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FRIDAY, Nov. 10 (HealthDay News) -- Firefighters risk their lives each day as part of their job, but new research suggests they're at higher cancer risk, too.
In particular, researchers found that firefighters are more likely to develop testicular cancer, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, prostate cancer and multiple myeloma compared with the general population.
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Firefighters need to take precautions when fighting fires, the experts said -- especially if they have removed their protective gear and breathing apparatus.
That's because firefighters' exposures to carcinogenic toxins "occur not when they are in the fire, but when they are in the vicinity of the fire," explained lead researcher Dr. James Lockey, a professor of occupational, environmental and pulmonary medicine at the University of Cincinnati.
The report appears in the November issue of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
In the study, Lockey's team collected data on 110,000 firefighters from 32 published studies that looked at the risk of 20 different cancers.
Firefighters are exposed to many carcinogens, including benzene, diesel engine exhaust, chloroform, soot, styrene and formaldehyde, Lockey pointed out. These chemicals can be inhaled or absorbed through the skin and exposure occurs both at the scene of a fire and in the firehouse, where fire trucks produce diesel exhaust.
Long-term exposure to cancer-causing agents increase cancer risk, Lockey said. "For testicular cancer there is a 100 percent increase in risk, for multiple myeloma there is a 50 percent increased risk, for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma it's a 50 percent increased risk, and for prostate cancer it's a 28 percent increased risk, compared with non-firefighters," he said.
"Overall we found 10 cancers that were either possible or probable that were related to firefighting," Lockey said.
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