After the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center, New York authorities assured residents that the air around the destroyed towers was safe to breathe. However, newly released documents suggest this information may have been misleading. Ten months after the attacks, health authorities still found evidence of asbestos up to 800 meters from the site, contradicting official statements made to the public.
The documents analyzed by the New York Times are part of a set of more than 170,000 pages of air quality reports, contamination records, and correspondence between municipal authorities. The material was stored in 68 boxes in a city office and remained hidden for more than two decades. According to municipal authorities, these records were only recently discovered, raising questions about why they were not disclosed earlier.
