An Arizona Senate ad hoc committee met Thursday to discuss best practices for preventing occupational cancer in firefighters and treating those who have it.
The committee of state lawmakers, fire officials, and workers’ compensation specialists, as well as a room full of first responders and their supporters, first heard from a board-certified oncologist.
Vincere Cancer Center’s Dr. Vershalee Shukla shared her success in finding many of the cancers she has discovered in the nearly 600 firefighters she screened over the last year. “Firefighters are at a high risk for cancer, and they’re being diagnosed at younger ages with both rare and uncommon cancers,” Shukla said. “We need ongoing clinical programs and studies to develop specific occupational screening guidelines for firefighters.”