuesday, Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced the publication of 170,000 pages concerning health issues following the collapse of two skyscrapers in the World Trade Center complex, known as the Twin Towers.

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Mamdani said the effort would deliver “accountability around city government’s response to September 11 that New Yorkers have been denied for years”.

His remarks reinforced long-running suspicions that leaders in the United States prematurely allowed workers and residents back into area around Lower Manhattan where the towers fell.

“It would be one thing if government had stood alongside survivors and provided them with everything they needed at every step of the way. And yet, we know that could not be further from what actually happened,” Mamdani said.

“People got sick because the leaders they trusted lied and told them they were safe to breathe in toxic air.”

During the September 11 attacks, the Twin Towers were struck by two hijacked planes, leading to their collapse and the deaths of 2,753 people on site. The destruction sent a cloud of dust across Lower Manhattan. Fires burned in the rubble for months.

Thousands of police officers, firefighters and construction workers spent time working in the soot, often without proper protection.

Within weeks of the collapse, employees and residents were also allowed to return to nearby buildings, including One Liberty Plaza, which had sustained damage during the attacks.

But many of those who worked or lived around the site, known as “Ground Zero”, have seen their health decline in the years since. Some developed respiratory or digestive-system ailments that appeared almost immediately. Others have fallen victim to illnesses that developed over time, including cancer.

The rubble of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, in New York [File: Alexandre Fuchs/AFP]

What’s in the documents?

Tuesday’s release includes a document sent in October 2001 to then-Deputy Mayor Robert Harding, detailing the city’s potential legal exposure after the 9/11 attacks.

The so-called Harding Memo shows officials anticipated as many as 10,000 lawsuits against the city over issues such as “toxic exposure” due to the poor air quality and “faulty” safety equipment.

The Harding Memo also outlined means through which the city could “limit” its liability, including by appealing to Congress to create a fund for victims and requesting indemnification from the US government.

Another memo, released in February 2002, detailed how officials worried that criticism from US Representative Jerry Nadler could open the city up to “major public relations problems” and a “barrage of lawsuits”.

Ester Fuchs, a former special adviser to then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani, pointed to statements from Nadler accusing the government of quashing documents that “showed higher than acceptable levels of asbestos” in the area around the attack.

Fuchs went on to acknowledge that “there is at least a low level of asbestos in the dust in many buildings in lower Manhattan”. She suggested that, if Nadler’s accusations were correct, the city needed to act.

Asbestos, a mineral used in the construction of the Twin Towers, is also a known carcinogen, linked to scarring of the lungs and mesothelioma, a type of cancer.

“At the least, we should discontinue telling people to clean their apartments with wet mops and rags,” Fuchs wrote, referencing guidance the city had previously released.

Why are the documents being released now?

In the months following the attacks, city and federal officials repeatedly reassured residents, workers and first responders that air-quality levels were safe.

But questions about what – and when – the government knew about air contaminants have persisted in the years after.

The release of Tuesday’s documents addresses a lawsuit brought by advocacy groups like 9/11 Health Watch, which sought to bring to light records about public health after the attacks.

Mamdani highlighted that multi-year legal battle during his remarks on Tuesday, slamming past city governments for failing to act in the public interest.

“Administration after administration has ignored those calling for answers and clarity, instead choosing to bury them in legal arguments and in red tape,” Mamdani said. “We will do no such thing.”

The mayor promised more documents would be shared over the next year, suggesting there could be “millions” of additional pages to come.

Appearing alongside Mamdani were survivors and victims advocates, including comedian Jon Stewart.

Stewart paid tribute to the survivors who fought for government transparency while also battling severe medical conditions.

“I’m not saying that the information may have changed the outcomes, unfortunately, for their families,” Stewart said.

“But I guarantee you it would not have been the struggle that it was to get people to recognise that what they all knew and what we all knew who live in downtown Manhattan: that there was poison in the air and on the ground.”

In a statement, 9/11 Health Watch also praised the records’ release, thanking labour unions, community groups and others for their advocacy work.

