‘Not surprising’: Pilot program finds elevated levels of PFAS among Indiana firefighters

By Andy East | The Republic | January 24, 2026

Read the full article by Andy East (The Republic)

"A voluntary state pilot program found that most Indiana firefighters who took part — including nearly two dozen in a seven-county region that includes Bartholomew County — showed elevated levels of long-lasting and highly toxic chemicals linked to cancer and other illnesses in their blood.

The program, led by the Indiana Department of Homeland Security, is the state’s first effort to assess occupational exposure among firefighters to a class of chemicals called PFAS. A total of 316 firefighters fully participated in the program, including 22 across Bartholomew, Brown, Monroe, Jackson, Lawrence, Washington and Orange counties.

PFAS — per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — are a cluster of industrial chemicals associated with a variety of serious health conditions and have been used in products ranging from cookware to carpets and firefighting foams and consumer products since the 1940s, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency."