Grant Funds Cancer Prevention Toolkit for Iowa Firefighters
Planned resources for the firefighter toolkit, which is still in development, include train-the-trainer materials and educational guides.
- By Danielle Naidu
- Nov 05, 2026
Volunteer and rural fire departments in Iowa will be a particular focus of a planned toolkit to help prevent cancer among firefighters, Iowa State University announced Nov. 2.
The $25,000 grant went to Rui Li, a researcher at the university, and collaborators to develop the toolkit, called Protecting Those Who Protect Iowa. Work on it is ongoing, and it has not been released.
Plans call for train-the-trainer materials, educational guides, training videos and resources for documenting exposures, in Spanish and English, the university said.
The grant is linked to a broader Iowa State effort, the Firefighter Cancer Prevention and Exposure Reduction Program, which began in July. Researchers work on the program with the University of Iowa's Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center, the Iowa Fire Service Training Bureau, the Iowa Cancer Consortium and fire departments taking part. Areas of work include exposure monitoring, contamination of protective equipment, cancer prevention and guidance on health screening.
A peer-reviewed study involving Li, published this year in the Journal of Hazardous Materials, looked at the buildup of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the different layers of firefighters' protective clothing after exposure to smoke. PAH contamination was substantially greater when the burned fuel mixtures contained polystyrene and pine than when the fuel was biomass only, the researchers found.
More details are on the NexGen PPT news and events page at Iowa State.
About the Author
Danielle Naidu is assistant editor for Occupational Health & Safety and Environmental Protection Online.