2023-10-19 16:18:12
THE ESSENTIAL
- Flame retardants are chemicals used in the foam of our sofas, in the plastics of toys, in our cars… to delay the spread of house fires.
- Some of them are “especially recognized as hormonal disruptors, others are classified as carcinogenic,” according to a press release. Firefighters, on the front line, are particularly exposed.
- Only cancer (that of the bladder) is officially recognized as an occupational disease among firefighters in France.
Being a firefighter is a profession with health risks, perhaps even more so than we thought. Already faced with the danger of fire smoke, firefighters are in fact very exposed to neurotoxic and carcinogenic pollutants: flame retardants. This is what reveals an investigation carried out by journalists from the program “Vert de Rage”, on France 5, and presented at a press conference on Wednesday October 18.
Carcinogenic pollutants found in the bodies of firefighters
Flame retardants are chemicals present in all everyday objects (furniture, textiles, toys, etc.) which make materials less flammable and thus limit the spread of fires. Some of them are “mainly recognized as hormonal disruptors, others are classified as carcinogenic”can we read in a communiqué. However, when these chemical compounds ignite during a house fire and are released into the air, it is the firefighters who “find themselves on the front line”.
To measure the consequences, the “Vert de Rage” team asked dozens of firefighters to wear bracelets during their operations capable of detecting the pollutants to which they are exposed. At the same time, she analyzed blood samples from firefighters in order to assess the quantity of pollutants in their bodies. The results were clear: we found a carcinogenic pollutant in the bodies of firefighters.
Only one cancer recognized as an occupational disease among firefighters
Particularly because of this exposure to flame retardants, “4% of firefighters are victims of cancer due to pollutants”, reports France Info. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), an agency of the World Health Organization, has also classified “occupational exposure of firefighters as particularly carcinogenic”and alerted to the “overrepresentation of certain cancers” among the firefighters. However, today, “only a cancer [celui de la vessie, ndlr] is officially recognized as an occupational disease. among firefighters in France, regret the directors of “Vert de Rage”, recalling that there is no “no official statistics on the number of cases in the profession”.
1697770577
#firefighters #overexposed #flame #retardant #pollutants