SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:
New York City officials released a trove of documents today about toxic air quality in Manhattan after the 9/11 terror attacks. The documents suggest that past city administrations withheld detailed information about the dangers of dust and debris in Lower Manhattan. And the city's current mayor, Zohran Mamdani, has agreed to settle lawsuits filed by a 9/11 health advocacy group. NPR's Brian Mann is with us to tell us more about this. Hi, Brian.
BRIAN MANN, BYLINE: Hi, Sacha.
PFEIFFER: Brian, would you take us back to immediately after the World Trade Center Towers collapsed? At that point, what did city leaders say about air quality?
MANN: Well, shortly after the attack in 2001, then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani reassured residents and first responders that the air in Manhattan was safe. At one press conference, he said the health department conducted tests and found air quality was not a concern. He specifically said asbestos was not an issue. He described the dust at the time as an irritant.
PFEIFFER: And do the documents released today contradict that?
MANN: Yeah, they tell a very different story. And in fact, they confirm what scientists and health advocacy groups have said for decades. The dust in Manhattan was incredibly toxic with asbestos and other carcinogenic material. These documents also include memos where city officials can be seen scrambling to limit legal liability stemming from those air quality concerns. Much of this information was withheld year after year by Republican and Democratic mayors. Today, Mayor Mamdani settled lawsuits with a group called 9/11 Health Watch that had campaigned for more transparency.
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ZOHRAN MAMDANI: People got sick because the leaders they trusted lied and told them they were safe to breathe in toxic air. And then when they began to contend with the symptoms of the illnesses that followed, the government that had not hesitated to send them into harm's way was nowhere to be found.
MANN: Now, Sacha, in response to an inquiry from NPR, former Mayor Giuliani's staff posted a comment about this on social media today, blaming the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for saying the air quality was safe in Manhattan. They made a mistake, the statement said, adding, quote, "no one covered it up." And in fact, in 2016, former EPA administrator Christie Todd Whitman did apologize in an interview with The Guardian newspaper for failing to share accurate information about safety. But long after that, New York City officials fought to keep their own air quality documents, more than 170,000 pages of data, under wraps. NPR also reached out today to former mayors Bloomberg, de Blasio and Adams for comment. We haven't had a response.
PFEIFFER: Do we know how many people have died since the attack due to air contamination?
MANN: When the initial terror attack happened in New York City, Washington, D.C. and Shanksville, Pennsylvania, roughly 3,000 people died. Researchers and advocates now say far more people have died from exposure to this dangerous debris in air particles. Comedian and activist Jon Stewart, who helped campaign for release of these documents, talked about this during today's press conference.
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JON STEWART: We've lost three times as many people to 9/11-related illnesses as we did on 9/11, three times as many - almost 10,000 people.
MANN: And, Sacha, we're not just talking about first responders here. City officials now say many residents of Lower Manhattan went home with mops and buckets to clean up after the attack without proper safety equipment or guidance. Many of them got sick and died, and the number of deaths is expected to keep rising.
PFEIFFER: Brian, this Friday is the 25th anniversary commemoration of 9/11. Will these people who got sick after the attack be recognized?
MANN: They will, and this is a real departure. In the past, there have been six moments of silence held at these 9/11 memorial gatherings in Manhattan marking key events of the day, including the moments when the towers fell. This year, organizers have added a seventh moment of silence recognizing all these thousands of people who've died from 9/11-related illnesses.
PFEIFFER: That is NPR's Brian Mann. Brian, thank you.
MANN: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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