Cops say they're being poisoned by fentanyl. Experts say the risk is 'extremely low'
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There's widespread fear among police that they could be poisoned with fentanyl while on the job. The powerful drug is common on the streets these days, and fentanyl is often present when officers respond to an overdose. But medical experts say the danger to first responders has been exaggerated. They worry a fentanyl panic is harming police and putting the public at risk. NPR addiction correspondent Brian Mann reports.
BRIAN MANN, BYLINE: Last December, Officer Courtney Bannick was on the job for the Tavares Police Department in Florida when she came into contact with powdered street fentanyl. The footage from another cop's body camera is frightening.
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UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER #1: She's ODing.
UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER #2: ODing.
MANN: She's ODing, officers say. Bannick is lowered to the ground and treated with Narcan, a medication that quickly reverses most opioid fentanyl overdoses.
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UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER #3: Keep breathing.
UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER #1: All right. Stay with me, OK?
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MANN: Speaking in December with WKMG News in Orlando, Bannick said she's lucky to be alive.
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COURTNEY BANNICK: If I didn't have backup there, I wouldn't be here today.
MANN: The Tavares Police Department declined NPR's request for interviews, as did Bannick. Reports like this one of police being harmed by fentanyl occur regularly across the U.S. With the synthetic opioid now present in most of the country, many officers clearly believe they're in real danger. But Dr. Ryan Marino says the science shows police aren't being accidentally poisoned by fentanyl on the job.
RYAN MARINO: This has never happened. There has never been an overdose through skin contact or accidentally inhaling fentanyl.
MANN: Marino is a toxicologist and emergency room physician who studies addiction at Case Western Reserve University. He says it's understandable police are afraid. Fentanyl is incredibly powerful. That's why tens of thousands of people overdose every year when using the street version of the drug. But it's actually really hard to get fentanyl into the body. That's why people addicted to the drug often smoke it or inject it using needles.
MARINO: So fentanyl does not pass through the skin efficiently or well. The dry powder form that is encountered in street drugs is not going to cross through the skin in any meaningful way.
MANN: Researchers also say fentanyl powder doesn't poison people when it's airborne like dust. Brandon del Pozo was a former police chief who studies addiction at Brown University.
BRANDON DEL POZO: There's never been a toxicologically confirmed case. The idea of it hanging in the air and getting breathed in is just highly, highly implausible. It's nearly impossible.
MANN: NPR reached out to the Tavares, Fla., Police Department and Officer Bannick, asking for toxicology reports or other information confirming she was affected by fentanyl. They declined to make that medical information public. We contacted numerous other law enforcement and government agencies and researchers around the country and couldn't find a single case of a police officer who overdosed on fentanyl confirmed by toxicology reports. A spokesperson for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told NPR the agency does believe a small number of first responders nationwide have experienced real symptoms after encountering fentanyl on the job. None of those cases involved overdoses. None were life-threatening. Del Pozo, the former police chief, believes the most serious risk to police officers isn't accidental overdose. It's anxiety and stress caused by misinformation about fentanyl.
DEL POZO: I mean, imagine you do a job every day where you just think, you know, being near a certain car or being near a certain person could kill you. It's a real mental health problem for officers. The good fortune is that it's just not necessary to have that fear.
MANN: Del Pozo says many reported fentanyl overdoses among police involved symptoms that look more like panic attacks than opioid overdoses. Experts say this heightened fear began when the first fentanyl warnings were issued by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration half a decade ago.
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CHUCK ROSENBERG: Fentanyl is deadly. Exposure to an amount equivalent to a few grains of sand can kill you.
MANN: Chuck Rosenberg, head of the DEA under Presidents Obama and Trump, urged local cops to treat fentanyl as a major risk.
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ROSENBERG: It is extremely dangerous to users and to those who simply come into contact with it. If you're a first responder, that could be you.
MANN: In 2017, just a few months after that video was posted, toxicology researchers issued a report contradicting the government's assessment, concluding that the danger to law enforcement from street fentanyl is extremely low. Ryan Marino, the toxicologist and emergency room physician at Case Western, says fear of fentanyl is making it harder for police to do their jobs protecting the public.
MARINO: I have seen that play out in reality where someone who is truly experiencing an overdose, someone who has overdosed on fentanyl, will not be resuscitated appropriately or in a timely manner because of this fear that getting close to them, touching them could cause some sort of secondhand overdose.
MANN: With fentanyl deaths still at record levels, local police are often the first responders on the scene. Experts say how they're trained, how they view the dangers of fentanyl and how they do their jobs could mean life or death for many people with addiction. The CDC says it's updating guidelines for first responders encountering fentanyl. That new information is expected in the next month. Brian Mann, NPR News.
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