A study from the University of Arizona's Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health and the University of Michigan has discovered chemical exposures on the job could result in firefighters having an increased risk of prostate cancer.
Researchers discovered PFAS chemicals can alter the genes of some firefighters leaving them at a higher risk of developing cancer. The chemicals are found in everyday items like takeout containers, but firefighters are especially likely to encounter them.
“We all have some level PFAS in our body, but on top of it firefighters have additional sources of exposure,” UofA professor and researcher Jeff Burgess said. “Some of the foams that they've been using to put out gasoline or oil fires where you need the foam to float on top of of the burning liquid to put it out those phones contain PFAS chemicals and we know that when firefighters use those, they have an increased amount of PFAS that gets into their body. They also have PFAS in their gear.”
Burgess said many of the firefighters and stations he talks to are working now to limit their PFAS exposure in the equipment they use.
“They have many different things that make their jobs both difficult and hazardous to them,” Burgess said. “So this is just helping them figure out ways that they can do their job as safely as possible.”
