Editorial

Support the Firefighter Cancer Registry Act

Posted

A five-year study undertaken by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health found that U.S. firefighters develop malignant mesothelioma, a cancer caused by exposure to asbestos, at twice the rate of the general population. The study also revealed that firefighters have a greater risk of dying from lung cancer and leukemia.

This higher incidence of cancer, lung and blood diseases among firefighters is believed to be the result of their exposure to asbestos and flame-retardant coatings on certain types of insulation, furniture, clothing, toys and household and office materials.

When firefighters rush into burning buildings, they contend not only with the awful dangers of fire, smoke and falling objects, but also with potentially much greater — if less visible — hazards. While those less-apparent killers may not send firefighters to the hospital that day, prolonged and repeated exposure to these chemicals and materials creates sleeper terror cells in their bodies that strike later, with deadly force.

U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer is proposing a bill — the Firefighter Cancer Registry Act — that would establish a voluntary national firefighter cancer registry, to be managed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The registry would do the following:

• Compile in one place the epidemiological information submitted by health care professionals related to cancer among firefighters.

• Make anonymous data available to public health researchers, to help them expand their work.

• Improve our understanding of cancer incidence as the registry grows, which could potentially lead to the development of advanced safety protocols and safeguards for firefighters on the front lines.

• Enable increased collaboration between the CDC and epidemiologists, public health experts, clinicians and firefighters to improve the effectiveness and accuracy of the registry.

We support Schumer’s bill, and hope the rest of the Senate and our local congressional representatives — Peter King, Kathleen Rice, Gregory Meeks and either Steve Israel or the eventual winner of the Tom Suozzi-Jack Martins race for Israel’s seat — will vote for it.

Firefighters risk their lives for us, not just in burning houses and collapsing buildings, but from the long-term residual effects of those house fires and building collapses. We must do what we can to protect them from job-related threats, which may not appear until decades later.