Occidental volunteer Fire Chief Ron Lunardi nebulizes compounded glutathione at one of our firefighter wellness clinics / 2021
The fire service has a serious cancer problem.
(Of the 469 line-of-duty deaths honored at the 2022 IAFF Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial, 348 died from occupational cancer – nearly 75 percent.)
We are researching a treatment protocol that gets toxic chemicals out of firefighters and, so far, it works – really well.
(More on that later.)
Sonoma Valley Fire Chief Steve Akre provides testimony at a California State Board of Pharmacy public hearing on sterile compounding pharmacy on June 18. 2024.
Chief Akre is a member of the executive board of the California Fire Chiefs Association and president of a JPL that delivers employee benefits & workers comp to 200 fire departments in California. He believes workers comp should cover this preventative treatment for firefighters and is working to make it happen –
but we’re in danger of losing access.
“Ten of our members, including me, and many more to come, have seen how have seen how this detoxification program has greatly reduced the amount of cancer-causing toxins in our bodies.”
The treatment – a natural compound called glutathione – is under threat. On July 31, the California State Board of Pharmacy may vote to eliminate it.
(Glutathione is not the Board’s only target. Its members want to ban pharmacists from dispensing an entire class of substances that includes glutathione – despite offering no legal or scientific justification. If they succeed, California will become the only state where these lifesaving medications are no longer available.)
We think firefighters have the power to stop them.
(Many vulnerable patient populations will suffer if the California Board of Pharmacy blocks access to these substances, but none of them have the uniquely leveraged voice that firefighters do.)
A quick summary:
Integrative doctors worldwide use sterile-compounded glutathione to treat conditions including cancer, liver and kidney disease, Parkinson’s, autism, Lyme, and cystic fibrosis.
Critically for firefighters, glutathione is also an environmental medicine doctor’s primary treatment to reduce chemical exposure and prevent cancer.
We’ve offered two Category 1 treatments – glutathione and methylcobalamin (vitamin B12 shots) – in our wellness programming since 2021 with excellent results. Unfortunately, the California Board of Pharmacy has made it increasingly difficult for our partner physicians to access them.
No more glutathione?
According to FDA guidelines, pharmacists can legally compound Category 1 substances – and in 49 other states, they do. California is the outlier here.
Since 2020, the California State Board of Pharmacy has sued eight pharmacies, falsely claiming they’ve breached sterile compounding protocols. The Board has lost all eight lawsuits due to a lack of legal and scientific evidence but is doubling down on its extreme stance with this impending vote.
There’s a reason you’ve probably never heard of glutathione.
(Hint: it may be essential, but it’s not profitable.)
According to a report from Research America, two-thirds of medical research in the United States is funded by industry sources, with only 6.9% of funding coming from research and academic institutions. Research is expensive and glutathione can’t be patented so there’s been little incentive to conduct the large-scale clinical trials that glutathione deserves.
The Firefighter Detoxification Pilot
We know from years of experience that inhalable and intravenous glutathione can help firefighters reduce their chemical burdens, heal chronic coughs, and reverse liver disease, but we’re determined to find out just how effective it can be.
In partnership with the nonprofit Integrative Healers Action Network and Wild Oak Medicine, the Volunteer Fire Foundation has now administrated two rounds of a groundbreaking firefighter detoxification pilot study based in Sonoma County, California. So far, the program has been entirely funded by local fire agencies, which sponsor their firefighters’ participation.
Here’s what we’ve seen so far:
Round 1 (2023):
The first round of the study consisted of ten firefighters (a mix of full-time and volunteers) from three local agencies.
Participants completed 16 weeks of doctor-led, integrative treatment, which included intravenous, nebulized, and liposomal glutathione as well as sauna, massage, and supportive supplements.
They were each tested three times – before treatment, halfway through, and immediately after completion – for petrochemicals, heavy metals, mold toxins, environmental chemicals, and PFAS chemicals.
