Many residents of the area surrounding Ground Zero are also claiming the cancer link, as the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health – the body responsible for determining whether cancer should be covered by the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Safety Act – seeks to make a decision within the next few days.

New regulations

New York lawyers Michael Barasch and Noah Kushlefsky are representing thousands of residents and workers. They claim that legislative aides will include around 50 types of cancer in the new regulations, reports the New York Post.

‘There’s new scientific evidence,’ Mr Barasch told the newspaper, ‘that dust is what is now linked to not only the respiratory illnesses, but all these cancers.’

John Walcott, an NYPD detective who was diagnosed with leukaemia in 2003 after working months at Ground Zero and the Fresh Kills landfill said: ‘It’s a bittersweet thing. It took 11 years to do what should have been done a long time ago.’