Mayor Zohran Mamdani has made public 170,000 pages of reports on air quality in Manhattan after the collapse of the Twin Towers. The documents show that authorities had detected asbestos "almost everywhere" near Ground Zero, while the public was assured that the air was safe to breathe. The release comes on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the attack
The City of New York has opened its 9/11 archives. Mayor Zohran Mamdani has released around 170 thousand pages of documents which reveal how, in the weeks following the collapse of the World Trade Center, city authorities were already aware of the dangerousness of the air in Lower Manhattan, while in public citizens were reassured that it was safe to breathe. The release was timed to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the 2001 attacks.
“People got sick because leaders they trusted lied, telling them it was safe to breathe toxic air,” Mamdani said at a news conference alongside some survivors. According to the mayor, tests conducted near Ground Zero at the time had found asbestos "almost everywhere."
"Safe air", the reassurance that turned out to be false
In the days immediately following the attack, city and federal authorities — including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) — declared that the air around the Twin Towers presented no danger. Subsequent research, however, demonstrated that those in the area were breathing toxic chemicals. Christine Todd Whitman, head of the EPA at the time, later apologized for that statement, explaining that the agency had acted "to the best of our ability with the knowledge we had."
According to US health authorities, illnesses linked to the dust and smoke from the collapse of the Towers caused more victims than the attacks themselves. Thousands of people have developed diseases such as cancer after inhaling contaminants released by collapsing buildings, and many have died.
The "Harding memo" and the fear of lawsuits
Among the papers released was an October 2001 document known as the "Harding memo," in which an aide warned then-Vice Mayor Robert Harding (in office under Rudy Giuliani) that the city risked up to 35,000 compensation claims for its handling of the emergency. The document indicated that the city could be sued because health advisories had prompted citizens "to re-enter the area too soon (causing toxic exposure or emotional harm)."
The release resolves a lawsuit brought by the 9/11 Health Watch association, which had sued the municipality to obtain the documents. The papers - 68 boxes in total - were found last year in the municipal offices, after the authorities had denied having them for years.
“They buried that information for 25 years”
Also present at the press conference was Jon Stewart, television host and activist alongside the survivors. According to Stewart, documents show that the city didn't acknowledge the toxicity of the air in lower Manhattan until October 2001. "So, to be fair to them, they just buried that information for 25 years," he commented sarcastically.
Mamdani announced that the city will spend more than $34 million on the operation, saying the documents show what the city "knew about the toxic air around Ground Zero, when it knew it, and how it acted to limit liability." More cards will be released over the next year.
"We all knew the air wasn't safe"
Among those who breathed that air is Elizabeth Cascio, a former emergency medical services technician for the New York Fire Department (FDNY), who told the BBC that she suffered from sinus problems and headaches after she intervened at the site of the attack. “We all knew the air quality was unsafe, it was very toxic,” he said. "At first, when I got off the bus and got to the World Trade Center, you felt like you had to hold your breath. But you can only hold it for so long. I felt the particles going into my nose and mouth and thought: this can't be good."
