Menendez successfully secured Senate passage of amendment to NDAA to reauthorize the Firefighter Cancer Registry Act

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) Thursday successfully secured an amendment in the Fiscal Year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to reauthorize the Firefighter Cancer Registry program for another five years and raise the authorized funding to a $5.5 million annually.

The registry is the largest effort undertaken to understand the risk of cancer among U.S. firefighters. The original legislation directed the CDC to develop a database of firefighters diagnosed with cancer and to monitor and study the relationship between career-long exposure to dangerous fumes and toxins and the incidence of cancer in firefighters to determine if there is a link.

The registry can be used to develop better protective gear and prevention techniques.

“The Firefighter Cancer Registry improves our nation’s ability to conduct research and gather data on the cancer risks associated with firefighting. It’s a vital program — one that furthers our understanding of how to protect the brave first responders who run towards danger when everyone else runs away from it. And yet, on October 1st of last year, the program expired,” Menendez said. “My bipartisan, common-sense amendment would reauthorize the program for an additional five years while bringing it in line with the current appropriation level. Supported by Senators Murkowski, Brown, Klobuchar, Fischer, Rubio, and Tester, it would benefit both career firefighters as well as volunteers like my constituent, Edward Diaz. Mr. Diaz is the son of Eduardo Diaz, a North Bergen firefighter who tragically passed away in 2017 from pancreatic cancer.”

This reauthorization will allow the CDC to continue collecting the data necessary to study the occupational risks of firefighters, ensure proper cybersecurity practices, and conduct necessary outreach efforts.

The Firefighter Cancer Registry Reauthorization Act, which is identical to this amendment, was introduced in June by Sen. Menendez alongside Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), and Jon Tester (D-Mont.). The amendment and the bill are endorsed by the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation, Congressional Fire Services Institute, International Association of Firefighters, National Volunteer Fire Council, International Association of Fire Chiefs, and First Responder Center for Excellence.

The Firefighter Cancer Registry Act, which passed both the House and Senate unanimously as a standalone bill passed in 2018, established a specialized national cancer registry to improve data collection, infrastructure, and research activities related to monitoring and studying cancer incidence among firefighters, both career and volunteer. The program was first authorized at a $2.5 million per year level but the authorization expired in late 2022. After testing the website portal, the program fully launched in April of this year.

Firefighters are exposed to a range of harmful toxins, and research has indicated a strong connection between firefighting and an increased risk for several major cancers, such as testicular, stomach, multiple myeloma, and brain cancers. However, due to the limited availability of data, there has historically been large gaps in the information available about the incidence of cancer in firefighters.

Specifically, the Firefighter Cancer Registry:

• Stores and consolidate epidemiological information submitted by health care professionals related to cancer incidence among firefighters.
• Makes de-identified data available to public health researchers to provide them with robust and comprehensive datasets to expand groundbreaking research.
• Improves our understanding of cancer incidence and contributes to the development of more sophisticated safety protocols and safeguards as more data is collected.
• Requires administrators to consult regularly with epidemiologists, public health experts, clinicians, and firefighters in order to ensure the effectiveness of the registry.

During the Senate consideration of the Fiscal Year 2024 NDAA bill, Sen. Menendez successfully included the amendment to reauthorize the program through 2028.