Study on Cancer Inconclusive
An article from the Baltimore Sun (via US Firefighting News) notes that a study of cancer among Anne Arundel firefighters was inconclusive.
Anne Arundel County firefighters have a "somewhat greater" risk of developing cancer than the general public, but the health problems of 17 firefighters who contracted at least one form of cancer could not be directly linked to training methods at the fire academy in Millersville, the Johns Hopkins University public health officials said yesterday.A 10-month study, released yesterday, said that county firefighters who trained in Millersville between 1971 and 1979 were exposed to cancer-causing PCBs when the Fire Department burned waste oil for exercises.
But Johns Hopkins researchers said that based on the $25,000 study, which was conducted at the request of the county and state, they could not say exposure to the burned fuel led to the cancer cases. Similar studies in Chicago and Seattle have also found an elevated cancer risk among firefighters but no link to specific practices.
This study was very narrow and further information needs to be gathered.
The results "speak to the need to do a formal study. ... We have a very incomplete picture," said Dr. Jonathan Samet, the lead investigator and chairman of the epidemiology department at Hopkins' Bloomberg School of Public Health.
As firefighters, we are exposed to smoke and the chemicals within the smoke on a regular basis. Are you limiting that exposure as much as you can while still accomplishing your duties?
