6 September 7 - 13, 2023 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents a common type of PFAS that include chemi- cals such as perfluorooctanoic acid and per- fluorooctane. The International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the World Health Organization, classifies PFOA as “possibly carcinogenic to humans.” It’s known to cause testicular and kidney cancer, according to a March 21 report by the Amer- ican Cancer Society. “DuPont subsequently found that PFOA is ‘toxic’ and that ‘continued exposure is not tolerable,’ but did not disclose this to the public or to the United States Environ- mental Protection Agency,” Florida said in the filing. Daniel Turner, a spokesperson for Du- Pont, said there is a difference between op- erations of DuPont de Nemours and legacy E.I. du Pont de Nemours (EID) operations from decades ago. EID spun off its chemi- cals businesses to the Chemours Co., Turner said. In 2017, a merger between Dow Chem- ical Co. and EID grouped the remaining product lines, leading to the creation of three new companies two years later. EID started doing business as Corteva Agri- science, an agriculture business that in- cludes the former agriculture businesses of the Dow Chemical Co. Then there’s Dow, one of the largest chemical producers in the world. DuPont de Nemours, Turner said, inher- ited the specialty products manufacturing assets of both EID and Dow. “To implicate DuPont de Nemours in these past issues ignores this corporate evolution, and the movement of product lines and personnel that now exist with entirely different companies,” Turner wrote in an Aug. 23 email. “DuPont de Nemours has never manufactured PFOA, PFOS or firefighting foam. While we don’t comment on litigation matters, we believe these complaints are without merit, and we look forward to vigorously defending our record of safety, health and environ- mental stewardship.” In 1971, the National Fire Protection As- sociation (NFPA) created standards for fire- fighters’ personal protective equipment. Their turnout gear, for example, consists of three layers: an outer shell that could with- stand temperatures of 500 degrees Fahren- heit for about five minutes, a middle layer that acted as a moisture barrier to keep wa- ter out and an inner layer that protected against convection, conduction and radia- tion heat transfers, according to a June 16, 2008, report by Fire Engineering magazine. PFAS chemicals provide the fire resis- tance the coat needs, Jim McDade, a fire- fighter and president of the Dallas Fire Fighters Association, said. PFAS are used in the moisture barrier between the other two layers, but they’ve also been detected in the other layers of the coat, according to the University of California, Berkley’s Greener Solutions report “Replacing PFAS in Fire- fighter Turnout Gear.” Since the 1940s, PFAS chemicals, which are man-made, have been used in consumer products around the world. Nonstick cook- ware, water-repellent clothing, stain-resis- tant fabrics, carpets, some cosmetics and firefighting products that resist grease, oil and water have included PFAS chemicals. The Centers for Disease Control and Preven- tion’s Agency for Toxic Substances and Dis- ease Registry (ATSDR) reports that during their production and use, PFAS chemicals can migrate into the air, soil and water. Most don’t break down chemically and remain in the environment. They’ve been found in hu- man and animal blood all over the world. PFAS are also at low levels in a variety of food products and in the environment, the ATSDR reports. “Some PFAS can build up in people and animals with repeated exposure over time.” PFAS chemicals linger in the body for de- cades and have been linked to a dozen dif- ferent types of cancers that affect the bladder, breast, colon, kidney, liver, pan- creas, prostate, rectum, testicles and thyroid. They can also lead to leukemia and lym- phoma. The International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) found that cancer caused 66% of the career firefighters’ line- of-duty deaths between 2002 and 2019. In March, the IAFF, which represents 334,000 members, filed a lawsuit against the National Fire Protection Association for its role, according to the IAFF, in imposing a testing standard “that effectively requires the use of PFAS in firefighter protective gear.” The IAFF claims that Section 8.62 of “Standard on Protective Ensembles for Structural Fire Fighting and Proximity Fire Fighting” necessitates the use of PFAS in the middle moisture barrier to satisfy the ultra- violet light degradation test because the time of exposure to xenon-sourced UV light, which tests the fire resistance, “was deliber- ately chosen.” They argue that a shorter ex- posure time would allow other materials to pass, but a longer exposure time does not, according to the March 16 lawsuit. “The very gear designed to protect fire- fighters, to keep us safe, is killing us,” IAFF President Edward Kelly said in a March 16 press release. “Standard 1971 needlessly re- quires the use of PFAS in firefighter gear.” According to the group of three litigation firms that make up PFAS Law Firms, repre- senting IAFF in the lawsuit, nearly 75% of deaths among firefighters involved occupa- tional cancer. “Three of every four names added to the IAFF Fallen Firefighter Memorial Wall in 2022 died of occupational cancer,” the PFAS Law Firms claimed on their website. “Fire- fighters battling cancer, in remission from cancer, and the families of those on the Me- morial Wall deserve increased support — which is exactly what the assembled PFAS legal team will strive to provide.” Tim Burn, the press secretary for the IAFF, said that the organization sent a memo to its 3,500 local fire-rescue affiliates, including Dallas, and encouraged members “to reduce their exposure to PFAS by limit- ing the use of turnout gear only to emer- gency responses where its protection is a necessity.” “Wearing all PPE and self-contained breathing apparatuses during firefighting, overhaul, and working in smoke remains the best first line of defense to protect from fire- ground contaminants until PFAS-free alter- natives are available,” according to the Aug. 23, 2022, memo from the IAFF and the Met- ropolitan Fire Chiefs Association. “We have to fight whenever we have an inactive person who is diagnosed with can- cer,” said Dallas Fire Fighter Association’s McDade. “We have to get the city to declare it as an on-duty injury, and every time we have to fight. “As for a retiree, it’s a bigger battle.” The Firehouse S uzanne Minter would visit her father at Fire Station 3 when she was a child in the 1970s. The station has been located on Malcolm X Boulevard since the road was known as Oakland Avenue, back when Minter Mike Brooks Suzanne Minter, Harold’s daughter, cared for him through declining health. Left: photos of Harold Minter at his memorial. Firefighter from p4 Mike Brooks >> p8
