Fire crew battle a fire during a simulation exercise in the CNMI. Photo: supplied
The firefighters' union in the Northern Marianas is urging current or former firefighters facing serious health issues stemming from exposure to polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as "forever chemicals", to contact them immediately.
The Northern Mariana Islands Professional Firefighters Union said recent discoveries raised significant health and environmental concerns on the Aqueous Film-Forming Foam, or AFFF, they've used in the past, as its formulation often contains PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), which can result in cancer, liver damage, thyroid and kidney diseases, and more.
The US Environmental Protection Agency said there are thousands of PFAS chemicals, and they are found in many different consumer, commercial, and industrial products.
"This makes it challenging to study and assess the potential human health and environmental risks."
New Zealand's Fire Service said PFAS are an emerging contaminant and the science is continually evolving, "so there is no clear picture yet of what the health effects of PFAS are on humans".
Animal tests have yielded possible links to conditions including cancer, liver damage, hormonal dysfunction and a weaker immune system.
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Marianas firefighters' union vice president Edward Dela Cruz Jr said AFFF is the fastest way to knock out jet fuel fires.
"It's the agent of choice for aircraft rescue firefighters, or even the regular fire department, to be able to fight against certain types of fires. For us...we fight against jet fuel fires.
"We all know that AFFF foam is bad and they're phasing out AFFF foam right now."
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The US Environmental Protection Agency and the Federal Aviation Administration recently signed an agreement to phase out AFF foam in its entirety, he said.
Dela Cruz appealed to current and former firefighters to contact him or the local firefighters union if they've fallen ill.
"If you have kidney disease, liver disease, ulcerative colitis, thyroid, thyroid disease, you need to contact me immediately," he said.
"That way that we can get you in contact with our law firm in the States to get you into the AFFF claim. You have a chance to be able to be part of this claim if you have any of these diseases and you're exposed to AFFF anytime in your fire service career.
"We're trying to help out from that to make sure that you get the assistance that you need."
Dela Cruz said they have one claimant that he's reached out to and got him in contact with their state law firm.
"He's going through the process of it right now. And this is shocking because this is recent. He was a firefighter with us.
"I don't know how many other firefighters have this because we all know that once we have cancer, once we have thyroid or that kind of stuff, we're very hesitant to let people know. Some people don't want to be known to have this and they'll downplay it.
"But I'm here to let you know that you don't have to tell everybody. You can contact me directly and we'll get you the help that you guys need."
Defence bases in the United States and Australia have been the subject of protests and lawsuits over mass contamination, generally at levels much beyond those found in New Zealand.
However, testing is only able to detect a tiny fraction of the thousands of manmade PFAS, some of which are now found in water, dirt and human blood virtually everywhere on earth.
In September, the European Commission adopted new measures under the EU chemicals legislation to protect human health and the environment by restricting the use of undecafluorohexanoic acid ('PFHxA') and PFHxA ‑related substances.
This is distinct from the potential restriction on the entire PFAS group ('universal PFAS restriction') which the European Chemicals Agency is assessing following a 2023 proposal by five European governments.
However, the European Commission is planning to allow exemptions from the proposed ban to protect key industries, a letter seen by Reuters shows.