Weeks after the US Labor Department added coverage for cancers affecting women firefighters, all information has been deleted from the department’s website.

A report in Firehouse.com notes it took nearly three years to win presumptive workers’ compensation coverage for breast, cervical, and other cancers that firefighters who work for federal agencies may develop because of hazardous exposures on the job.

However, just weeks after the Labor Department in January 2025 added coverage for those illnesses, firefighters worry the gains may be in jeopardy after the Trump administration deleted information about the expansion of coverage for cancers that mostly affect women firefighters from a federal webpage. It is uncertain what these means for the changes introduced in the final days of the Biden administration.

“It’s really important to continue to focus on ensuring that those who devote their lives to protecting the public and communities continue to receive coverage through the special claims unit,” said Pete Dutchick, a federal firefighter and volunteer with the advocacy group Grassroots Wildland Firefighters.

The Labor Department’s special claims unit, established in 2022, processes all federal firefighter claims and provides a streamlined path for those with covered conditions. Wildland firefighters and advocacy groups representing them celebrated that year when federal officials moved to expedite workers’ compensation coverage of cancers tied to their jobs. It was recognition that the dangers of battling wildfires extend long after a blaze is extinguished.

The list of cancers federal officials tagged for streamlined claims processes through the Labor Department’s Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs included esophageal, colorectal, prostate, testicular, kidney, bladder, brain, lung, thyroid, multiple myeloma, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, leukemia, mesothelioma, and melanoma.

But that initial jubilation soured when it became clear that breast, ovarian, cervical, and uterine cancers were excluded, creating a coverage gap for more than 2,700 people, or about 16 per cent of the more than 17,000 federal wildland firefighters working for the Forest Service and the Interior Department. These are firefighters who are dispatched to federal lands, like in national forests and national parks, and sometimes assist county and state crews, as they did when fires swept into Los Angeles in January.

“At first glance, we were ecstatic,” Dutchick said. “And then we’re like, ‘Well, where are the female cancers?’”

Dutchick, who has an 8-year-old daughter, was upset. “I certainly want her to have equal protections when it comes to health if she chooses to get into a field of public service,” he said.

Then in early January 2025, as the Biden administration wound toward a close, federal officials addressed the exclusion, adding the cancers to the list in a last-minute change before Donald Trump took office.

“This policy change acknowledges the unique occupational hazards faced by women firefighters and ensures they receive the care and support they deserve,” Christopher Godfrey, the now-former director of the workers’ compensation office, said in a 6 January 2025 statement on the Labor Department’s website.

But in the early days of the Trump administration, the January press release announcing the cancer coverage expansion was deleted from the Labor Department website.

Formalizing the policy change through rulemaking will take months and support from Congress.

Firefighters point out that other countries, including Australia, already included presumptive coverage for cervical, ovarian, uterine, and breast cancers.

Recent research contributed to the agency’s inclusion of female reproductive cancers, Godfrey said. In 2023, a study determined a link between perfluorononanoic acid, a type of PFAS, and uterine cancer. PFAS, which stands for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a category of chemicals that a recent study found in the protective gear worn by wildland firefighters. Additional research has also linked PFAS exposure to an increase in melanoma. A study published in September identified 12 chemicals that firefighters are exposed to on the job linked to breast cancer.

But now, it’s unclear whether the Trump administration will roll back the new coverage, leaving some federal firefighters unsure whether exposures on the job will leave them scrambling for care.

It is feared devastating cuts to the US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health announced in April 2025 will have further damaging impacts on firefighter safety.  NIOSH programmes evaluating respirator safety are one victim of the cuts. And the National Firefighter Registry (NFR) for Cancer, which is the largest effort ever undertaken to understand and reduce risk of cancer among US firefighters is believed to be another casualty.

Many states have their introduced their own cancer reporting standards, listed on the website of the firefighters’ union IAFF. As a gold standard, Oregon has the usual list including breast cancer, plus “gynecologic cancer of the uterus, fallopian tubes, ovaries, cervix, vagina or vulva”. But similar coverage for federally-employed female firefighters may now not exist at all.

