WASHINGTON — For the past 24 years a panel of doctors, union leaders and advocates met monthly with federal health officials to address the mounting health concerns surrounding 9/11 first responders and survivors.

The meetings of the World Trade Center Responder Steering Committee were described by attendees as collaborative and cordial — until they came to an abrupt stop this year.

Committee members and other 9/11 survivor advocates told Newsday they are growing increasingly concerned that the pause in meetings is preventing the group from examining the emergence of rare diseases reported by a number of survivors. The group has been stymied for eight months by a Trump Administration policy that has kept administrators of the federal World Trade Center Health Program from meeting with th

See Full Page