Your editorial criticizing Buffalo Grove firefighter Kevin Hauber’s pension award shortchanged the subject of occupational diseases in firefighters.
The pension board’s decision was based on Illinois law, and your editorial showed disregard for that law and the medical evidence behind it. Hauber’s death to colon cancer is not an anomaly among veteran firefighters. Extensive scientific research shows compelling evidence that specific cancers — including colorectal cancers — are strongly associated with firefighting. That evidence is a result of extensive university studies as well as that of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
The editorial also neglected to recognize other critical medical factors: Hauber’s age, family, personal health history and genetic testing showed he was not a colon cancer risk. Rather, an overriding environmental risk for the 23-year veteran firefighter was cited as evidence of increased risk to colorectal cancer.