Firefighter cancer alert

Screening call to tackle 'alarming' disease rate

- LUCY THORNTON

FIREFIGHTERS are being diagnosed with cancer at an "alarming rate" and must be given proper health screening, MPs have been warned.

Figures revealed the mortality rate for all cancers is 1.6 times higher than in the general population.

And the data came from a study the Fire Brigade Union was forced to commission itself because research on the safety of firefighters is so bad.

General Secretary Matt Wrack told the All Party Parliamentary Fire Safety and Rescue Committee the UK is lagging behind other nations in caring for crews.

He said: "The findings were alarming, firefighters diagnosed with cancers at an alarming rate and younger than others in the community - and diagnosed at a later stage in the illness.