Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has remained silent after facing repeated questions from The Dallas Express about whether he intends to join ongoing lawsuits against firemen turnout gear manufacturers that may have exposed firemen to cancer-causing PFAS.
Lion Gear and other manufacturers are being sued in Massachusetts because PFAS, in the form of a Teflon moisture-barrier powder added to firemen’s gear, is believed to be partly driving the cancer epidemic among America’s first responders.
For reference, more than two in three firemen are diagnosed with cancer during their lifetimes, according to data from the International Association of Fire Fighters.
PFAS or PFOAs, also known as “forever chemicals,” have recently become a target from all sides in recent years. Connecticut has sued 3M, Dupont, and others, many of whom manufacture turnout gear, over PFAS contamination in waterways. Texas ranchers have recently announced a lawsuit against the EPA for failing to regulate PFAS and prevent such contamination in the Lone Star State. The Biden administration recently took action to ban various forms of PFAS pollution.
Diane Cotter, the woman who started the campaign against PFAS in fire gear after her husband Paul, a fireman in Worcester, Massachusettes, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer, recently sat down for an interview with DX.
Cotter alleged that for years manufacturers insisted PFAS was not in the gear or only present in “trace amounts.” With the help of Graham Peaslee, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at Notre Dame University, Cotter discovered that PFAS was present in staggering quantities.
Moreover, Peaslee found that PFAS formed via precursor chemicals from the very moment they were added to the gear, and this process continued for some time.
“[The manufacturers] could say there is no [PFAS] on the gear, or if it was there … it was there in trace amounts. What they didn’t say was, ‘But it’s forming,’” Cotter said.
All of the fire gear manufacturers have maintained that they did nothing wrong, despite some evidence that they were repeatedly warned about skyrocketing cancer cases in firemen.
Some states appear ready to join the firemen’s lawsuits. Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez recently brought a suit against 25 fire gear manufacturers because of PFAS contamination. Cotter’s home state attorney general, Andrea Campbell, is believed by some to be preparing to launch a lawsuit against the fire gear manufacturers at the urging of nearly half of the state legislature. Oregon’s attorney general has filed a similar suit regarding firefighting foam used by many firehouses.
Still, Paxton’s office has remained silent.
The Dallas Express asked Paxton why he has not taken action and if he intends to do so soon.
Gear that does not contain PFAS has only recently entered the market. PFAS-contaminated gear is likely to still be in use at most Texas fire departments and, as Cotter told DX, it is likely to stay in use at smaller rural fire departments across the country that often lack the taxpayer money to quickly replace gear unless more aggressive action is taken by state legislatures or attorneys general.