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New York City officials are calling for a full investigation into air quality records from the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks after a bombshell memo revealed city officials may have known about toxic risks while telling the public the air was safe.
City Council Speaker Julie Menin and Councilwoman Gale Brewer held a press conference Thursday (February 6) demanding Mayor Zohran Mamdani fund a $6 million Department of Investigation probe into what information the city knew about Ground Zero air quality and when they knew it.
"The City of New York has failed to take responsibility for telling the Downtown community and first responders that the air was safe to breathe," Menin said during the news conference, according to ABC7 New York.
The push comes after the discovery of an October 2001 memo from the city Law Department to then-Deputy Mayor Bob Harding under Mayor Rudy Giuliani's administration. The document, known as the "Harding memo," shows city officials were concerned about potential lawsuits from people exposed to toxins after being advised they could return to Lower Manhattan.
"Health advisories caused individuals either to return to the area too soon (causing toxic exposure or emotional harm) or too late (causing economic hardship)," the memo stated, according to the New York Post.
The memo was found last week by pro-bono attorneys for 9/11 victims at the University of Texas, which inherited the estate of journalist Wayne Barrett, who first referenced the document in his 2006 book "The Grand Illusion."
For Menin, the issue is personal. "My mother died from a 9/11-related cancer," she said. "After the attacks, the city told us to put wet cloths on our windows. They echoed what Christie Todd Whitman and others said that the air was safe."
More than 6,000 people have died from 9/11-related diseases, and nearly 50,000 first responders and others have been diagnosed with 9/11-related cancers. The FDNY alone has lost 424 members to 9/11-related illnesses since the attacks, in addition to the 343 who died on September 11.
Andrew Ansbro, president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association, expressed frustration with the city's handling of the information. "They turned around and they lied to us and they hid them. And every mayor for 25 years has been hiding them," he said. "They made a conscious choice to keep those records hidden instead of studying them and determining what cancers we should be looking for."
Last year, a DOI probe spearheaded by Brewer found 68 boxes of 9/11 health-related documents that the city had previously claimed didn't exist. Officials are now calling on Mayor Mamdani to release all documents and fully fund the investigation.
If the additional funding is granted, the investigation is expected to be completed by mid-2027. Advocates note that the release of these documents likely won't trigger new lawsuits, as most survivors receiving help from the WTC Health Program and the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund have signed waivers agreeing not to sue.
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