ADAO APPLAUDS RELEASE OF POST-9/11 RECORDS AND CALLS FOR OUTREACH TO AT-RISK NEW YORKERS

New portal can help rebuild trust, advance transparency, and connect eligible survivors with health care and compensation

WASHINGTON DC, WA, UNITED STATES, September 8, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO), the nation's largest nonprofit dedicated to preventing asbestos exposure through education, advocacy, and community initiatives, today applauded Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s release of approximately 170,000 pages of New York City records concerning post-9/11 air quality, toxic exposures, and public-health risks via the NYC 9/11 Records Portal.

“Today, we applaud everyone who refused to let these records, many of which detail dangerous levels of asbestos contamination, remain beyond the public’s reach,” said Linda Reinstein, President and Cofounder of ADAO and a mesothelioma widow. “Mayor Mamdani, the New York City Law Department, 9/11 Health Watch and its pro bono attorneys, Andrew Carboy and Matthew McCauley, worked with members of the City Council, survivors, families, and advocates to ensure the public has access to these important documents.

Mayor Mamdani acknowledged the long fight for disclosure, stating, “For too long, New Yorkers have had to fight for access to records that should have been available to them in the first place.”

ADAO welcomes Mayor Mamdani’s acknowledgment that post-9/11 records should have been made available long ago. Public access to these documents is an important step toward rebuilding trust and understanding the city’s actions and decisions following the attacks.
Asbestos is a proven human carcinogen with no safe level of exposure. It can cause mesothelioma, lung cancer, asbestosis, and other diseases that may not appear until decades after exposure.

According to Dr Jacqueline M. Moline, Director of the Northwell Health Queens World Trade Center Health Program Clinical Center of Excellence, who has spent decades evaluating and treating World Trade Center responders, “The number of lung cancers has doubled in just five years. Our concern is that these numbers of cancers will continue to grow as we know the deadly legacy of asbestos and many of these chemicals.”
Making documents available is not enough. New York City must ensure that survivors, families, health professionals, and people who may qualify for federal assistance know the portal exists and receive help using it.

ADAO calls on New York City to launch sustained outreach to residents, workers, teachers, students, cleanup workers, and others who may qualify for the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund or the World Trade Center Health Program but do not realize they are eligible.

“The next wave of 9/11 victims may be people who never considered themselves victims,” Reinstein said. “They returned to their homes, offices, and schools because they were told it was safe. Some are only now developing cancers and other diseases that can appear decades after exposure. We must find at-risk New Yorkers, inform them, and help them obtain the records they need.”

Opening the records cannot undo the harm caused by toxic exposure. It can provide answers, connect people with medical care and compensation, support research, rebuild public trust, and help the 9/11 community move toward healing.

ADAO will review the asbestos-related documents as they become available and is ready to assist journalists, researchers, policymakers, and affected communities in understanding their public-health significance.

Tracy Russo
Asbestos Disease Awareness Org
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