In 2023, Spanish trade unions CC.OO, UGT and CSIC representing firefighters employed at the Andalusia Environment and Water Agency (AMAYA), won recognition that the smoke was carcinogenic, a move intended to aid diagnosis, compensation and preventive efforts.

The Central Jakarta District Court has thrown out a lawsuit filed by the asbestos industry association FICMA against public health activists.

Yasa Nata Budi Institute for Consumer Protection (LPKSM) coordinator Leo Yoga Pranata (above, right) stated that this victory ensures the public can access products with clear, complete, and understandable information — essential for assessing health risks independently.

“We are very happy with this verdict. It reinforces that asbestos-based roofing must include a label warning of the health dangers of these products.

“This is clearly a public victory over the profits made by the asbestos industry,” he said.

This lawsuit was lodged after activists scored a historic win in the Indonesian Supreme Court which sought to implement mandatory labelling and hazard warnings for asbestos-based roofing products in Indonesia (Hazards 167).

Following this victory, FICMA lodged the lawsuit against LPKSM Yasa Nata Budi and its activists, claiming they had caused harm to the asbestos industry in Indonesia.

But in the 5 February 2025 district court ruling, the activists won once again.

In his reasoning, Judge Marper Pandiangan said the lawsuit filed by the asbestos manufacturer’s association and in accordance with Law No.10 of 2013 regarding ratification of the Rotterdam Convention, cannot be decided within its authority.

Such a lawsuit, according to the court, implies a refuting of an earlier Supreme Court decision.

Therefore, the judges of the Central Jakarta District Court held that the court did not have the authority to hear the case.

In an excerpt from the judge’s ruling, he states that the case “cannot be decided by the District Court, because the authority to examine a law and regulation is the authority of the Supreme Court.”

Moh Darisman, the coordinator of the movement to ban asbestos in Indonesia (InaBan), welcomed the ruling.

“This is a legal alignment that ensures that the state has an interest in protecting its citizens from the dangers of asbestos. There is no more reason for anyone, including the trade ministry, not to comply with placing hazard labels on every asbestos roofing,” he said.

The campaign was supported by the occupational safety organisation LION, unions and the ACTU-backed Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA, with free legal support from Australian law firm Maurice Blackburn.

The decision was made by Chief Judge Marper Pandiangan in case No.417/Pdt.G/2024/PN Jkt.Pst on 5 February 2025 in the Central Jakarta District Court.  

The UK government is investigating how many military personnel have been diagnosed with cancer, after claims that some helicopters left crew exposed to toxic fumes.

At least six cases have already been settled out of court by the Ministry of Defence (MoD), with dozens of other air crew and families understood to be in the process of suing.

They claim that officials knew about safety concerns with certain aircraft as far back as 1999, but chose not to tell the crew or introduce sufficient safety precautions.

The MoD says it takes “the health of our personnel extremely seriously” and is currently testing the exhaust emissions of some military helicopters.

Diseases contracted by some of the crew who flew the helicopters include lung cancer, throat cancer, testicular cancer and some rare forms of blood cancer.

It’s understood the government accepts that the design of some rotary wing aircraft increases the likelihood of engine exhaust fumes entering the cabin.

Benzene, which is a known human carcinogen, is an element present in aircraft fuel.

The MoD has confirmed it is now carrying out work to determine the number of armed forces personnel who have served as air crew and been diagnosed with cancer.

The BBC reports the investigation will cover the RAF, the Army and the Navy, and will include veterans as well as active personnel.

More than 150 people are thought to have approached law firms claiming to have been affected, but many will not be eligible for compensation, as the law allowing claims against the MoD only came into effect in 1987.

At least four types of aircraft have been named in legal documents, including the Sea King, Westland Wessex, Puma and CH-47 Chinook.

The law firm Hugh James, which is representing more than 40 affected military personnel, claims that risks surrounding the Sea King were made clear to the MoD in 1999.

They said a report “recommended modifications to the aircraft to divert the exhaust fumes” but claimed the MoD “failed to act on these recommendations” and “failed to make servicemen aware of the potential dangers and the risk of cancers developing.”

The Sea King was used in British military operations between 1969 and 2018 and has in the past been flown by both King Charles and the Prince of Wales.

The Westland Wessex was retired in 2003, while the Puma and CH-47 Chinook are still in use.

