The number of people who are dying from illness relating to the September 11 attacks is nearing the number of those that were killed on the day terrorists flew into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon.

Amid a post-911 health crisis, experts predict that the number of people dying from the toxic exposure to the towers’ debris and wreckage will exceed - within five years - the near 3,000 people who died on 11 September 2001.

More than 37,000 people are officially recognised as sick, as reported by the Guardian. Protesters are calling for a new monument alongside the two towers to recognise those people who are ill or have already passed away.

“There are a lot of people who are very, very ill with lung disease who will see at least 10 years taken from their normal life span,” Dr Jim Melius, a doctor at the New York State Labourers Union, who chairs the steering committee which oversees the government health programme for 9/11 responders, told the Guardian.

"And we are already seeing many more premature deaths occurring, and among younger people, from the cancers. There is going to be a new generation of widows and widowers.”

The collapsed towers left behind a pile of asbestos, lead, glass, gases and other toxic and dangerous building materials.

In pictures: President Bush’s immediate response to 9/11 Show all 12 1 /12 In pictures: President Bush’s immediate response to 9/11 In pictures: President Bush’s immediate response to 9/11 11 September 2001 President Bush was visiting Emma E Brooker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida as news of the attack on the World Trade Center broke In pictures: President Bush’s immediate response to 9/11 11 September 2001 The president and his staff, including Press Secretary Ari Fleischer (L) were then brought to a holding room at the school, where he prepared to address the nation In pictures: President Bush’s immediate response to 9/11 11 September 2001 President Bush was then rushed onto Air Force One and was flown to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. He watched television coverage of the attacks from his office on the plane In pictures: President Bush’s immediate response to 9/11 11 September 2001 President Bush talks on the telephone at the General Dougherty Conference Center at Barksdale Air Force Base In pictures: President Bush’s immediate response to 9/11 11 September 2001 President Bush is seen with his senior adviser Karl Rove at Barksdale Air Force Base In pictures: President Bush’s immediate response to 9/11 11 September 2001 The president with White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card at Barksdale Air Force Base. Before leaving the base, the president held a press conference at which he said, “Make no mistake: The United States will hunt down and punish those responsible for these cowardly acts” In pictures: President Bush’s immediate response to 9/11 11 September 2001 The president was consoled by Lt Col Cindy Wright of the White House Military Office aboard Air Force One. After leaving Louisiana, the president was flown to Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska before he headed back to Washington In pictures: President Bush’s immediate response to 9/11 11 September 2001 President Bush arrived at the White House Presidential Emergency Operations Center around 7 pm. Here he is shown with his wife, First Lady Laura Bush, Vice President Cheney and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice In pictures: President Bush’s immediate response to 9/11 11 September 2001 At 8:30 pm, the president addressed the nation from the White House. In his speech, he set the tone for the wars to come in Afghanistan and Iraq In pictures: President Bush’s immediate response to 9/11 11 September 2001 “I’ve directed the full resources for our intelligence and law enforcement communities to find those responsible and bring them to justice,” the president said. “We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbour them” In pictures: President Bush’s immediate response to 9/11 11 September 2001 The president’s speech on the teleprompter In pictures: President Bush’s immediate response to 9/11 11 September 2001 Immediately following the speech, the president had a national security meeting with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Vice President Dick Cheney, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card and others

The growing health crisis comes despite officials telling residents in local Manhattan following the attacks that the air was safe. Christine Whitman from the Environmental Protection Agency later admitted she had been mistaken.

In 2010 Congress passed the Zadroga Act, which pays the health costs of those who were poisoned by the debris of 9/11. It was named after a police officer who worked to rescue people in the wake of the attacks and died in 2006 after developing breathing problems. It was extended to provide lifetime care for 9/11 first responders in 2015.