The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is preparing a major research effort to examine long-term health effects in children and young people exposed to 9/11, addressing a gap that has remained for 25 years.
The effort will focus on people who were 21 or younger, including those exposed in utero, in Lower Manhattan or Brooklyn during and after the World Trade Center attacks.
Congress directed the World Trade Center Health Program to establish the Youth Research Cohort in 2022. The CDC has announced plans to seek researchers to create a coordinating center that will identify, recruit, and follow participants.
The agency expects to spend up to $50 million in total program funding, with the project estimated to start July 1, 2027. About 25,000 children lived or attended school near the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan, while thousands more were in surrounding neighborhoods.
Health effects in children exposed to 9/11 attacks remain unclear
Many were exposed to dust and debris released after the collapse, but only a small portion of 9/11 health research has focused on people exposed at young ages.
More than 1,500 scientific publications have examined 9/11-exposed populations, according to the CDC, but most research has centered on adults. Scientists say that leaves major questions about people who were still developing when the attacks occurred and who are now entering their 30s and early 40s.
🎗️🇺🇸 Some people exposed to 9/11’s toxic cloud hadn’t even been born yet…
25 years ago today, the Twin Towers fell and a massive cloud of dust rolled across lower Manhattan.
Around 25,000 kids were living or going to school nearby.
Some were babies. Some were toddlers.… pic.twitter.com/PVjESKOg15
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) September 11, 2026
The CDC has identified respiratory and reproductive health, mental and behavioral health, metabolic disorders, cardiovascular disease, cancer and other chronic diseases as priority areas for future research.
The agency has not said those illnesses were caused by childhood exposure. The new cohort is intended to help researchers determine whether long-term risks differ among people exposed when young.
Building a cohort 25 years later
Recruitment may be one of the study’s biggest challenges. Many people who were children in New York in 2001 have since moved elsewhere, and earlier efforts found it difficult to locate and enroll a representative group.
Dr. Joan Reibman, founder of the World Trade Center Environmental Health Center, told Reuters that extensive community involvement will be needed. “There’s going to have to be a lot of work with community groups to try to recruit them,” she said.
The planned cohort will include an unexposed comparison group. CDC officials have also said participation will be encouraged regardless of whether eligible people currently have health problems. The research is expected to examine both health and educational outcomes.
For now, the CDC is asking people who may qualify to sign up for updates. The agency says enrollment details will be released once the program is ready.
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