As the lingering effects of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, are tallied, a recurrent theme has been the number of first responders who died after being exposed to dust at the site of the World Trade Center.

In a recent autopsy report on a retired police detective, the New Jersey medical examiner stated, "It is felt with a reasonable degree of medical certainty that the cause of death in this case was directly related to the 911 incident."

NPR's Michele Norris speaks with Dr. Robin Herbert, who has screened thousands of first responders to the attacks. Herbert is the co-director of the World Trade Center Medical Monitoring program at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.

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