abc.net.au/news/mick-tisbury-12-year-fight-to-protect-firefighters/101392332Melbourne firefighter Mick Tisbury has always known his work is dirty and dangerous. Running into a thousand-degree inferno presents some obvious risks. "If you've got half a brain, you'd be running out," he says.
Mick acknowledges he put noses out of joint, but his rationale for sticking at his investigation was simple. His job was to protect firefighters and his community. When he came across an unfamiliar chemical compound name in secret documents, Mick realised Victoria was caught up in a contamination disaster facing people worldwide.
He was battling an autoimmune disease and multiple cancers possibly related to his time at Fiskville. Mick was a union delegate at the time, and soon started taking calls from concerned instructors and course candidates. But when he badgered both the CFA and his own employer for proof the facility was safe, he got nowhere. "This started alarm bells ringing," Mick says. "And the more you started looking, the scarier it became.
“I go to a lot of firefighters’ funerals,” Mick says. “And the only people there are the family and firefighters burying their mates. You never see a government official there. You never see a chemical company official there or the salesmen selling their products. But when one of your colleagues gets crook or passes on, it hurts you and you want to stop that happening again.
It was the first he had heard of these chemicals, which had been active ingredients in the firefighting foam they'd been using to fight flammable liquid fires. He then rang UK-based expert Dr Roger Klein, a medical doctor and physical chemist who had advised fire services around the world on the issue.He explained how PFOS and PFOA were part of a bigger group of man-made chemicals known as PFAS, which stands for perfluoroalkyl substances.
Before the 1980s, the Victorian firefighting services had used a protein-based product made of "blood and bone" to suppress liquid chemical fires. Micks says the new foam was made by the multinational company 3M and was called Light Water. "We loved it," he says. "It didn't reek like the old foam and was more effective."
An amazing light bulb moment on the part of Mr Tisbury, made possible by his massive efforts to end the scourge of PFAS afflictions. Many lives have been destroyed by PFAS in Defence & in Fire Services. Wonderful if bloodletting can ameliorate some of the effects of past misuse.
The headline is not supported by the contents. Why are we paying a billion dollars a year for this garbage?
Shades of Erin Brokovitch. ErinBrockovich
oh, so it's ok for the big corporations and the billionaires to keep polluting our bodies with these chemicals? The ABC has really gone lower than I could've ever imagined.
scientist has found a way to destroy PFAS Just mix it with caustic soda n add trimethyl sulphonyl oxide No need for incineration RAAF wanted to truck 50tons of soil from Darwin to Melb just nuts
Where was the security and protection for his family that certain government ministers are always blathering about. Another fail for our security.
Donate blood to get rid of them. Painful and somewhat fanciful article
Wow! That's a shocking & compelling story.
AustralianStory ✊👏
If a tumour's benign, doesn't that mean it's NOT cancer?
So what is in all that fire retardant , the planes have been spraying for years on bush fires all over the country?
Fantastic and fascinating story
Tremendously interesting read, the ingenuity and determination to keep working away and persisting are first class 👍