Cancer Cases in 9/11 Responders a Puzzle

A handful of people who were involved in the World Trade Center rescue have developed an immune system cancer. Doctors say they don’t know whether it’s linked to their work at the site. A program at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City tracks the health of 28,252 responders at the site. Out of this group, eight people have developed multiple myeloma. This is the second most common immune system cancer. It would be typical for seven cases to appear in a group this size. But four of these cases involve people under age 45, researchers said. For a group this size, the average in that age category would be one case. The New England Journal of Medicine published the study online. The Associated Press wrote about it August 10.