NEW YORK, NY —The city’s Medical Examiner has admitted for the first time that exposure to World Trade Center dust contributed to a victim’s death. WNYC’s Fred Mogul has more.

Felicia Dunn-Jones was trapped in the dust cloud caused by the collapse of the first World Trade Center tower. Four months later, the 42-year-old attorney died of sarcoidosis, a rare form of lung scarring. The federal Victims Compensation Fund recognized her death as being caused by the attacks, but the city never did. City Medical Examiner Dr. Charles Hirsch has reversed that position.

In a letter to Dunn-Jones’ family released yesterday, Hirsch said that while he did not think the World Trade Center dust caused her illness, thanks to growing scientific evidence, he now believes the dust contributed to her death. Critics of the city seized on the admission, but it’s not clear what impact it will have on thousands of pending lawsuits alleging injury and death were caused by the city’s negligence.

Hirsch said his office will request that Dunn-Jones’s name be added to the official list of World Trade Center victims. For WNYC, I’m Fred Mogul.