World Trade Center responders at increased risk for head and neck cancers

Rescue workers and volunteers who responded to the World Trade Center on 9/11 demonstrated a significantly increased risk for head and neck cancers compared with the general population, according to study results published in International Journal of Cancer.

“[Because] cancers are diseases of long latency, the findings of significant excess cancer in this period point to a newly emerging trend that requires ongoing monitoring and treatment of [World Trade Center]-exposed persons,” Judith Graber, MD, associate professor at Rutgers School of Public Health and researcher at Rutgers Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute, said in a press release.