Poisons in the air pumped into plane cabins and cockpits may be linked to brain damage. Scientists say that chemicals in contaminated air are connected to health problems being experienced by pilots.
Cabin crew have long blamed exposure to jet engine fumes for memory loss, tremors, lethargy and other symptoms of so-called aerotoxic syndrome.
Peter Julu, a consultant neurophysiologist at the Breakspear clinic in Hertfordshire, said his tests on pilots with memory loss leave no doubt that they were poisoned by fumes in the air used to pressurise cabins.
Half the air we breathe on-board is recycled but the rest is drawn from deep within the engines and cooled before being pumped into the plane. Faulty seals can lead to this ‘bleed air’ being contaminated with fumes from engine oil. Tests found organophosphates – toxic chemicals found in jet oil – in the blood and fat of pilots.
Dr Julu ran tests on 26 British, American and Australian pilots suffering from memory loss and other symptoms.
He found damage to the part of the brain that controls dozens of vital bodily processes including breathing and heart rate matched that seen in farmers exposed to organophosphates from sheep dip.
[Source]
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Chapter: Health, Travel ::
9 March 2010
