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A New CDC Registry to Help Researchers Learn More About Firefighters and Cancer

Ideastream Public Media | By Tyler Thompson
Published July 25, 2018 at 7:10 PM EDT
More information about why firefighters are at high risk for developing certain types of cancers could be coming in the future, thanks to the Firefighter Cancer Registry Act.
Tim Rudell
/
WKSU
More information about why firefighters are at high risk for developing certain types of cancers could be coming in the future, thanks to the Firefighter Cancer Registry Act.

A new law aims to fight cancer diagnoses among firefighters.

The Firefighter Cancer Registry Act will require the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to create a voluntary registry to collect data on cancer rates. The results will be made public for researchers.

Democratic U.S Sen. Sherrod Brown, who brought the bill to Congress, said the CDC will develop strategies to use the data to spur research.

"We need to learn why firefighters are at such high risk," Brown said. "We need to know more about the chemicals that are all over, particularly new construction homes, and we need to get researchers the data they need to find answers and solutions."

Brown worked alongside Republican U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio and Lisa Murkowski on the bill.

President Donald Trump signed it into law earlier this month.

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Tyler Thompson
Tyler Thompson was a reporter and on-air host for 89.7 NPR News. Thompson, originally from northeast Ohio, has spent the last three years working as a Morning Edition host and reporter at NPR member station KDLG Public Radio and reporter at the Bristol Bay Times Newspaper in Dillingham, Alaska.
See stories by Tyler Thompson