Excerpts from a letter to the editor at the ChicagoTribune.com:

Your editorial criticizing Buffalo Grove Firefighter Kevin Hauber’s pension award shortchanged the subject of occupational diseases in firefighters. The pension board’s decision was based on Illinois law, and your editorial showed disregard for that law and the medical evidence behind it.

Hauber’s death to colon cancer is not an anomaly among veteran firefighters. Extensive scientific research shows compelling evidence that specific cancers — including colorectal cancers — are strongly associated with firefighting. That evidence is a result of extensive university studies as well as that of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

The editorial also neglected to recognize other critical medical factors: Hauber’s age, family, personal health history, and genetic testing showed he was not a colon cancer risk. Rather, an overriding environmental risk for the 23-year veteran firefighter was cited as evidence of increased risk to colorectal cancer.

Any attempt at empathy for his widow and children was negated by the contention that the pension vote was a misguided gesture. Indeed, it is irresponsible to ignore Illinois law while criticizing the pension board.

Illinois law governing presumptive disability states, “The type of cancer involved must be a type which may be caused by exposure to heat, radiation or a known carcinogen as defined by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.” Furthermore it says that the cancer must “arise as a result of service as a firefighter.”

Hauber was exposed over 23 years to soot, asbestos and formaldehyde. The IARC identifies them as primary carcinogens associated with an increased risk of cancer.

Not every firefighter succumbs to the ravages of colon cancer, just as not all airline mechanics get sucked into jet engines. But a reasonable person takes time to read scientific evidence and why it is incorporated into state law.

— Pat Devaney, president, Associated Fire Fighters of Illinois, Springfield

thanks Dan

Tags: Associated Fire Fighters of Illinois union president Patrick Devaney, Buffalo Grove Fire Department Pension Board, Buffalo Grove Firefighter/Paramedic John Kevin Hauber, pension board grants full benefit to Firefighter's family