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.
(In 2023, 72% of IAFF member line-of-duty deaths were due to occupational cancer.)
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.
“Ten of our members, including me, and many more to come, have seen how this detoxification program has greatly reduced the amount of cancer-causing toxins in our bodies.”
- Chief Akre
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.
There’s a possibility that workers comp will cover this preventative treatment for many of California’s firefighters –
but we’re in danger of losing access to it.
An integral part of the treatment – a natural compound called glutathione – is under threat. On September 12, 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.)
So what exactly is glutathione?
(Let’s start with how to pronounce it: gloot-a-thigh-own)
The “master antioxidant”
Produced in the liver and present in virtually every human cell, glutathione is essential for many critical processes, including DNA repair, cell protection, and detoxification.
When administered as a sterile-compounded medication through a nebulizer or IV, glutathione effectively supercharges the body’s detoxification pathways, allowing for rapid and significant reduction in a patient’s overall chemical burden.
What can glutathione do for firefighters?
(Our partner physicians specialize in cancer treatment and prevention and have over a decade of experience working with firefighters. They have hundreds of case studies. Here are two.)
Case study #1: Fire captain with a brain tumor
Chris Vanluen, a fire captain at an East Bay fire department, was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2022. His toxicology testing following radiation revealed numerous carcinogenic chemicals that were two to three times the highest range of unsafe exposure. After glutathione treatment, his toxin levels returned to a normal range. His tumor is no longer growing.
“It wasn’t a question of if I get cancer, it’s when will I get cancer?
I was immediately put into a six-week treatment protocol for the glutathione infusions and my follow-up toxicology screening showed that my levels had dropped an average of fifty percent. Six months later, my second test following additional treatment revealed that my toxin levels were well within the acceptable range and, in some cases, were no longer present.
It is my belief that glutathione could be the one thing that helps us achieve that goal of staving off cancer.”
- Captain Vanluen’s testimony to the California Board of Pharmacy at their June 18, 2024 public hearing on sterile compounding pharmacy
Case study #2: Firefighter with bladder cancer
Bob Molesworth (shown below with his firefighter son, Alex) has been a firefighter for two decades in Sonoma Valley. He was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2021 – and again in 2022. Bob participated in the second round of our Firefighter Detoxification Pilot Program, which consisted of 12 weeks of intravenous and nebulized glutathione, sauna, massage, and supportive supplements.
“Bob had the worst toxin levels I’ve ever seen. We knew he would need more than one round of treatment, and he does. But even I’m amazed at how well the glutathione was able to mobilize these chemicals out of his system.”
- Dr. Jen Riegle, founder Wild Oak Medicine, co-founder Integrative Healers Action Network, medical director of the Firefighter Detoxification Pilot Program, and daughter of two wildland firefighters
Bob’s results
Pilot participants’ toxin levels were tested three times: before the first treatment, at the midpoint, and after the last treatment. Each test provided data for 103 different toxins, including 20 heavy metals, 38 environmental toxins, 24 mycotoxins, and 21 PFAS chemicals.
Toxicology Test 1:
Sixteen “red” chemicals (95th percentile – high)**
Seventeen “yellow” chemicals (75th percentile – moderate)
Toxicology Test 3:
Two “red” chemicals (95th percentile – high)
Eleven “yellow” chemicals (75th percentile – moderate)
** Three of Bob’s “red” chemicals in Test 1 were three times the 95th percentile. Each of them decreased by Test 3: BPA by 86.4%; PFHpA by 23.72%; 4-Nonylphenol by 85.76%
“I got such incredible results that now I feel like I have a moral responsibility to make sure other firefighters get to experience glutathione too. I’ll do whatever I can to help.”
Nine of Bob’s sixteen “red” toxins in Test 1 were PFAS chemicals. One was especially concerning:
His perfluoro-n-(1,2-13C2) hexanoic acid level was fourteen times the 95th percentile.
After treatment, it dropped 96.25%.
The FDA has deemed glutathione to be safe. There is no scientific, legal, or medical reason for the California State Board of Pharmacy to deny us access to life-changing treatments.
But we need your help.
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, please share that too.)
Learn more.
We have tons of resources. If you want to learn more about glutathione and our research, go here. If you’re curious about what the California State Board of Pharmacy is doing, go here.
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.
