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For days after they had fought the fearsome Pacific Palisades and Eaton fires, some firefighters had extremely high lead and mercury levels in their blood, reports the New York Times.
According to the L.A. Fire Health Study, the urban firefighters had blood lead levels “five times higher” than baseline levels in those who battle forest fires where the primary fuel is trees. The urban firefighters had levels of mercury triple those found in their wildland firefighting peers.
Launched this spring, the study of the health impacts of smoke and other pollutants from the California wildfires will span 10 years.
That the lead and mercury—both known neurotoxins—were found in the firefighters’ blood cells, not just their plasma, “alarmed” research lead Kari Nadeau, chair of the environmental health department at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
The toxins were able to breach cell walls, which means they could have “come into contact with cellular DNA, potentially causing short- and long-term health consequences,” Nadeau told the Times.
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