Cancer Council backs Qld firefighters probe

The Cancer Council Queensland (CCQ) says it is pleased there will be an investigation into the cancer rates among the state's firefighters.

It says the number of current and former firefighters developing cancer is too high.

The United Firefighters Union (UFU) says in the past 20 years at least 68 current and former Queensland firefighters have contracted cancer, with the main types being brain and prostate cancer.

Queensland Health is due to start a state-based cancer survey of firefighters in the next few weeks, while Melbourne's Monash University will begin a national study next year.

CCQ spokeswoman Dr Jo-Anne Aitken says it is rare that cancer is associated with employment.

"By far the most common causes of cancer are the things that we do in our everyday lives - smoking, sun exposure, overweight, lack of exercise," she said.

"But we always need to vigilant and on the look out for things that could cause cancer in the work environment.

"I think this is a clue that we need to really look into this case in detail."

Dr Aitken says investigations must be comprehensive.

"The first step in these investigations is to see whether the rates of cancer in the firefighter group, whether those rates are higher than what one would expect in the background population," she said.

"Coupled with that, it's important to look at the environment, the work environment, to see whether there's anything that might be important in the way of causing cancer."