LUCA POWELL
Richmond Times-Dispatch, Va.
(TNS)
A Richmond (VA) firefighter is suing some of America’s biggest chemical companies, alleging their negligence contributed to his leukemia diagnosis.
Jonathan Clarke, a veteran master firefighter, is suing numerous companies involved in the making of firefighter “turnout” gear, which he’s worn for more than 20 years on the job.
The suit alleges that his leukemia diagnosis in 2022 was the result of chemicals woven into firefighting gear in order to make the garments waterproof. The science around the chemicals, known as PFAS, has recently clarified the picture around their potential link with cancer.
Illustration by ChatGPT.
Clarke’s suit names 21 companies, including 3M, Chemours, Honeywell and another 18 associated with the production of PFAS or firefighter turnout gear. He’s one of several firefighters alleging harm from the gear in Virginia.
The suit alleges that the chemical makers and purveyors of turnout gear knew about the harms of PFAS but failed to relay the chemicals’ “toxic nature” to firefighters.
The Times-Dispatch reached out to 3M, Chemours, Honeywell and three other named makers of firefighting turnout gear. None returned requests for comment. Some companies, including Honeywell, have recently rolled out PFAS-free firefighter gear.
PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a group of chemicals first created by chemists at DuPont in the 1930s. They are prized for their strong chemical bonds, which don’t break down naturally, and their water-resistant and flame-retardant properties. By dipping fabric into vats of PFAS chemicals, manufacturers were able to imbue both those qualities into firefighting turnout gear.
But a growing body of science has also tied PFAS to a series of worrying health risks, including developmental delays, immune dysfunction and links to several forms of cancer after prolonged exposure. As a result, federal regulators have imposed increasingly tighter limits on PFAS, particularly in American drinking water.
Firefighters first drew their attention to the chemicals in 2016, when the wife of a Massachusetts firefighter sought answers for her husband’s cancer diagnosis. She sent samples of turnout gear to a nuclear physicist at the University of Notre Dame.
PFAS, or forever chemicals, have been increasingly in the news in recent years. Here are 8 articles from the past year.
That physicist, Graham F. Peaslee, used a technique called proton-induced gamma emission to measure the percentage of PFAS in a given sample of turnout clothing.
In 2020, Peaslee said his tests found approximately a pound of the chemicals in each full set of gear. His tests also found that PFAS shed from the clothing over time. The next year, further research found that even the dust in fire stations is heavy with the chemicals, suggesting a health risk even when firefighters are off-duty. In 2024, researchers in England found that the chemicals move through human skin.
The findings came after manufacturers said their products contained just “trace amounts” of PFAS, if any were used at all, according to a letter sent by manufacturer Lion to The Columbus Dispatch in 2017. In 2023, Lion issued a news