The MoD pointed to previous helicopter tests carried out on behalf of the RAF that didn’t show any indication air crew were being exposed to dangerous levels of contaminants.

Louisa Donaghy, a senior associate at Hugh James, said: “It’s encouraging that the MoD has begun work to understand the scale of this issue, but the process must be swift and transparent.

“Every delay means more veterans and service personnel could be left without the support they need. Given the challenges in accessing veterans’ records, it’s vital that the government commits the necessary resources to ensure no one is overlooked.”

Firefighters in the UK must be provided urgent health checks, their union the FBU has said, after the latest research into the impact of exposure to fire contaminants revealed the extend of life-threatening risks.

In January 2025, the University of Central Lancashire found that 136 of the 524 firefighters exposed to smoke at the Grenfell Tower fire reported life changing health conditions three years later. These included 11 cases of cancer, 64 respiratory diseases, 22 neurological disorders and 66 digestive illnesses.

The union is calling for regular health monitoring for UK firefighters so that health conditions, including cancers, can be identified and treated early.

In an interview with LBC on 3 January, public health minister Andrew Gywnne stated that: “Certainly that’s something that I’m more than happy to take away and look at seriously because we recognise that people who go above and beyond putting their own lives at risk in situations like Grenfell Tower may well end up with health issues as a consequence of their own work.”

In the 31 January 2025 letter, FBU general secretary Steve Wright calls for health monitoring for firefighters, writing: “The FBU today reiterates its call for urgent talks with ministers about regular health checks for firefighters. Following your intervention, the government must make a firm commitment to deliver that health screening.

“There can be no prevarication or delay in protecting firefighters from life threatening conditions.

“The UK is decades behind many comparable countries on this issue, and the findings of this report are likely to be the tip of the iceberg.

“I look forward to hearing from ministers about dates for a meeting on this critical issue, and on the government’s plans to back regular health monitoring for firefighters.”

Read the letter in full.

• Toxic Effluents and Assessment of Firefighters’ Health Impacts: Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
• Firefighters’ Activities and Their Exposure to Fire Smoke and Heat: Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine

Authored by Anna A. Stec, David A. Purser and T Richard Hull

A French court has ordered steelmaker ArcelorMittal to pay €10,000 (approx. £8,400) each in damages to 58 former employees who were exposed to asbestos.

The Court of Appeal in Metz found against ArcelorMittal for préjudice d’anxiété – a legal concept which refers to the psychological suffering experienced when someone fears they may develop a serious illness due to their prior exposure to a risk, such as asbestos. Usually fatal lung and other cancers, notably mesothelioma, are associated with exposure to asbestos.

The court ruled that préjudice d’anxiété had been suffered by 58 former employees who had been exposed to asbestos at the company’s sites in Gandrange, Florange and Rombas, a lawyer representing the claimants said.

“In the case of 58 of the 120 former employees, the court found that the claims were not time-barred and that they had been exposed to asbestos during their working lives in a way that was significant and likely to lead to the diagnosis of a serious pathology, leading in turn to préjudice d’anxiété,” Romain Bouvet, the claimants’ lawyer said, following the December 2024 ruling.

“The court found that the employer had failed in its duty to provide information. It [the court] took stock of the reality of the exposure to asbestos and the préjudice d’anxiété, and the compensation awarded seems to me to be satisfactory.”

For 62 other cases, however, the Court of Appeal ruled, as the Thionville industrial tribunal had done in December 2022, that the claims were time-barred, having been made too late.

“The court considers that the employees should have taken action before 2017, even though at that time the Court of Cassation did not allow them to be compensated for préjudice d’anxiété,” emphasised Bouvet, indicating that he was considering the possibility of appealing those cases to the Court of Cassation.

According to Bouvet, several former employees developed physical illnesses linked to their exposure to asbestos, in addition to the anxiety they felt. At least two claimants died during the proceedings.

“ArcelorMittal takes note of the decisions of the Metz Court of Appeal,” a company statement said, adding that it “does not comment on court decisions.

Greater than expected increases in lung cancer rates have been found when workers faced exposures to more than one potential workplace cause, a study has found.

