"The city medical examiner has now accepted what thousands of people with 9/11-related illnesses and their doctors have long understood: that ground zero dust was harmful and even deadly," said Rep Carolyn B Maloney. She and Rep Vito J Fossella, both of New York, had appealed to Hirsch to change his original decision on Dunn-Jones.

Maloney urged Hirsch on Wednesday to review other cases of people who died after being exposed to the dust. The medical examiner's office said it had no plans to undertake such a review.

But the New York State Department of Health, with financial assistance from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, has started to study deaths among those who responded to the disaster.

The medical examiner's decision also could be cited as supporting evidence in the federal lawsuits filed against the city by thousands of firefighters, police officers and recovery workers who say they were injured by breathing the dust during the 10-month cleanup.

"This will bring us some closure, but hopefully it will also open doors for others to get the medical compensation they need," Joseph Jones, Dunn-Jones' husband, said in a telephone interview.

Dunn-Jones' death is now considered a homicide and raises the trade center death toll to 2,750.