Source: Associated Pess

Researchers tracking Sept. 11 responders who became ill after working at the World Trade Center site found many had lung problems more than five years later in a study (which) experts said proves persistent illness in people exposed to toxic dust caused by the twin towers’ collapse.

The study…examined more than 3,000 responders between 2004 and 2007, repeating exams conducted between the middle of 2002 and 2004. Slightly more than 24 percent of the patients had abnormal lung function, the study found. In the earlier examinations, about 28 percent of the patients had similar results…

Experts have struggled since the 2001 attacks to find standards to define post-Sept. 11 illness and the time it would take to develop. The city’s medical examiner recently added to the official victims’ list a man who died in October of cancer and lung disease, citing his exposure to the dust cloud that enveloped the city when the 110-story towers collapsed…

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