HB1639

HB1639 directs the Department of State Health Services, working with the Texas Commission on Fire Protection, to study cancer among female firefighters in Texas. The agencies must compare their cancer rates with those of other women, focusing on cancers specific to women, including ovarian and breast cancer. They must use the existing cancer registry and other readily available data. Final law.

The law required a written report with results and any recommendations for legislative or other action by September 1, 2026, submitted to the Legislature and posted on the agencies’ and cancer registry’s websites. The act took effect September 1, 2025 and expires September 1, 2027. It commissions research; it does not itself award cancer benefits, change workers’ compensation eligibility, require medical screening or establish new protective-equipment standards. Final law.

The public-report requirement is not authorization to publish individual patients’ medical records. Health and Safety Code Chapter 82 separately protects cancer-registry information, while allowing specified confidential research uses and statistical releases that prevent identification. Health and Safety Code 82.009.

Implementation update, checked October 31, 2026: DSHS has published a September 2026 report. It studied 3,330 Texas-certified female firefighters, identifying 136 cancers among 122 women, and found no statistically significant difference in the measured cancer incidence compared with the general Texas female population. The report expressly says this does not rule out firefighting as a cancer risk factor: the sample and case counts were small, follow-up was limited, and people entering physically demanding work may initially be healthier than the general population. It calls for larger samples and longer follow-up. These are the report’s findings and limitations, not a finding in the 2025 statute that firefighting is safe or that an increased rate was already proven. DSHS report, executive summary, methods, results and discussion.