The findings have implications for those working in construction, foundries and welding where multiple exposures to some or all of these carcinogens may be routine.

Scientists from the UN’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and partner institutions have found that whereas occupational co-exposure to some known lung carcinogens increased workers’ risk of developing lung cancer in a way that is generally in line with the combined increased risk of the individual agents, some co-exposures created a synergistic effect that increased the risk by more than this combination.

The results were published online on 18 January 2024 in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

The project partners analysed data from 16,900 lung cancer cases and 20,900 control subjects, collected over 15 years by scientists at IARC, in Canada, and in 13 countries in Europe.

The researchers estimated the effect that exposure to two carcinogens would have on lung cancer risk. They did this for each possible pairing from a group of five major occupational lung carcinogens: asbestos, respirable crystalline silica, nickel, chromium(VI), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), while also taking cigarette smoking into account.

A stronger effect than the sum of the individual risks was observed for lung adenocarcinoma for chromium(VI)–silica exposure among men, and for small cell lung cancer for silica and joint exposures with asbestos, PAHs, or chromium(VI) among women.

Some jobs, for example in construction or foundries, can involve routine exposures to all these occupational carcinogens.

“We show that most co-exposure to the selected lung carcinogens result in higher risk compared to individual exposures that underline the importance to eliminate or reduce and control exposures to carcinogens in workplaces and the general environment,” the authors conclude.

They say these results underline the importance of eliminating or reducing exposures to carcinogens in workplaces and in the general environment.

Studies included in the research included data from Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

• Olsson A, Bouaoun L, Schüz J, Vermeulen R, Behrens T, Ge C, and others. Lung cancer risks associated with occupational exposure to pairs of five lung carcinogens: results from a pooled analysis of case-control studies (SYNERGY), Environmental Health Perspectives, volume 132, issue 1, published online 18 January 2024. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP13380

More than 900 chemicals, many of which are present in common consumer products, have the potential to increase breast cancer risks, a new study has concluded.

Researchers at the Silent Spring Institute examined chemicals listed in major reference databases, including those from the International Agency for Research on Cancer and the US Environmental Protection Agency. They then classified chemicals based on their toxicity and ability to interfere with key human hormones associated with breast cancer.

Based on that analysis, the researchers identified 921 chemicals that can promote breast cancer, including pesticides and those used in food, drinks and medications. Chemicals on the list include permethrin, which is used to control mosquitoes; profenofos, which is used to kill bugs on cotton crops; and trifluralin, which is used to control weeds.

About a third of the chemicals on the list have been linked to mammary tumours in rodents, according to the study, which was published on 10 January 2024 in Environmental Health Perspectives.

Chemicals associated with mammary tumours included 30 pesticides and herbicides approved by the US Environmental Protection Agency, such as malathion. Public Health Watch reports that in August 2023, the EPA limited application of malathion — used as an insecticide in both food agriculture and residential gardening — to protect birds, fish and other wildlife from harm.

[This entry is based on a news update from The Watch, published by the US non-profit Public Health Watch].

• Jones R, White A. Invited Perspective: New Motivations and Future Directions for Investigating Environmental Risk Factors for Breast Cancer, Environmental Health Perspectives, 10.1289/EHP13777, 132, 1, (2024).

A major survey of work-related cancer risk factors has identified the top cancer causing chemical exposures at work.

Initial results of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work’s (EU OSHA) workers’ exposure survey on cancer risk factors (WES) found 20 per cent of EU workers are exposed to diesel engine exhaust emissions, 13 per cent to benzene, 8.4 per cent to respirable crystalline silica (RCS) and 6.4 per cent to formaldehyde.

EU OSHA said results from WES are expected to affect future amendment proposals to the carcinogens, mutagens and reprotoxic substances directive (CMRD), which might include new or stricter occupational exposure limits for substances that pose a high risk to workers.

The agency is releasing the survey results in phases, with a final assessment of exposure to 24 cancer risk factors due in 2024.

EU OSHA says solar UV radiation just tops the list of occupational cancer risks at work, with 20.8 per cent of workers affected.

