Fire fighters and other workers remain in danger due to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) “systematically ignoring exposure risks” in what has been a lax implementation of the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act, said IAFF Assistant to the General President for Health, Safety and Medicine Patrick Morrison during a hearing before the House Subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change.
The EPA has done little to protect fire fighters and other populations from toxic chemical exposures in the two and a half years since the law updating the Toxic Substances Control Act was passed.
Morrison joined representatives from other labor groups, including autoworkers, teachers and farm workers, in urging Congress and the EPA to do more to protect workers from dangerous chemicals, including asbestos, flame retardants and PFAS. Many of these chemicals have been linked to cancer, which is the greatest health-related issue facing the firefighting profession.
The IAFF continues to work with legislators to address concerns with these chemicals and their use.
