The number of first responders and others diagnosed with 9/11-linked cancers has ballooned to 48,579 — a staggering 143% increase in five years, the latest data from the World Trade Center Health Program show.

Skin, prostate and breast cancer top the list, along with melanoma, lymphoma, luekemia and cancers of the thyroid, kidney, lung and bladder — believed to have been triggered by toxins at Ground Zero and the Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island. 5

The cancer surge is attributed, in part, to the advancing age of the population of Ground Zero responders — most now in their late 50s and 60s.

“We know that the population is aging so we can predict that the number of cancers is going to go up,” said Dr. Steven Markowitz, an occupational medicine expert at Queens College.

In

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