New battle for ailing first responders

Thousands of heroic New York City police officers, firefighters and paramedics who rushed to help others after the Sept 11 terror attacks 20 years ago, are now fighting for their own lives after contracting 9/11-related cancers and COVID-19.

The first responders, who searched for survivors in the collapsed World Trade Center rubble in 2001 after terrorists flew two planes into the Twin Towers, inhaled dust, noxious gases, particulates, chemicals and fibers from the debris.

They have since been diagnosed with 70 types of cancers, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, which runs the federally mandated WTC Health Program.