Exclusive | Ground Zero toxins spark cruel, early dementia crisis for 9/11 heroes
America promised to “never forget” the horrors of 9/11 — but a cruel medical time bomb is forcing Ground Zero heroes to do exactly that.A growing body of research is connecting exposure to the toxic miasma at the World Trade Center site with early-onset dementia — with one landmark study finding severe exposure to cause a staggering 36-fold increase compared to the normal population.The number of responders showing signs of dementia is almost certain to grow with continued monitoring – and has now reached 522 out of 6002 people studied – an alarming rate of 8.7%.That’s more than seven times the incidence in the general population.Lucille Fredericks, 59, thought she would never forget what she saw in Manhattan driving around the city as part of an NYPD Queens South Task Force mobile response team after Sept.
11.But these days, she’s not so sure.Fredericks, 59, of Floral Park, has trouble remembering some basic tasks and concepts in her daily life – even words that are on the tip of her tongue.“I get real frustrated because I’m trying to figure out what it is.
It’s there – but I can’t get the right words to recall it.It gets me very frustrated,” she told The Post.
She noticed her memory beginning to fail after she left the force in 2005.The landmark Journal of the American Medical Association study looked at 5,010 out of about 10,000 responders on Long Island from 2014 to 2023, when the median age of 9/11 first responders was 53.The average age of responders has now reached 59.Responders who heroically braved the dust and debris after the attacks are suffering increased incidence of cognitive problems and even dementia later in life, the research shows.
The more they encountered toxic dust – often without protective gear – the worse the outcome.The study, which was funded in part by the National Institute on Aging, has identified “cognitive dysfunction, cognitive decline, and widespread cerebral atrophy among severely exposed W...