As a new study suggests the toxic “forever” chemicals known as PFAS can pass through the skin at higher rates than previously thought, firefighters facing elevated rates of cancer are questioning Massachusetts lawmakers’ efforts on their behalf. 

“This is beyond disgraceful,” Diane Cotter, the wife of a Worcester firefighter knocked off the job by cancer, said of a response staff for House Speaker Ronald Mariano gave the Telegram & Gazette to questions about languishing legislation.

Cotter, called a firefighter’s “hero” by the country’s largest fire union, has been pushing legislation since 2018 that would ban PFAS — short for polyfluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl substances — from firefighting turnout gear. 

PFAS, which coat everything from nonstick pans to water- and heat-resistant clothing and personal care products, are increasingly raising alarm at the national level, with billions in lawsuits pending over increasing scientific links to cancer and other serious illness.

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