Risk of cancer Firefighters pick up highly toxic chemicals through skin contact
Pollutants from the smoke enter the body via the skin
Firefighters are at some risk if they go in dangerous situations to help. These risks are deliberately accepted, but other threats threaten them so far completely unrecognized. According to the results of a recent study, this also includes the uptake of toxic chemicals that enter the body of firefighters via the skin.
The risks involved in a firefighting operation are extremely varied according to the respective occasions. In addition to the acute dangers such as fire, explosions, smoke and collapsing parts of the building, however, there are also health risks that until now have largely remained unrecognized. These include the absorption of toxic chemicals through the skin, according to a recent study by Canadian scientists at the University of Ottawa. The study was published in the journal "Environmental Science & Technology".
Firefighters pick up toxic chemicals from the smoke through skin contact, which increases the risk of cancer. (Image: MAK / fotolia.com)Respiratory masks sufficient to protect against PAH?
The risks of inhaling toxic gases in the smoke are well known to most firefighters, but wearing a respirator makes them feel secure. A research team at the University of Ottawa has now studied, in collaboration with the University of Toronto, Health Canada and the National Institute of Quebec, whether this sense of security is justified. They focused their investigation on loads with so-called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), which are often present in fires in high concentrations in the smoke.
Loads significantly increased after a fire
In 2015 and 2015, 27 firefighters of the "Ottawa Fire Service" measured the PAH loads before and after use by means of wipe tests on the skin and examinations of the urine (on PAH degradation products). The firefighters had after a fire "three to more than five times as many metabolites or by-products of PAHs in the urine as before the fire," says study author Jennifer Keir of the University of Ottawa.
Increased risk of cancer among firefighters
Earlier studies, according to the researchers, have already shown that firefighters are at an increased risk for cancer and other serious illnesses compared to the general population. This is partly due to exposure to hazardous chemicals in the smoke. In particular, PAHs are responsible for DNA mutations and cancer.
Absorption through the skin
Unexpectedly, the researchers found that there was a strong correlation between skin PAH levels and urinary metabolite levels. According to the scientists, this speaks in favor of firefighters receiving these chemicals mainly through skin contact, rather than by inhaling. The study "shows how firefighters are exposed to harmful chemicals, which helps us find ways to reduce exposure - and hopefully reduce the onset of disease," says Professor Jules Blais of the University of Ottawa, head of the research team.
According to Professor Blais, the study results show that a further reduction in pollution among firefighters can best be achieved by reducing exposure of the skin. The wearing of respiratory masks is a matter of course for the scientists here. However, in Germany wearing these masks - especially of firefighters who are not directly on the fire front, but still get smoke - often neglected criminally.
Better equipment required?
In order to exclude a pollutant absorption via the skin, if necessary, the equipment of the firefighters must be revised. A similar assessment is also the Federal Fire Brigade doctor Klaus Friedrich. "The protective equipment of firefighters must be evaluated," Friedrich told "Spiegel Online". So far, the protection against heat and less the protection against chemicals in the smoke had the highest priority. In the view of the Bundesfeuerwehrarztes could possibly also be the clothing after a mission still a problem. Here is the question of whether possibly even on the way home in the fire truck further contamination takes place. It may therefore be appropriate to change clothes quickly after use. (Fp)