Inside Fiskville firefighter cancer cluster and the people who exposed toxic foam

Inside Fiskville firefighter cancer cluster and the people who exposed toxic foam | Australian Story

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Жыл бұрын

Firefighter Mick Tisbury spent years fighting to uncover an alarming chemical contamination scandal. Subscribe: ab.co/3yqPOZ5
Then, with no medical training, he found a way to help fellow firefighters and members of the public who were at risk of severe illness as a result of their unwitting exposure.
The experienced firefighter worked alongside a journalist to reveal the full extent to which carcinogenic chemicals and toxic firefighting foam containing PFAS chemicals were misused at a volunteer firefighting training facility in rural Victoria.
Mick went all the way to the to the United Nations Stockholm Convention in Geneva to argue for worldwide bans on PFAS.
And on the way, he has come up with an ingenious solution to help people rid their bodies of these "forever chemicals".
#AustralianStory #PFAS #firefighting
Read more: ab.co/3SAiPbE
Statement | Spokesperson for the Commonwealth Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water ab.co/3CbEiSY
Statement | Australian Red Cross Lifeblood regarding PFAS ab.co/3Ca9K3Y
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Пікірлер: 31

@ABCNewsIndepth Жыл бұрын

Watch more Australian Story episodes over on our playlist 👉 kzfaq.info/sun/PLDTPrMoGHssDzqF7spxT_VH3Zd266tSEp

@Richard-qu5vi Жыл бұрын

The Construction industry needs investigating. not only are the things we cut dangerous, the chemicals we spray and use which are pumped into the industry every day are suspect at best.

@rvnmedic1968 Жыл бұрын

Much respect for Mick and his colleagues that fought a hard fight to get rid of this toxin. When I was in Vietnam as a USAF ER medic, we got a call on the Crash Network that a plane had gone down and crashed after takeoff. It turned out to be a Cessna Forward Air Control plane that was shoved down due to turbulence from a larger aircraft. When we got to the site, the two pilots were unconscious. We opened the right side door and extricated the copilot and then I got inside and unfastened the pilot's harness. While in there, I felt a lot of heat from the engine and next thing I got blasted by foam from the flight line firetruck. They were foaming down the entire front of the plane and the windshield was blown out from the crash. This was in 1969. In short, I was covered from head to my boots with the foam. No protective gear, just my combat fatigues and a cap. I often wondered if it had an effect years later with my prostate cancer and dozens of skin cancer surgeries. Mix in Agent Orange with it and who knows? BTW, I did enjoy my R&R for a week in Sydney, 1969. I think the Opera House was just being built. The pubs were great! LOL Cheers from Syracuse, NY Bob Powell, CMSgt, USAF(Ret)

@cathybassett6432 Жыл бұрын

Thank you for your service.

@anaussiefarminginthephilippine Жыл бұрын

I was a RAAF fire Fighter for 22 years, and we washed our trucks with this. We would spray the foam at Xmas time for the kids on ase to slide in, I remember my training film on AFFF, harmless to the body and a guy was washing his arms in it, No Rust to the Vehicles on the film, now we all have cancer, and the RAAF has no comments. We in the RAAF Fire Service used these foams every day for our career, not just in a training course.

@octapc Жыл бұрын

Like the Reseal Deseal boys, it was known to cause health issues in USA but we continued to send guys into the fuel tanks.

@anaussiefarminginthephilippine Жыл бұрын

@@octapc Yes I agree, they had the compensation, and the RAAF firefighter burnt it in training and nothing for them.

@D70Dug Жыл бұрын

I'm ex RAAF and was a CFA volunteer I was in the F111 tanks , I spent 15 years fighting DVA for compensation, now I've spent 9 years trying to get CFA to deal with bullying issues. I joined the RAAF and CFA to protect people, I never realised I would end up trying to protect people from what these groups have been doing

@tadrs2 Жыл бұрын

As MTFITT/GSEFITT ( heavy vehicle mechanic) in the RAAF for 27 years I have worked on all types of fire trucks been soaked in AFFF in it's neat form filling foam tanks fixing foam pumps ect, we would shower before we went home and you would stand there for over 1/2 hour to stop foaming before washing then go home I had my test for PFAS done at Williamtown and they are elevated eg. PFOS (perflurooctanesulfonic acid) 19.77ng/ml PFHxS (perfluorohexanesulfonate) 27.59ng/ml god knows what the avgas and avtur have done to my system?? Now 60 and having a lot of health issue who knows.

@D70Dug Жыл бұрын

@@tadrs2 Have you started fighting with DVA yet ? If not start now !!!! Before you get desperate :-( I'm F 111 deseal reseal it took us 35 years and more

@43scout74 Жыл бұрын

My uncle was one of these men, He passed away from cancer about a decade ago. RIP uncle Paul, truly an incredible man.

@cobberpete1 Жыл бұрын

10 years as a Firefighter, and then a further six years at a refinery, in charge of the Firefighter training. We would go through tons of AFFF. Now I have to think about my health and the consequences

@cathybassett6432 Жыл бұрын

Mick is awesome. I hope the firefighters and community appreciate him.

@Roger-go6jc Жыл бұрын

Awesome Oz Story. What a hard road Mick travelled, people killing his dog and threatening him. But he knew the truth in the facts before him, and stayed the course. And ended up presenting to the United Nations. Keep changing the oil on your car Mick.

@davidwilkie9551 Жыл бұрын

There is the perfect example of putting the Canaries back into the Coal Mine until you run out of Canaries.

@emancipatedlionm9215 Жыл бұрын

Its just sooooo unfair inhumane that the makers of mannnny harmful products are soooo callous n regard only PROFITS. Someone always knows the truth but has no regard to children workers the environment, etc etc.. May alll the wrongs be EXPOSED ..

@jennifermead1468 Жыл бұрын

Truly amazing, what an extraordinary man.

@ABCNewsIndepth Жыл бұрын

Here's a statement from Australian Red Cross Lifeblood: www.abc.net.au/austory/statement-red-cross/14066400

@prizecowproductions Жыл бұрын

Doesn't surprise me that CFA dropped the ball on this chemical. I shifted from NSW Rural Fire Service to Victoria. Had resporator training. CFA told me I was to start there training from beginning I told them to get stuffed. Dads Army all from top to bottom.

@resolecca Жыл бұрын

It's awesome to find a way to remove it from your blood stream but by donating your blood to others aren't you just passing the the problem to the next person??

@adriankotz5968 Жыл бұрын

No problem will be faced by the receipent, it states at the end of the video

@lukek8357 Жыл бұрын

It stands to reason that the amount of PFAS in blood/plasma would be very low. It would also have to be tested as part of the clinical trial as part of the ethical study process. I remember a study by a manufacturer that was attempted to compare people who worked in PFAS factories blood to the general population who had no PFAS detected because of high levels of health problems. The study couldn't find a sample size of the general population large enough to be scientifically significant without PFAS in their blood. That was many years ago so by now every human on the planet has at least small amounts of PFAS in their body.

@LivingTheDreamPermaculture Жыл бұрын

So the chemical is still in the blood donated? To use on sick and injuried people? Its a fantastic solution, but please can we not use the blood for others!

@D70Dug Жыл бұрын

The tiny amount of chemical in a single donation poses no risk If it comes to a choice of a tiny amount of PFAS or dying from blood loss I'll chose a small amount of chemicals please