SACRAMENTO, CA— As over 200 firefighters in San Francisco come together at City Hall to pay tribute to their members who have lost their lives to cancer and announce the creation of the San Francisco Firefighters Cancer Prevention Foundation, Assemblyman Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) voiced his strong support for the creation of the foundation and underscored the importance of removing the sources of toxic exposures for firefighters through the passage of Assembly Bill 706, which will ban the use of two classes of toxic chemical fire retardants in specific household items.

“Our firefighters, who put themselves at risk for us every day, are having their lives cut short by cancer at an alarming rate,” said Assemblyman Leno.  “Toxic cancer-causing substances, such as dioxin, are created when some chemical fire retardants in our furniture burn -- and may be the cause of elevated cancer risk for our brave men and women firefighters.  AB 706 creates a smarter and improved fire-safety standard for furniture without the use of brominated and chlorinated chemicals in order to protect firefighters, pregnant women and their babies, toddlers, furniture industry workers, and others from potentially dangerous exposures to toxic chemicals.”

AB 706 would ban the use of all brominated and chlorinated fire retardants in upholstered furniture as well as bedding products such as pillows, comforters, and mattresses. When brominated and chlorinated fire retardants burn after a momentary resistance to open flame, they release a dark smoke that greatly reduces visibility for fire fighters.  Additionally, brominated fire retardants are converted into dioxin and furans, exposing firefighters to dangerous levels of these extremely toxic and cancer-causing chemicals.

Hundreds of firefighters placed their boots on the steps of San Francisco’s City Hall today to symbolize the firefighters who “died with their boots off” as a result of job-related cancers.  Tom O’Connor, President of the newly founded San Francisco Firefighters Cancer Prevention Foundation and an active firefighter in the SFFD said, “As firefighters we risk our lives each day as part of our job.  Now there is research that shows we have a significantly higher risk than most people of getting cancer. We want to let San Franciscans know that cancer is plaguing our workforce.”

An analysis of 32 studies was published last November in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine which found that fire fighters had significantly elevated rates for four types of cancer:  multiple myeloma, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, prostate, and testicular cancer.  In San Francisco, 35 active duty firefighters have contracted job-related cancers in the last eight years, and 15 of them have died.  In the last ten years, 215 retired firefighters have contracted cancer and 25 of them have died.

AB 706 has received support from San Francisco Fire Fighters Local 798, the California Professional Firefighters, and the Firefighters Burn Institute.   The measure will be heard next in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.