Former New York Rep. Carolyn Maloney says she is suffering from the “World Trade Center cough.”
Maloney, who represented parts of New York City in Congress for 30 years, helped to write the legislation that led to the creation of a health program to support people who were sickened by the toxic air caused by the destruction of the World Trade Center.
“People are coming forward with cancers and with diseases that worked at the pile, was there that night as I was, and now is suffering with what we call the World Trade Center cough. And I also have the World Trade Center cough,” Maloney told Here & Now’s Robin Young.
More than 9,000 people have died from 9/11-related illnesses over the last 25 years.
3 questions with former Rep. Carolyn Maloney
Do you have a diagnosis of interstitial lung disease?
“We’re trying to figure out what it is.
“This has happened to many of my friends. We finally passed the bill [the James Zadroga 9/11 Health & Compensation Act] after 15 years, which we named after the first person who was diagnosed with dying from 9/11. It was James Zadroga. He was a lieutenant in the police force of New York. He was diagnosed in New Jersey, because in New York they were saying there was no connection. When Zadroga was sick and dying, they said he was really a dope addict. They attacked him.”
It wasn’t until finally his death and an autopsy that people could see that his lungs were just riddled with glass.
“Oh, God, it was awful. He was throwing up black phlegm. Where’d that come from? His father. He had a little baby daughter. And the father and the baby daughter would come to all of our hearings and support us. There are so many heartbreaking stories, and people that risked their lives to save the lives of other people and ultimately became sick and are dead now.
“They came in from all over the country. Many of them are sick and dying now. And we know now from these documents that the mayor [Zohran Mamdani] put out that the government knew, and I can’t think of if it had been disclosed earlier, how we would have been able to save more lives.”
Congresswoman, you are wrestling with a cough. Are you worried?
“Absolutely. Yeah, I’m worried. I’m in the [World Trade Center Health] program now, too.”
This interview was edited for clarity.
Robin Young produced and edited this interview for broadcast with Thomas Danielian. Michael Scotto adapted it for web.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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