September 11, 2022, marks the 21st anniversary of the deadliest terrorist attack in world history. It also draws a change in mentality, with the whole western civilization feeling threatened and perpetually uniting in the so-called war on terror.
The 9/11 attacks and their immediate aftermath belong to an era when peoplemoving between countries was easy and favored, or no airport security was the norm.
The latest official figures released by the World Trade Center HealthProgram – created in 2010 to provide medical care to those who are still in poor health because of the 2001 attacks – reveal a sharp increase in the number of people diagnosed with cancer that have been associated to the dust generated when New York's Twin Towers collapsed.
Data shows that 50,000 people were certified sick as a likely consequenceof the attacks, and 1,140 died – more than a third of the 2,977 deaths on 9/11.
Although being Portuguese and Brazilian, I shall never forget.