“For 25 years, four different Mayoral administrations kept from the public, the U.S. Congress, and the City Council documents showing what the City actually knew about the danger of the toxic chemicals in Lower Manhattan and Western Brooklyn,” Benjamin Chevat, the group’s executive director, said.

He underscored that, even as city officials knew of the dangers, they “continued messaging to the public that the air was ‘safe and acceptable’.”

Comedian Jon Stewart speaks on Tuesday during a news conference on the release of documents related to health conditions facing 9/11 survivors and emergency responders [Michael M Santiago/Getty Images via AFP]

How many people were affected?

Nearly 3,000 people died in New York on September 11, 2001, which involved four hijacked planes in total. One hit the Pentagon in Washington, DC, while another crashed into a Pennsylvania field after passengers fought the hijackers.

In the decades since, roughly 4,343 victims have died from illnesses related to the event, according to the World Trade Center Health Program.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates 400,000 people were exposed to toxic contaminants, stressful conditions and situations that put them at risk of physical injury as a result of the attacks.

Mamdani called Tuesday’s document release “the right thing to do”, though it is likely to trigger a wave of new lawsuits against the city for withholding information.

“We hold an obligation each of those New Yorkers to ensure that ‘never forget’ is not just a platitude, but that it is something material,” Mamdani said, citing a common phrase evoked after the 9/11 attack.

Stewart, meanwhile, said the release isn’t just about exposing what the local government knew. It also marks the start of ensuring victims have better access to healthcare moving forward.

“There’s more work to be done,” he said.

纽约市市长表示，公布的文件表明，受害者在袭击造成的健康影响方面被“欺骗”了。

纽约市长佐兰·马姆达尼于9月8日在新闻发布会上就9/11相关文件的发布发表讲话。[Michael M Santiago/Getty Images via AFP]

就在 2001 年 9 月 11 日袭击事件 25 周年纪念日的前几天，纽约市公布了一批此前未公开的文件，这些文件表明，政府曾试图淡化——甚至误导——居民，让他们对袭击事件后危险的空气质量感到担忧。

周二的新闻发布会上，市长佐兰·马姆达尼宣布，在世界贸易中心双子塔倒塌后，将出版 17 万页有关健康问题的资料。

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马姆达尼表示，这项努力将带来“纽约市政府对9·11事件的应对措施的问责制，而纽约市民多年来一直被剥夺了这种问责制”。

他的言论加剧了人们长期以来的怀疑，即美国领导人过早地允许工人和居民返回曼哈顿下城附近双子塔倒塌的地区。

“如果政府能够与幸存者站在一起，在每一步都为他们提供所需的一切，那倒还好。然而，我们知道，实际情况与此相去甚远，”马姆达尼说道。

“人们生病是因为他们信任的领导人撒谎，告诉他们呼吸有毒的空气是安全的。”

在9·11恐怖袭击中，两架被劫持的飞机撞击了世贸双塔，导致双塔倒塌，造成现场2753人死亡。爆炸产生的尘土笼罩了曼哈顿下城。废墟中的大火持续燃烧了数月之久。

成千上万的警察、消防员和建筑工人长时间在烟尘中工作，而且往往缺乏适当的防护措施。

坍塌发生几周后，员工和居民也被允许返回附近的建筑物，包括在袭击中受损的自由广场一号。

但许多曾在世贸中心遗址（即“世贸中心遗址”）附近工作或居住的人，多年来健康状况每况愈下。有些人几乎立即出现了呼吸系统或消化系统疾病。另一些人则罹患了随着时间推移逐渐发展起来的疾病，包括癌症。

2001年9月11日，纽约世界贸易中心的废墟 [图片：Alexandre Fuchs/AFP]

