9/11 Victims’ Advocate Says Crisis in East Palestine Could Cause “Cancer Explosion” Like Ground Zero

A lawyer representing thousands of 9/11 cancer victims says residents of eastern Palestine have a right not to return to their homes and he wouldn’t be surprised if the poison train derailment is linked to an “explosion” of disease in years would the line.

Michael Barasch is the lead advocate for Ground Zero first responders and everyone who inhaled the toxic dust where the towers stood in the eight months following the atrocity.

To date, 69 different cancers have been linked to the attacks, including some that are only now being diagnosed.

In an interview with DailyMail.com on Wednesday, he shared his concerns over the derailment of the toxic train in eastern Palestine, Ohio, and the EPA’s hasty reassurances that it was safe for residents to return home.

“When I heard the EPA say it’s safe to drink water and breathe air, I literally shivered.

“Those are exactly the words the EPA used 21 years ago when trying to reassure residents of downtown New York that it was safe to return to work or go to school so that first responders could get to the pit stop. It was not.

Michael Barasch is the lead advocate for Ground Zero first responders and everyone who inhaled the toxic dust where the towers stood in the eight months following the atrocity.

A New York firefighter assesses the damage after 9/11. Thousands of people who were in the area that day and in the months that followed were later diagnosed with cancer and respiratory diseases

“I’m afraid that in 10, 15, 20 years, if the parallels are what I think, we’re going to see an explosion in cancer.

“It will be truly heartbreaking to see what happens to this community.”

Barasch – who himself diagnosed and beat prostate cancer after the towers collapsed – lamented how officials pushed Wall Street back to lower Manhattan in 2001 to keep the NYSE afloat after the terrorist attack sent markets into free fall.

There is no such urgency in East Palestine.

“They wanted to reopen Wall Street, they had an ulterior motive, they wanted to make sure everyone was quiet. There is no ulterior motive here, just a knee-jerk reaction – “stay in your houses, everything will be fine. No panic.”

‘Well, I don’t think so. I think you should be very scared.

“What’s that movie line – afraid, very afraid? Go safe.

“Take care of your families and get out of there until we have real, independent, scientific evidence that it will be safe to do so.”

“I know it’s not easy, a lot of these people can’t afford to go to a hotel. But they have to protect their families.”

Norfolk Southern, the rail company whose train derailed, has so far paid for alternative housing for displaced residents.

But Barasch says they can’t be trusted to tell people when it’s safe to go home, and that Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency also has some blame.

The site of the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio on February 4. The train was loaded with toxic materials when it crashed

“I see the fumes in the air, I’ve seen the bubbling water, it’s easy for me to tell from the safety of Lower Manhattan, but it sure reminds me of what Lower Manhattan looked like when those two towers collapsed,” he said Barash of the city of East Palestine, shown above on February 6th

“I wouldn’t trust [Norfolk Southern] nor their scientists alone to say, “It’s safe now.” They face enormous liability claims.

“It’s too early to know how big that could be. Just protect yourself and don’t just trust the EPA.’

Barasch was working in the same downtown office he has now when the towers collapsed.

He has since said he has lost two colleagues to cancers linked to the tragedy.

“At the time of 9/11 I was two blocks away, we returned to our office because the EPA told us don’t worry it’s safe. Within a dozen years my secretary Liana died of breast cancer at the age of 47, my paralegal Dennis also died of kidney cancer at the age of 47.

“I am a prostate cancer survivor. My secretary Barbara has lymphoma, my partner Barry has skin cancer. This is just a small office.

“They were really deadly poisons that we were exposed to, very similar to what the people of East Palestine are now exposed to.”

He fears that blood or skin cancers will be the first diseases, but that they will take several years to appear.

The Mayor of East Palestine Trent Conaway with Lt. Governors and other officials who drink the tap water to reassure residents that it is safe to return

Jeff Zalick wipes away a tear outside a newly opened clinic as he discusses fears of returning to his home after the Norfolk Southern train derailment in eastern Palestine on February 3

Neil Figley, 28, holds his daughter Harlie, 4, in line at the Norfolk Southern Assistance Center to collect a $1,000 check for reimbursement while they were being evacuated after a train derailment that occurred on February 17, 2023 in East led to health concerns in Palenstin, Ohio

He wants Congress now to establish a health fund for victims – similar to the World Trade Center health program. The program is available to anyone who spent eight months in the tower collapse area after 9/11, not just the first responders who helped clear the debris.

There are also concerns about how far the damage from the train derailment in eastern Palestine and the subsequent burning of chemicals may have spread.

The governor of Pennsylvania – which is just a mile across the border from East Palestine – has called for a criminal investigation into Norfolk Southern.

“The wind was blowing west, across Pennsylvania and across western upstate New York. These people have real concerns, as do the people drinking water in the surrounding areas.

“As far as I know, the water from the Ohio Basin flows into the Mississippi.

“We need scientists we trust to test this and tell us it’s safe, or it’s only safe after boiling, or it’s only safe after filtering — whatever it is.”

“Don’t treat us like children and say, ‘Oh, we don’t want to scare the residents’ – no, we can take that. What we cannot endure are lies,” said Barasch.

President Biden’s cavalier response to the disaster was widely condemned.

The president has yet to comment publicly on the disaster, let alone visit the city, but he called the mayor from Poland yesterday after being criticized for his lackluster response.

Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg will be paying a visit today. He announced his visit after former President Donald Trump announced plans to travel there himself.

The president has yet to comment publicly on the disaster, let alone visit the city, but he called the mayor from Poland yesterday after being criticized for his lackluster response