Firefighters more likely to die of cancer and hearts attacks than general public

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Scots firefighters are more likely to die from cancer, heart attacks and strokes than the general public, a bombshell report has found.The study found that mortality rates for all cancers are 1.6 times higher than for the general population.Firefighters are also dying from heart attacks at five times the rate of the general public.Riccardo la Torre, Fire Brigades Union national officer, said the findings “should horrify the fire services and the government”.“This is about firefighters dying who did not need to,” he said. “We cannot lose any more firefighters unnecessarily.

Lives are being lost amongst our friends and colleagues and it must stop.“We need to catch problems early and mitigate problems early.”The Central Lancashire University study looked at mortality data from the National Records of Scotland, which found the number of firefighters who have died from prostate cancer was 3.8 times higher than the general population.The figure was also 3.2 times higher for leukaemia and 2.4 times higher for oesophageal cancer.Professor Anna Stec, who is based at the university, said: “It’s important that firefighters can continue to do their jobs as safely as possible, and the research shows that measures such as health monitoring and reducing exposure from contaminants at the workplace will play an important part in protecting firefighters.”The report said excess cancer mortality was likely linked to different kinds of exposures and fire toxins.Cancers of the oesophagus and digestive organs point to a potentially significant contribution from ingestion, such as eating food with contaminated hands.Mortality rates from leukaemia are linked to exposure to other chemicals such as benzene from contact with skin or inhalation.Acro