文件里有什么内容？

周二公布的文件包括一份于 2001 年 10 月发送给时任副市长罗伯特·哈丁的文件，详细说明了 9/11 袭击事件后该市可能面临的法律风险。

所谓的哈丁备忘录显示，官员们预计，由于空气质量差导致的“有毒物质暴露”和“有缺陷的”安全设备等问题，该市将面临多达 10,000 起诉讼。

哈丁备忘录还概述了该市可以“限制”其责任的途径，包括呼吁国会设立受害者基金和请求美国政府赔偿。

另一份于 2002 年 2 月发布的备忘录详细说明了官员们如何担心美国众议员杰里·纳德勒的批评可能会使该市面临“重大的公共关系问题”和“大量的诉讼”。

前市长鲁迪·朱利安尼的特别顾问埃斯特·福克斯指出，纳德勒曾发表声明，指责政府压制那些“显示袭击事件发生地附近地区石棉含量高于可接受水平”的文件。

福克斯接着承认，“曼哈顿下城许多建筑物的灰尘中至少含有少量石棉”。她表示，如果纳德勒的指控属实，市政府就需要采取行动。

石棉是建造世贸双塔时使用的一种矿物，它也是一种已知的致癌物，与肺部瘢痕和间皮瘤（一种癌症）有关。

“至少，我们应该停止告诉人们用湿拖把和抹布清洁公寓，”福克斯写道，他指的是该市之前发布的指导意见。

为什么现在才公布这些文件？

在袭击发生后的几个月里，市级和联邦官员反复向居民、工人和应急人员保证，空气质量水平是安全的。

但此后多年，人们一直质疑政府对空气污染物了解多少，以及何时了解的。

周二公布的文件回应了 9/11 健康观察组织等倡导团体提起的诉讼，这些团体试图公开袭击事件后公共卫生方面的记录。

马姆达尼在周二的讲话中重点提到了这场持续多年的法律斗争，并抨击历届市政府未能维护公众利益。

“历届政府都对那些要求给出答案和澄清的人们置之不理，反而选择用法律论证和繁文缛节来掩盖真相，”马姆达尼说。“我们绝不会这样做。”

市长承诺将在未来一年内分享更多文件，暗示未来可能会有“数百万页”的文件公布。

与马姆达尼一同亮相的还有幸存者和受害者权益倡导者，其中包括喜剧演员乔恩·斯图尔特。

斯图尔特向那些在与严重疾病作斗争的同时，还为政府透明度而奋斗的幸存者们致敬。

“我并不是说这些信息可能会改变他们家庭的命运，很遗憾，”斯图尔特说。

“但我可以向你保证，让人们认识到他们都知道、我们这些住在曼哈顿市中心的人都知道的事情——空气中和地面上都有毒物——就不会像现在这样困难了。”

9/11 健康观察组织在一份声明中也对这些记录的公布表示赞赏，并感谢工会、社区团体和其他人士的倡导工作。

“25年来，四届不同的市长政府一直向公众、美国国会和市议会隐瞒文件，这些文件显示了纽约市政府对曼哈顿下城和布鲁克林西部有毒化学品的危险性究竟了解多少，”该组织的执行主任本杰明·谢瓦特说。

他强调，即使市政府官员知道存在危险，他们仍然“继续向公众传达空气‘安全且可以接受’的信息”。

周二，喜剧演员乔恩·斯图尔特在新闻发布会上就9/11事件幸存者和应急人员的健康状况相关文件的发布发表讲话。[Michael M Santiago/Getty Images via AFP]

有多少人受到影响？

2001年9月11日，纽约发生恐怖袭击事件，造成近3000人死亡，总共有四架飞机被劫持。其中一架撞向了华盛顿特区的五角大楼，另一架在乘客与劫机者搏斗后坠毁在宾夕法尼亚州的一片田野里。

据世界贸易中心健康计划称，此后的几十年里，大约有 4343 名受害者死于与该事件相关的疾病。

美国疾病控制与预防中心 (CDC) 估计，袭击事件导致 40 万人接触到有毒污染物、压力环境和可能造成人身伤害的情况。

马姆达尼称周二公布的文件是“正确的做法”，但这很可能会引发一波针对该市隐瞒信息的新诉讼。

“我们每个纽约市民都有义务确保‘永不忘记’不仅仅是一句空话，而是切实行动起来，”马姆达尼说道，他引用了9/11袭击后经常被提及的一句短语。

与此同时，斯图尔特表示，此次发布不仅仅是为了揭露地方政府的知情情况，也标志着确保受害者今后能更好地获得医疗保健服务的开始。

“还有更多工作要做，”他说。