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Thousands of people exposed to choking dust after the destruction of the twin towers in New York on 9/11 have developed asthma, a study shows.
They include rescue workers, office staff who worked in buildings close to the World Trade Center and passers-by.
A follow-up study of more than 46,000 caught up in the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, found one in 10 had been diagnosed with asthma five or six years after the disaster. None of these 4,600 individuals had a previous history of the disease.
The study's authors, from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, discovered there was a strong association between exposure to the dust cloud generated by the collapse of the towers and asthma.
In total, 39 per cent of all those who developed the lung condition had been intensely exposed to the dust.
The most affected group were the 21,600 rescue workers and volunteers, 12.2 per cent of whom became asthmatic.
