On a rare occasions comedian Jon Stewart will use his TV humor show for serious business.

And get serious attention.

Last Wednesday, Stewart had Dr. Sanjay Gupta on to discuss his recently released 9/11 documentary.

Terror In The Dust follows rescuers who endured a mixture of hazardous chemicals, while saving victims of the attacks on the Twin Towers.

These heroes are now battling possible cancers as a result of their noble civic duty. They have received little health coverage for these ailments. Red tape.

Gupta reported:

People said, ‘Is this emotion or is this science?’ At the ten-year mark, we’re starting to see scientific papers come out and address this.

Stewart asked why we couldn’t give those suffering the “benefit of the doubt.”

With the film coming out during this 10th anniversary of the tragedy, the comedian got off his soap box (briefly) and asked us to think about the cause wholeheartedly.

Granted, Stewart did not shed tears, but watching a clown take off his nose, even for a few minutes, made a strong statement.

The film will air again on September 10th at 9pm on CNN.