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When \u200bhijacked planes brought down the World Trade Center\u2019s twin towers on September 11, 2001, roughly 25,000 children were living or attending \u200cschool nearby in lower Manhattan, and thousands more were in surrounding neighborhoods. Some were infants and toddlers, while others were still in the womb.<\/strong><\/p>\n Even though they were exposed to the massive toxic cloud and settling dust containing pulverized concrete, glass fibers, asbestos, and other pollutants in the days and weeks after the towers fell, very few of these \u200bchildren were enrolled in the government-funded follow-up health studies of WTC survivors. Those were mainly for first responders and other adults.<\/p>\n As a result, \u200bthere was no means of tracking chronic illnesses, including cancers, cardiovascular diseases and reproductive health outcomes, that may only \u2060now be emerging as those children reach their 30s and early 40s, scientists say.<\/p>\n Major questions remain about whether exposure to the toxins and the \u200btrauma on 9\/11 and afterward increased their long-term health risks, according to scientists.<\/p>\n To address these gaps, Congress announced in 2022 that it would fund a study \u200bof these individuals to be conducted with U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention oversight.<\/p>\n Last month, the CDC said it will be seeking applications from researchers, opens new tab to set up the World Trade Center Youth Research Coordinating Center and identify and track a Youth Research Cohort.<\/p>\n It was not immediately known how many participants the agency hopes to recruit, when exactly \u200bit will formally request proposals, and how much funding is available.<\/p>\n The agency has specified that study participants will have been 21 years old or \u200byounger, or in utero, and living below 14th Street in Manhattan or anywhere in Brooklyn on and after 9\/11.<\/p>\n A cohort of similarly aged but unexposed individuals will be recruited \u200cfor \u2060comparison.<\/p>\n The CDC\u2019s World Trade Center Health Program and the New York City Department of Health\u2019s World Trade Center Health Registry both offered services for children in the early years after the attacks. But most affected youngsters sought care from their own pediatricians, whereas many adult survivors were uninsured and needed the programs\u2019 services, recalled lung specialist Dr. Joan Reibman of NYU Langone Medical Center.<\/p>\n In adult survivors and first responders, dozens of types of cancers and other health issues \u200brelated to their exposure have been \u200bidentified. But data on the effects \u2060of childhood exposure has so far come only from small studies.<\/p>\n Reibman, the founder of the World Trade Center Environmental Health Center, said gathering participants will require a great deal of community support.<\/p>\n \u201cThese people are spread across the United \u200bStates right now. They\u2019re all older. They may not necessarily want to go back to that period of \u200btime,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s going \u2060to have to be a lot of work with community groups to try to recruit them.\u201d<\/p>\n Reibman and Dr. Leigh Wilson, the current medical director of the World Trade Center Environmental Health Center, both acknowledged that children in war zones today may face some of the same long-term consequences as the children of 9\/11.<\/p>\n \u201cI \u2060would love \u200bto prevent every and any adverse effect in these children,\u201d Wilson said.<\/p>\n Studying the children of \u200b9\/11 may shed light on preventive and mitigating measures and resources that could be put in place, Wilson added.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have to identify and start studying all exposed populations immediately, whether they\u2019re \u200badults or children,\u201d Reibman said, and \u201cunfortunately we haven\u2019t learned it from the World Trade Center disaster.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n