Federal officials are moving closer to creating a national cancer registry for firefighters.
The voluntary database is being spearheaded by the Centers for Disease Control thanks to the Firefighters Cancer Registry Act of 2018, WCMH-TV reports. Once it launches, the registry would contain information showing the incidence of cancer among U.S. firefighters, and that data would be combined with state records to develop as health prevention tool.
Before that can happen, the CDC still needs information to be voluntarily submitted by more than 1.1 million firefighters. The deadline for the data to be submitted to the Federal Register is May 28.
"We know this is just a first step and there’s a lot more work to do to protect our first responders,” Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), a sponsor of the registry, told WCMH. “This is an important step toward getting the Firefighter Cancer Registry set up and running.”
