No 9/11 cancer coverage called 'injustice'

Frustrated 9/11 first responders Wednesday called a decision to exclude until at least next year coverage for cancer from the victim compensation fund "an injustice."

About 100 first responders and relatives attended a town-hall meeting about the 9/11 victim-compensation fund held by the Department of Justice in Queens the day after the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health decided that cancer would not be included in the list of covered illnesses until at least 2012.

"I just think this is an injustice," said John Marshall, 52, of Bay Ridge, a former NYPD detective who worked at Ground Zero for three months. "Stop looking at us through a microscope and look at us as people."

Sheila Birnbaum, the appointed special master overseeing the fund, stressed to those at the meeting at Queens Borough Hall that researchers were studying the issue, seeking evidence of a link between cancers and toxins at Ground Zero resulting from the 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

"Give people a little opportunity -- they're all looking at it," she said.

Later, Marshall, who was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2006 and speaks through a device in his throat, said he was reluctant to speak out at the meeting but felt driven.

"I really didn't want to do this, but I was so livid" after Tuesday's decision, he said.

"Be patient," Birnbaum told the crowd. "I know it's hard to tell people to be patient. People are trying to gather up scientific and medical evidence."

John Feal, head of the Fealgood Foundation, based in Nesconset, encouraged the crowd to channel their energy toward urging the government to add cancer to the list.

"When we got this bill passed in December, we knew it wasn't perfect," he said. "There will be another review . . . And I'll bet my one kidney that cancer will be added."

Cynthia George, 46, of North Babylon, whose husband Ken, a state transportation worker, fell ill after working at the pile, said it was hard to listen to the stories of first responders who spoke at the meeting.

"I started crying," she said. "It's sad. It's like my husband -- what if he develops that?"

Birnbaum said she hopes the process to apply for the fund will begin in October.