Firefighting Gear Is Made Flame Retardant With PFAS Forever Chemicals
The protective gear that firefighters wear may be made using deadly PFAS chemicals responsible for sickening firefighters.
Wednesday, September 20, 2023 - CBS News reported recently that thousands of firefighters have filed PFAS cancer lawsuits against the makers of their protective equipment claiming that they were unable to continue to work due to their illnesses. "Many in the firefighting community believe that toxins are not only present in the fires they fight but also in their turnout gear. Dozens of firefighters filed lawsuits this week alleging that the gear they wear -- designed to protect them from fires -- is making them sick. The lawsuits claim the chemicals used to make their gear resistant to flames, water, and oil carry a hidden danger that can cause devastating illness." PFAS, Per- and polyfluoroalkyl are the chemicals in firefighting jackets, overalls, boots, and gloves that make them flame retardant. PFAS forever chemicals are also found extensively in the AFFF aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) that firefighters use to extinguish petroleum-based and fuel fires. Given the toxic nature of firefighting equipment, it is no wonder that cancer is the leading cause of death among firefighters. According to the International Association of Fire Fighters, "Cancer accounted for over 74% of line-of-duty deaths in 2022. Firefighters have a 9% higher risk of getting cancer and a 14% greater risk of dying from it than the general population."
There are so many stories of firefighters being diagnosed and eventually dying from cancer that one small essay does not do the scope of the problem justice. To put the problem into perspective, the occupational hazard PFAS chemical cancer poses to firefighters can be summarized as follows: " Since 2015, nearly three out of four firefighters added to the IAFF Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial have died from so-called occupational cancer. Even more have been diagnosed," CBS uncovered. One firefighter, veteran firefighter Joe Marchetti, 46, from Brockton, Massachusetts, told CBS News that he developed cancer from using his firefighting gear and that "he would not bring the equipment into his house" for fear of contaminating his family. Another, Boston firefighter Daniel Ranahan from Boston, Massachusetts, was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma in October 2020, at the ripe old age of 30. "Marc Stelling, a fire captain for the City of Gilroy, California, found out he had stage one cancer after an accident caused a tumor on his kidney to burst. "When I was laid out in that hospital bed for eight days, that was belittling to me. I thought of myself as a pretty tough guy. But lying there, helpless, trying to figure out what was going on, that was a whole 'nother game," said Stelling."
Thousands of military and civilian firefighters with cancer and also the survivors of those who died from the disease have filed AFFF lawsuits against 3M, DuPont, and about a dozen other manufacturers of firefighting foam. Lawsuits allege that the companies knew about the carcinogenic nature of PFAS forever chemicals found in their products and failed to warn firefighters.
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