Millions of dollars for 9/11 research at risk of being lost following turmoil at World Trade Center Health Program

WASHINGTON — The Trump Administration’s push to downsize the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last year may end up costing 9/11 health researchers nearly $13 million in lost federal funding this year as a staffing shortage has led to delays in getting research grants approved before a Sept. 30 deadline.

Dr. David Prezant, chief medical officer of the FDNY, in a phone interview with Newsday said members of the World Trade Center Health Program’s responder steering committee — a group composed of 9/11 advocates, doctors, researchers and union leaders — were notified in a meeting this week by federal officials that only $7 million of the $20 million authorized annually for research had been approved. 

Prezant said he believes almost all of the World Trade Center Health Program's seven clinical centers in the metropolitan region will be impacted, as most submit grant requests annually.

"The research funding is critical because it helps us identify problems that our patients are having, new emerging diseases, and whether any of the things that we are doing is effective," Prezant said.

The CDC — which laid off roughly 600 employees last year  as part of President Donald Trump’s push to reduce the size of the federal workforce — typically reviews the research grant applications to decide  which ones are eligible for funding. But this year, with fewer employees poring over  grants, not all of the applications were reviewed, Prezant said.

Prezant said committee members were told only grant applications for two-year studies were reviewed and approved, with the CDC unable to look through  applications for three-year studies.

"This money is about $13 million worth of grants that could be doing valuable research for critical issues related to our patients," Prezant said. "These grants are not being used to study fruit flies."

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the CDC, did not return a request for comment on Friday asking about the delay in approving grants and the risk of clinics losing out on $13 million in research funding.

The James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, passed by Congress in 2010, established the federal World Trade Center Health Program to provide healthcare to those suffering from illnesses tied to their exposure to toxic air at  9/11 attack sites. The law as written also provides annual funding for ongoing research to track and study the illnesses facing the 9/11 community.

But the funding amount is capped each year and must be distributed by the end of the federal government’s fiscal year, Sept. 30.

"It’s not the World Trade Center Health Program’s fault that this happened," Prezant said. "They did not have enough staff to get these grant announcements out with their normal time sequence, so they were up against this incredible deadline."

The New York metropolitan region is home to seven clinical centers that operate under the World Trade Center Health Program — including clinics at Stony Brook University Hospital and Northwell Health — that conduct the bulk of the 9/11 health studies that have been used to identify not only the initial surge in cancers, gastrointestinal and respiratory diseases in the survivor community, but new rare diseases and cognitive issues that have started to crop up.

Ben Chevat, executive director of 9/11 Health Watch, a nonprofit group that advocates on behalf of the survivor community, said in a statement to Newsday that potential lost of grant money this year "is just the latest" battle the program has had to face in Trump’s second term. Advocates and New York lawmakers have had to pressure the administration to restore jobs that were initially cut during the initial wave of federal government layoffs, and demand the restoration of monthly meetings between the steering committee and federal officials that were initially paused last year.

"Secretary [Robert F.] Kennedy [Jr.] continues to cause chaos for the WTC Health Program and its 9/11 responders and survivors," Chevat said, referring to the HHS secretary. "Because of the delays he created in processing research grants, research on 9/11 conditions is being slowed and 9/11 researchers may be losing their jobs because of the funding gap he created."

Prezant said he believes there is still a solution, and is urging the CDC to once again review some of the two-year grant applications that were not initially approved.

"I’m hoping that by highlighting the problem, and providing a solution, we can get this done because it’s time sensitive, Prezant said. "After Sept. 30, we’re stuck."