The production company of filmmaker Michael Moore has taken ill Ground Zero workers to Cuba to highlight the US's inferior health-care system.
The stunt was filmed as part of the controversial director's latest documentary, Sicko, which attacks American drug companies and health organisations.
Moore also wanted to highlight that health care in the communist country is free. Cuban doctors are also said to have developed new techniques for treating lung cancer and other respiratory illnesses.
The movie, which took two years to make, and may be shown at this year's Cannes Film Festival, takes aim at the medical care provided to those who worked on the toxic World Trade Centre debris pile.
Health studies have shown that thousands of workers who laboured at Ground Zero have been plagued by chronic health issues.
At one hospital alone, 70 per cent of workers tested had respiratory problems while or after working at the crash site.
One of the applicants contacted to take part on the trip was Michael McCormack, a disabled medic who found an American flag at Ground Zero that once flew atop the Twin Towers. McCormack said: "What he [Moore] wanted to do is shove it up George W's rear end that 9/11 heroes had to go to a communist country to get adequate health care."
John Feal, who runs the Fealgood Foundation to help raise money for the Ground Zero workers was approached by Moore to find candidates for the trip. He called the visit a success saying: "From what I heard through the grapevine, those people that went are utterly happy."
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