Firefighter

• Kidneys for Communities , a national community-directed living kidney donation program, launched its Kidneys for First Responders initiative with its first kidney transplant recipient, New York City Police Officer Melissa Quinones, with assistance from the Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York .
• Kidneys for Communities' Kidneys for First Responders initiative is designed to improve access to and facilitate living kidney donations by connecting those who want to help first responders with those who are in need of a lifesaving kidney donation.
• Officer Quinones' donation was initiated when an altruistic donor committed their kidney donation to support a police officer in the United States.
• The Kidneys for First Responders initiative connects those who want to support firefighters, EMTs and police officers by facilitating the living kidney donation."

• Coffee (FDC) announced that it will launch two new clubs on July 1st, inviting coffee lovers to enjoy new roasts and new T-shirt designs monthly, with $2 from every Fire Dept.
• Coffee.
• Coffee Shirt Club will support the same beneficiary as the Coffee Club, and each month customers will receive a fun new shirt design that celebrates that month's fire department.
• Of course, we're most excited about the opportunity to support even more firefighters and other first responders throughout the year."

• These chemicals are found in food packaging, waterproof cosmetics, non-stick pans, stain- and water-resistant fabrics and carpeting, cleaning products, paints and fire-fighting foams.
• As environmental health researchers, we believe that the government needs to regulate and, eventually, stop the continued release of persistent toxic PFAS into the environment and also prevent the creation of any toxic replacements.

How do PFAS affect us?

• The widespread use of these chemicals can be attributed to the strong chemical bond between the carbon and fluorine atoms that make up the backbone of PFAS.
• However, that strong bond also leads to PFAS taking years, even decades, to break down in the environment.
• For example, larger, older fish tend to contain higher concentrations of PFAS compared to smaller, younger fish.
• A Canadian study found that at least 65 per cent of infants were exposed to PFAS in the womb.

Regulating PFAS

• Canada also regulates another subset of PFAS called long-chain perfluorocarboxylic acids.
• However, there are over 4,700 PFAS, and the Canadian and international regulations in place only cover a tiny fraction of the forever chemicals in the market.

Populations at highest risk

• As public health scientists try to catch up with the industry’s unrestrained chemical production, some populations are put at heightened risk of PFAS exposure, including firefighters, pregnant women and Arctic Indigenous populations.
• As emphasized in our report, Inuit living in Nunavik have some of the highest PFAS concentrations worldwide.
• Some compounds measured in their blood were up to seven times higher than the concentrations measured in the rest of the Canadian population.

Towards better regulation

• Yet, we know little about the impact of being exposed to multiple PFAS at a time.
• Ongoing scientific studies are trying to understand the implications of mixtures on our health and how to regulate these forever chemicals accordingly.
• The Canadian report is a necessary step to inform future regulations and stop the continued release of persistent PFAS in the environment.

• The National Institute for Public Employee Health Care Policy will work to advance the knowledge base on key issues impacting public sector purchasers, their health care plans, and the state and local government employees they serve.
• As health care costs continue to rise, development and dissemination of research and analyses to support the preservation of the high-quality health care benefits that public sector employees, retirees, and their dependents rely on has never been more important.
• Today, the newly formed National Institute for Public Employee Health Care Policy officially launches to answer that call.
• The National Institute for Public Employee Health Care Policy (the Institute) is a non-profit (501)(c)(3), nonpartisan, national policy institute focused on public policy areas impacting health care plans available to public sector employees, retirees, and their beneficiaries.