Your Jetliner Might Just Be Poisoning You

The Independent reports that two investigations are about to begin into the release of poisons into commercial aircraft while in flight. The House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology and Britain's Civil Aviation Authority will be enquiring into what passengers and crew are actually breathing aboard jetliners.

"Air travel has been made possible over the past 60 years by a technique called "bleed air pressurisation", which takes hot air out of the engine, cools it down and then feeds it - without first filtering it - into the plane's cabin and cockpit.

"Sometimes, however, this becomes contaminated with engine oils containing many different chemicals, which are wafted into the plane to be inhaled by passengers and crew alike. Campaigners are particularly concerned about a neurotoxin called tricresyl phosphate (TCP).

"No one knows how frequently an event of this kind takes place because no commercial airliners are fitted with monitors to detect it. But Professor Chris van Netten, an expert on the problem at the University of British Columbia, said he found TCP in every aircraft he examined.

"Sarah Mackenzie Ross, a consultant clinical neuropsychologist and chartered clinical psychologist at University College London, ...has examined 27 affected pilots for another official investigation being conducted by the Committee on Toxicity, which advises government departments.

"She found that all but one of the pilots suffered "chronic health problems, including fatigue, sleep difficulties, fluctuating gastrointestinal problems, numbness and tingling in fingers and toes, memory loss and word-finding difficulties".

"Some, she added, reported 'alarming cognitive failures', including: 'being unable to retain, or confusing, numerical data and information provided by air traffic control regarding altitude and speed; completing tasks in the incorrect sequence; setting the wrong cleared level for the aircraft to climb or descend; and being unable to recall important matters such as whether the undercarriage has been raised or lowered.'"