Study to see if officers' cancers linked to meth labs

Commission using $500,000 from Legislature for research

The Utah Labor Commission has taken a step toward finding out if firefighters and police officers with cancer and other ailments developed the diseases because of hazards associated with their jobs.

The commission is using $500,000 designated by the Legislature over the next two years to study whether cancer and other diseases are a result of public safety employees' working conditions, which would make them eligible for workers compensation benefits.

On Wednesday, the commission began crafting the proposal it is seeking from researchers.

"I think it's awesome," was Salt Lake County Sheriff's Lt. Robbie Russo's reaction to the commission's action Wednesday. "It's long overdue. It'll demonstrate what we already know.

"It will give us the science to back up the claims."

A KSL-TV investigation identified 84 current and former Utah law enforcers who all were exposed to meth labs during the course of their careers and who all became sick or died.

The most high-profile death was the recent passing of former Midvale police detective Jose Argueta. He was diagnosed with an aggressive form of esophageal cancer in 2005. He died May 25.

Although it was never scientifically proven, Argueta and other officers believed the former DEA task force member and Midvale SWAT team trainer contracted his cancer through exposure to meth labs.

One week before Argueta died, he was deposed by the labor commission. Not only did he tell the commission he believed his cancer was the result of exposure to meth labs, but Russo said, "his doctors will testify that his cancer was related to meth lab exposure."

Russo, a former narcotics officer, had a kidney, gallbladder and a rib removed after he was diagnosed with cancer. He too believes his cancer was contracted through years of walking unsuspectingly into homes contaminated with chemicals from methamphetamine production.

Russo said he knew something wasn't right when he'd look at his clothes the next morning following a bust and find the chemicals had left his shirt in ribbons and were eating his shoes.

"I always wore my (bullet proof) vest when I went in (to suspected drug houses) and I ended up taking a cancer bullet. If I had known, I would have left the vest at home and worn a mask," he told the News in March.

Like Argueta, Provo police officer Trent Halladay is currently fighting his own battle against liver cancer believed to be caused by his dismantling of hundreds of meth labs in his 11-year career.

A 2002 study by a University of Miami researcher of more than 30,000 Florida firefighters over about 20 years showed higher incidences of cancer among firefighters than the general population. But that study and others have failed to establish a direct link between diseases and the occupation.

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