Key takeaways
Before treatment, each participant had an average of over four toxins in the 95th percentile. At the end of treatment, that number dropped to one toxin in the 95th percentile per participant (a 72.5% decrease)
Glyphosate was among the top three most prevalent toxins, with many participants showing levels 2-3 times the 95th percentile. By the end of treatment, glyphosate levels decreased 93%
Participants’ PFAS levels shifted during the course of treatment, indicating that it may be possible to mobilize these chemicals – and if we can mobilize them, we may be able to reduce or even eliminate them
Early results from the second round are even more compelling
Round 2 (2024)
The second round of the detoxification pilot consisted of eleven participants (a mix of paid and volunteers) from two departments.
They were tested for the same chemicals and underwent the same treatment modalities as the participants in Round 1 but this time the study’s medical director reduced the treatment window from 16 to 12 weeks.
Final test results from all Round 2 participants should arrive by mid-July 2024, but the first three sets of data are extremely promising:
Key takeaways
Participant 1 started with zero toxins in the 95th percentile and five in the 75th. After treatment, all toxin levels were in the normal range
Participant 2 started with four toxins in the 95th percentile and eight in the 75th. After treatment, he had zero toxins in the 95th percentile and six in the 75th. Additionally, his chronic liver disease was no longer detectable
Participant 3 started with 16 toxins in the 95th percentile and 17 toxins in the 75th. After treatment, he had two toxins in the 95th – an 87.5% decrease – and 11 toxins in the 75th. As with Participant 2, his chronic liver disease was no longer detectable
Participant 3 is a striking case study.
A firefighter for two decades, he has been diagnosed with bladder cancer – twice.
In Test 1 (pre-treatment), nine of his sixteen toxins that were in the 95th percentile were PFAS chemicals. One of them was especially concerning:
Before treatment, Participant 3’s perfluoro-n-(1,2-13C2) hexanoic acid level was fourteen times the 95th percentile. After treatment, it dropped from 4.585 to 0.172 –
a 96.25% reduction.
Even more incredible:
Every toxin in his system decreased from Test 1 to Test 2 – and again from Test 2 to Test 3.
TEST 1
16 toxins in 95th percentile (red)
17 toxins in 75th percentile (yellow)
TEST 3
2 toxins in 95th percentile (red)
11 toxins in 75th percentile (yellow)
** The light blue markers indicate Participant’s Test 2 results, which were submitted at the halfway point of the program.
“I don’t care if it’s a small sample size. My labs clearly show that glutathione works. Every firefighter should speak up against the California Board of Pharmacy right now because every firefighter deserves access to this medication. If I’d discovered glutathione sooner, maybe I would’ve never gotten cancer.”
If the California Board of Pharmacy eliminates access to sterile-compounded glutathione, there is no relacement.
What’s motivating the California BOP?
We don’t know.
We’ve spoken with physicians, lawyers, pharmacists, and pharmacy experts across the United States and no one seems to understand what’s motivating the BOP’s extreme stance – but it’s not just glutathione they’re after.
Over the past few years, the California Board of Pharmacy has waged war against sterile compounding pharmacy itself, filing eight lawsuits against reputable sterile compounding pharmacies.
The lawsuits challenge pharmacists’ right to dispense FDA Category 1 substances (not to be confused with Schedule I controlled substances), including glutathione, methylcobalamin (vitamin B12), various peptides and other substances.
The Board has lost all eight lawsuits but that hasn’t stopped its executive staff from seeking to eliminate our access to these lifesaving and life-changing medications.
The FDA has deemed glutathione to be safe. There is no scientific or medical reason why we shouldn’t have access.
We need your help to #stopthebop.
Here’s what you can do:
Sign and share this petition.
Bonus points if you specify that you’re a firefighter. (If you’re a member of a local, share that too.)
Learn more.
Explore the resources below or email VFF executive director Jacqui Jorgeson at jacqui@volunteerfire.org.
Spread the word.
Tell your firefighter brothers and sisters. Tell your chief. Tell your union reps. Tell everyone because the impact of this vote extends far beyond the fire service.