By FireRescue1 Staff
WASHINGTON — A bill calling for the creation of a national firefighter registry to provide vital information for cancer research was unanimously approved by the House.
The Firefighter Cancer Registry Bill creates an anonymous, specialized registry at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to provide researchers with information needed to improve research on firefighter cancer.
“Modern medicine does not fully understand why firefighters experience cancer at rates much higher rate than the general public,” IAFC president Chief Thomas Jenkins said. “The IAFC thanks our leaders in Congress for passing this important legislation to create a national firefighter cancer registry. The registry will help with critical research so we can better understand the causes and outcomes of cancer in the fire service and help us identify ways to mitigate and prevent it.”
With the information the registry will provide, medical researchers will be able to further examine the connection between the fire service and cancer.
The bill is now on its way to be signed by President Trump.
https://twitter.com/RepChrisCollins/status/1010208490005123073