No link between cancer and the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City has been found according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), which this week issued the First Periodic Review of Scientific and Medical Evidence Related to Cancer for the World Trade Center (WTC) Health Program. This first periodic review provides a summary of the current scientific and medical findings in the peer-reviewed literature about exposures resulting from the Sept.11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York City and cancer studies.

WTC admininstrator Dr. John Howard said the lack of data establishing a link between illness and exposure at the World Trade Center site does not rule out a relationship between the two.

"Although a determination cannot be made to propose a rule to add cancer, or a type of cancer, to the List of WTC-Related Health Conditions at this time, it is important to point out that the current absence of published scientific and medical findings demonstrating a causal association between the exposures resulting from the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the occurrence of cancer in responders and survivors does not indicate evidence of the absence of a causal association" said WTC Administrator John Howard, M.D. "As new research and findings are released, we will continue to do periodic reviews of cancer for the World Trade Center Health Program."

Since research into cancer and WTC exposures is ongoing, it is expected that a second periodic review will be conducted in early to mid-2012.

The issuance of this periodic review fulfills the provision under the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010 that the World Trade Center Program Administrator conduct this first review of the scientific and medical evidence. This first review discusses criteria that have been used previously to assist in weighing the scientific evidence to determine if a causal association exists between exposure and cancer. The review also summarizes input from the public and provides updates from researchers about ongoing or planned cancer studies.