U.S. Senate appropriators who are considering the fiscal year (FY) 2020 budget must fully fund the federal Firefighter Cancer Registry as soon as possible, U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE) and a bipartisan contingent of 34 lawmakers said this week.
“Full funding for the Firefighter Cancer Registry is critical in order to create a national registry that represents the different types of firefighters across America, including volunteer, paid-on-call and career firefighters,” wrote Sen. Fischer and her colleagues in an April 15 letter sent to Senate appropriators.
Additionally, the full $2.5 million in authorized funding is necessary to establish an IT system to support the registry, allow firefighters to securely share personal data, and permit researchers to access that personal data, Sen. Fischer and the lawmakers wrote to leaders of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, including Chairman Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA).
Among those joining Sen. Fischer in signing the letter were U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and lead Democrat U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey.
The Firefighter Cancer Registry, which collects and monitors the prevalence, incidence and types of cancers among firefighters for doctors and researchers working to understand the correlation between firefighting and the increased risk for cancer, is managed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
After being passed and signed into law in July 2018, the Firefighter Cancer Registry received partial funding in the FY 2019 Department of Defense and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Act, which directed $1 million to the CDC to establish the registry.
It’s now time for Congress to fully fund the law, wrote Sen. Fischer and her colleagues.
“It is critical that the CDC be able to collect the data necessary to complete more precise studies on the occupational risks of firefighters,” according to the senators’ letter. “The absence of full funding for the Firefighter Cancer Registry would inhibit the CDC’s data collection abilities. This could lead to unnecessary illness and death.”