On 9/11's 25th Anniversary, Responders Fight for Dementia Coverage as 110,000 Sign Petition Against Mamdani Attending Memorial

Twenty-five years after hijacked planes brought down the World Trade Center, two separate fights are playing out around today's anniversary: one over health coverage for the responders who are still dying from it, and one over who should be allowed to stand at the memorial.

The Dementia Fight

The World Trade Center Health Program covers nearly 150,000 people and pays for treatment of cancers, respiratory disease, digestive disorders, PTSD, depression and anxiety tied to Ground Zero exposure, according to a petition organized through the site Greater Good. Dementia and cognitive impairment are not on that list.

Research published in JAMA Network Open found WTC responders develop dementia before age 65 at rates far above what's typical for their age group, according to the petition's citation of the study. A separate NIH-linked study found responders who wore only surgical or "nuisance" masks in the first days after the attack, rather than proper respiratory protection, showed worse cognitive outcomes later.

NBC News correspondent Tom Llamas reported on the issue Thursday for a series called "The Cost of Denial," profiling responders now living with early-onset dementia that researchers believe is connected to toxic dust exposure at Ground Zero. The FDNY is actively petitioning federal officials to add cognitive decline to the program's covered-conditions list, a process that requires a formal petition and scientific review and is already underway for several other conditions, according to Greater Good's summary of the process.

PBS, republishing a piece from The Conversation written by a physician who works with WTC responders, reported that roughly 23% of WTC responders have been diagnosed with PTSD, compared to about 6% of the general U.S. population over a lifetime. The author argues PTSD and toxic exposure may compound each other, accelerating brain aging in ways still being studied.

Despite the medical case, the online petition pushing HHS, NIOSH and the WTC Health Program administrator to add dementia to the covered list had drawn only 237 signatures toward a 30,000 goal as of this week. That's a strikingly small number next to the political petition described below, a gap that says more about where public attention is currently focused than about the merits of either cause.

Teaching the Next Generation

Separately, the New York City Council is allocating $1 million toward 9/11 education for young people who have no memory of the attacks, according to the New York Post, as reported by the Daily Wire. Much of the money will fund scholarships for eighth graders to visit the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. City Council Speaker Julie Menin said the goal is to make sure students understand "what the terrorists tried to take away from our city and our country."

Texas is moving in a similar direction from a different angle. The State Board of Education is advancing curriculum standards requiring students to "identify the significance" of the attacks as "terrorist attacks motivated by radical Islam," according to Daily Wire's review of the draft standards, which also cover the historical rise of Islam including military campaigns cited in the document. That framing is Texas's own curriculum decision and has not been evaluated in these sources beyond the document language itself.

The Fight Over Mamdani

A coalition of 9/11 family members and elected officials gathered at New York City Hall this week to deliver a petition asking Mayor Zohran Mamdani to stay away from Friday's memorial ceremony. Fox News reported the petition carried nearly 102,000 signatures at the time of the news conference. Breitbart later put the count above 110,000.

Charles Wolf, whose wife died on 9/11, told the news conference Mamdani is "not serving us" and is "serving himself." City Council Member Vickie Paladino said Mamdani does "not belong" at what she called "sacred ground." Organizer Giovanni Galante, whose wife Grace was killed in the attacks, said the anniversary should be free of political presence. Monica Iken, whose husband died in the towers, noted Mamdani did not attend the 20th anniversary ceremony and questioned why he would push to attend the 25th.

Breitbart interviewed Jeannette Puccio-Pick, who was nine when her father was killed in the South Tower. She said Mamdani "affiliated himself politically, personally and professionally" with people who have "minimized and justified the murdering of my father." The petition cites Mamdani's 2025 campaign appearance with Brooklyn imam Siraj Wahhaj, who federal prosecutors named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing case and who later served as a character witness for convicted terrorist plotter Omar Abdel-Rahman. Wahhaj was never charged in that case. "Unindicted co-conspirator" is a prosecutorial designation, not a conviction.

The petition also points to Mamdani's appointment of Ramzi Kassem as the city's chief counsel. Kassem previously represented Guantanamo detainee Ahmed al-Darbi, who pleaded guilty to a 2002 al-Qaeda bombing and is the brother-in-law of 9/11 hijacker Khalid al-Mihdhar. Petitioners also cite Mamdani's reluctance, in their view, to unequivocally condemn the phrase "globalize the intifada," and writings by his father, Mahmood Mamdani, describing suicide bombers as a "feature of modern political violence" rather than a mark of barbarism.

None of the sources reviewed include a direct, on-record response from Mayor Mamdani or his office addressing the petition or the specific allegations about his associations. Whether he attends Friday's ceremony, and whether HHS ultimately adds dementia to the WTC Health Program's covered conditions, both remain open questions as the anniversary unfolds today.