Cancer Registry awaits Trump’s signature

A bill could help establish new protocols and safeguards to help protect firefighters in the future.

A bill awaiting President Donald Trump’s approval could help establish new protocols and safeguards to help protect firefighters in the future by reducing the exposure risk to cancer-causing carcinogens they face on the job.

Lake County has lost one firefighter, Michael Palumbo, who at the age of 49 succumbed to occupational-related brain cancer on May 24, 2017. A second Lake County fire fighter, Seamus Culligan, is still dealing with the effects of the occupational-related brain cancer he was diagnosed with in April 2017.

The Firefighter Cancer Registry Act of 2018, provides the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with $10 million for fiscal years 2018-22 and requires them to use the funds to develop and maintain a national registry for the purpose of collecting data regarding cancer incidents in firefighters.

It will also help medical professionals track and treat firefighters with occupational-related cancers.

The registry will be voluntary and used for the purpose of improving data collection on relevant health and occupational information on registered firefighters. It will also be used for the purpose of determining cancer incidences along with data coordination activities related to the nationwide monitoring of cancer among firefighters.

Additionally, the registry will serve to collect, consolidate and maintain epidemiological information and analyses related to cancer incidences and trends among firefighters.

“Firefighters may experience detrimental health effects due to smoke inhalation and other harmful substances,” stated a summary of the bill unanimously passed by the House of Representatives. “A 2015 study by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health found that firefighters in the U.S. have a greater number of cancer diagnoses and cancer-related deaths.”

The bill was introduced Feb., 7, 2017, and after several revision was unanimously passed by both the Senate and the House. It was sent to the president to be signed into law on June 22.

The Fire Fighter Cancer Registry Act of 2018, according to a statement released from the International Associations of Fire Fighters, “is the culmination of several years of work by the IAFF to establish a one-of-a-kind national cancer registry specifically for fire fighters. This data will provide scientists with the specialized information they need for research to help strengthen our understand of the link between fire fighting and cancer, which could potentially lead to better prevention and safety protocols.”

“Mike Palumbo and some of the other guys that are sick have led us to internally becoming more proactive in limiting the exposures we have to the smoke. So, besides the legislation, which does help us, our eyes are more open and we are trying to be more proactive on the front end to be sure that we are limiting that kind of thing,” Eastlake Fire Chief Ted Whittington said. “Now that we have something in place that can track this, obviously it will be very helpful for us because when someone does get sick, we are now able to be part of a system where they are recognizing that firefighters are being exposed to different things and we are trying to show on our side a better approach to making sure that we are doing different things.”