Congressmen Dan Goldman and Jerry Nadler Urge Mayor Adams to Release Records of City’s Knowledge of the Scope of 9/11 Health Threats to First Responders and Survivors

New York City Has Repeatedly Refused to Release Records of the Giuliani Administration’s Knowledge of Risk Posed by 9/11 Toxins

Giuliani Administration Maintained that Ground Zero was Safe to Breathe, While Making Private Predictions of Thousands of Toxic Exposure Claims

New York, NY — Congressman Dan Goldman (NY-10) and Congressman Jerry Nadler (NY-12) once again wrote to New York City Mayor Eric Adams calling for the city to release any documents related to 9/11 from the period of September 11, 2001 through the spring of 2002—and provide injured and ill 9/11 responders and survivors answers about what the City knew about the health threats posed by the toxins around Ground Zero following the 9/11 attack. Early records of the toxic materials at the site could provide victims and their doctors key insights into health threats that first responders were exposed to, opening the door for more effective treatments.

"In the wake of the worst terrorist attack in American history, survivors and first responders were promised that the air was safe to breathe, and that Lower Manhattan was free from toxins," said Congressman Dan Goldman. "Now, more than 20 years later, we've come to realize those promises were false. The City owes survivors, first responders and everyone in Lower Manhattan full disclosure of the harmful toxins in the area following the 9/11 attack. This information is critical to helping those still suffering from exposure to those harmful toxins, especially New Yorkers who were children at the time of the attacks."

Representative Jerrold Nadler said, "Despite our repeated letters to the City calling on them to release records regarding what the Giuliani Administration knew about toxins in the air following 9/11, the Adams Administration continues to refuse to do so.Now, DEP and OEM have responded to a FOIL request claiming the city has no records about the toxins. It is difficult to believe that there is not a single record in DEP and OEM’s files from the last 22 years addressing the environmental catastrophe that resulted from the largest attack on American soil. It is past time for the City to deliver justice to those who were exposed to the toxins surrounding Ground Zero while the Giuliani Administration was claiming it was safe for New Yorkers to return.”

Benjamin Chevat, Executive Director, 911 Health Watch, the organization that filed the FOIL requests, said, “Thank you Representatives Nadler and Goldman for continuing to call on the City to fully disclose what the Giuliani Administration knew about the harmful impacts of the toxins at Ground Zero and when did they know it.  23 years is too long for the City not to come clean.”

The information contained in the City’s records regarding the earliest analysis of the toxins, dust, and fumes covering Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn after the 9/11 attacks could be useful in conducting medical research for those affected by the illnesses caused by the tragedy, including those who were children during the time.

“More than 22 years have passed since the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001, but the City still refuses to be transparent about what the Giuliani Administration knew about the danger of the toxins that covered lower Manhattan and Western Brooklyn at the same time it was publicly stating that it was safe for the public to return to the area surrounding Ground Zero,” the lawmakers wrote. “To this day, thousands of New Yorkers and countless first responders continue to deal with the health impacts of the toxins that were in the air at that time. The City dishonors these men and women, many now dead, by refusing to open its 9/11 files to the public.”

Congressman Goldman is fighting for all those suffering from the effects of the 9/11 terror attacks.

Last December, the Congressman helped secure $676 million to address funding shortfalls in the World Trade Center Health Program (WTCHP) budget. The ‘National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)’ for Fiscal Year 2024 included a bipartisan, bicameral amendment championed by the Congressman to provide an additional $444 million to the program over the coming years to address the impending budget shortfall and $232 million to ensure that all first responders to the Pentagon and Shanksville attacks are covered by the program as well.

Last February, Goldman joined Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Congressmembers Andrew R. Garbarino (NY-02), Jerrold Nadler (NY-12), and Anthony D'Esposito (NY-04), Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY), Senators Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and Cory Booker (D-NJ), 9/11 health program advocates, and 9/11 responders and survivors to announce the bipartisan ‘9/11 Responder and Survivor Health Funding Correction Act’ to close the remaining funding shortfall in the World Trade Center Health Program.

In the fall, Congressman Goldman hosted the WTCHP’s Dr. Joan Reibman and 9/11 Environmental Action’s Director Kimberly Flynn for an information and community feedback session on the WTCHP’s new 9/11 Youth Research Cohort. The Youth Research Cohort was created by the 2023 Federal Spending Bill to study the long-term health of individuals who were aged 21 years or younger – including those in utero – at the time of the 9/11 attacks and were exposed to the toxins released in the aftermath of the attacks on Ground Zero. 

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