Exposure to organic solvents could be a significant cause of breast cancer in women, with over 50 per cent higher rates in workers exposed to chlorinated alkanes, chlorinated alkenes, and MAHs (mononuclear aromatic hydrocarbons – for example, aromatic solvents with one benzene ring – benzene, toluene, xylene).  

The study examined whether past occupational exposures to selected organic solvents were associated with the incidence of invasive breast cancer in postmenopausal women in Montréal, Canada.

“Our findings suggest occupational exposure to certain organic solvents may increase the risk of incident postmenopausal breast cancer,” the authors said.

Westra, S, Goldberg, MS, Labrèche, F, Baumgartner, J, Ho, V. The association between the incidence of postmenopausal breast cancer and occupational exposure to selected organic solvents, Montreal, Canada, 2008-2011. American Journal of Industrial Medicine, volume 66, pages 911-927, 2023.

Australia’s top union body ACTU has welcomed a report by the country’s national safety regulator recommending a complete prohibition on the use of engineered stone.

The use of the product has been linked to especially damaging exposures to respirable crystalline silica, which can cause the lung scarring and progressive disease silicosis, lung cancer and autoimmune and other diseases.

The Safe Work Australia report followed broad consultation with business groups, engineered stone manufacturers and fabricators, unions and health experts. It also included detailed economic evaluation and an analysis of evidence from the best available science when developing its recommendation.

Safe Work Australia endorsed the medical and scientific evidence that lung diseases caused by engineered stone dust take less time to develop, are more severe and become worse quickly.

There were three options considered by Safe Work Australia:

• Option 1  Prohibition on the use of all engineered stone
• Option 2  Prohibition on the use of engineered stone containing 40% or more crystalline silica
• Option 3  As for option 2, with an accompanying licensing scheme for PCBUs working with engineered stone containing less than 40% crystalline silica.

Given that scientific evidence found that even engineered stone with lower silica content posed unmanageable risks to the health and safety of workers, Safe Work Australia recommended a blanket ban of the product.

The report noted that engineered stone dust is very fine – nano scale – meaning it penetrates deep into the lungs of workers, with the dust containing resins, metals, pigments, and other forms of silica dust. Thus, even when workers cut and fabricate low-silica stone products, the very fine dust particles of silica that enter the lungs of workers cause diseases including silicosis.

Current laws have not protected workers, ACTU says – 1 in 4 engineered stone workers have contracted silicosis under the current framework. The report made clear that the costs to the community from the continued use of engineered stone far outweighed any benefits, and that the only way to protect future workers was to prohibit the use of engineered stone entirely.

The ACTU Executive this week joined the construction and mining union CFMEU in outlining the union movement’s intention to ban this deadly product, commonly used for kitchen and bathroom benchtops, if state governments had not acted by July next year.

“This recommendation by Safe Work Australia will save lives. We urge all governments to introduce it at the earliest opportunity. ” commented ACTU assistant secretary Liam O’Brien.

“Silicosis and silica-related diseases pose an unacceptable health risk to workers. This report shows that there is no type of engineered stone that is safe for workers.

“No worker in Australia should have to plan their funeral and farewell their loved ones, all because of a lung disease they got from working with this deadly stone.

“The report made clear that there is no other option than an outright ban on engineered stone. Keeping this deadly product legal means more workers getting health problems and more workers dying.

“We welcome the decision earlier this year of WHS Ministers to introduce stronger silica rules covering all work. However, this report makes clear that to truly protect the health and wellbeing of workers, we must ban this deadly fashion product once and for all. ”

A joint statement supporting the action was signed by organisations including: Australian Institute of Health & Safety; Australian Institute of Occupational Hygienist; Cancer Council; Lung Foundation; Public Health Association of Australia; The Australian and New Zealand Society of Occupational Medicine Inc; and the Australian Council of Trade Unions.

Australia is also planning to lower its current workplace exposure limit for respirable crystalline silica from 0.05mg/m³. The current limit is half the 0.1mg/m³ level in the UK.

Great Britain’s safety regulator, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), has refused to improve the limit, despite both the US, Australia and other jurisdictions making evidence-based decisions to move to a standard at least twice as protective.

HSE has admitted six times more workers will develop silicosis at the less protective standard. Overall, several thousand additional deaths per year could result from the weaker standard.