02 April 2023 , 19:54
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Firefighters are being diagnosed with cancer at an “alarming rate” and must be given proper health screening, MPs have been warned.
Figures revealed the mortality rate for all cancers is 1.6 times higher than in the general population.
And the data came from a study the Fire Brigade Union was forced to commission itself because research on the safety of firefighters is so bad.
General Secretary Matt Wrack told the All Party Parliamentary Fire Safety and Rescue Committee the UK is lagging behind other nations in caring for crews.
He said: “The findings were alarming, firefighters diagnosed with cancers at an alarming rate and younger than others in the community – and diagnosed at a later stage in the illness.
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“There are better practices in many other services across the world. We are concerned about the level of health monitoring that exists.”
Professor Anna Stec produced a survey with shocking findings (Lennox Herald)Professor Anna Stec, of University of Central Lancashire, studied 11,000 firefighters for the FBU. She said: “People are clearly dying earlier than they should do.”
The MPs also heard the World Health Organisation has declared firefighting a carcinogenic occupation.
Earlier this year, the Mirror revealed that firefighters who tackled the Grenfell disaster have since been diagnosed with terminal cancer.
And Prof Stec told how crews were exposed to asbestos at the West London tower block in the June 2017 inferno.
She said after the blaze it was recommended, in 2018, that all the emergency services had health monitoring based on asbestos presence and other toxins.
And Dr Fiona Wilcox, senior coroner for Inner West London, issued a Regulation 28 notice calling for a health screening scheme.
The Fire Brigade Union general secretary Matt Wrack (Daily Mirror)But Prof Stec told MPs the Government never acted on it.
The FBU wants MPs to change legislation so firefighters with cancer do not have to prove what chemical and fire triggered it to get support, treatment and compensation.
Firefighter Steven Burns, 51, from Hampshire, slammed “the inactivity of the Government”.
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He joined at 34 and has had 15 tumours removed in seven years, which he blames on his job.
Mr Burns said: “We need to be listened to. I’m going to a colleague’s funeral, he was 49 and died of kidney cancer. It was 100% his job as well. We are dying at least 10 years younger than the general public and it needs to be admitted. We need to put things in place to prevent it."