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A 10-person team of federal health workers was helping Iowa firefighters limit their exposure to fumes from idling vehicles when news broke earlier this month that all but one team member had been fired.
The Cincinnati-based team of scientists traveled to Iowa last August after three fire stations requested their help out of concern that their workers were being exposed to diesel exhaust. They were preparing for a follow-up visit this summer to test the levels of various pollutants in different rooms — including where firefighters eat and sleep — and recommend the best form of ventilation.
“That’s all been put on pause,” said Hannah Echt, a member of the team and a union steward at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. “We haven’t been able to travel since the end of January, and now … there’s no one to do the traveling.”
NIOSH’s congressionally mandated Health Hazard Evaluation program is one of many health and safety services on which firefighters depend that’s been shrunk or eliminated by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “reduction in force” — a purge of more than 10,000 employees.
Firefighters are regularly exposed to toxins and chemicals that affect their physical and mental health, problems compounded by stress and irregular sleep. NIOSH research found that firefighters have a 9 percent greater risk of a cancer diagnosis and a 14 percent greater risk of dying from cancer than the general population.
After years of helping improve firefighters’ health outcomes, people in and out of government fear the NIOSH cuts will lead to major backsliding. Interviews with five current and former NIOSH employees, several of whom were granted anonymity due to fear of retribution, as well as active and retired firefighters, lawmakers and patient advocates, reveal instances in which data collection, safety evaluations and direct services for firefighters have been terminated due to staff reductions.
Workers running the Center for Firefighter Safety, Health and Well-being, which includes the Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program that researches why first responders get sick and die and how to prevent it, were laid off. Services for hundreds of thousands of people exposed to toxins on 9/11 — including thousands of firefighters — are hampered by cuts to NIOSH’s World Trade Center Health Program, which researches and treats cancers and other health problems linked to the terrorist attack.
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Polls showed firefighters and other first responders overwhelmingly supported Trump’s reelection, and the president has often praised firefighters for their work.
The Cincinnati-based team of scientists traveled to Iowa last August after three fire stations requested their help out of concern that their workers were being exposed to diesel exhaust. They were preparing for a follow-up visit this summer to test the levels of various pollutants in different rooms — including where firefighters eat and sleep — and recommend the best form of ventilation.
“That’s all been put on pause,” said Hannah Echt, a member of the team and a union steward at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. “We haven’t been able to travel since the end of January, and now … there’s no one to do the traveling.”
NIOSH’s congressionally mandated Health Hazard Evaluation program is one of many health and safety services on which firefighters depend that’s been shrunk or eliminated by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “reduction in force” — a purge of more than 10,000 employees.
Firefighters are regularly exposed to toxins and chemicals that affect their physical and mental health, problems compounded by stress and irregular sleep. NIOSH research found that firefighters have a 9 percent greater risk of a cancer diagnosis and a 14 percent greater risk of dying from cancer than the general population.
After years of helping improve firefighters’ health outcomes, people in and out of government fear the NIOSH cuts will lead to major backsliding. Interviews with five current and former NIOSH employees, several of whom were granted anonymity due to fear of retribution, as well as active and retired firefighters, lawmakers and patient advocates, reveal instances in which data collection, safety evaluations and direct services for firefighters have been terminated due to staff reductions.
Workers running the Center for Firefighter Safety, Health and Well-being, which includes the Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program that researches why first responders get sick and die and how to prevent it, were laid off. Services for hundreds of thousands of people exposed to toxins on 9/11 — including thousands of firefighters — are hampered by cuts to NIOSH’s World Trade Center Health Program, which researches and treats cancers and other health problems linked to the terrorist attack.
...
Polls showed firefighters and other first responders overwhelmingly supported Trump’s reelection, and the president has often praised firefighters for their work.
