Letter from Mr Ian Panton
AIR TRAVEL
AND HEALTH
1. I am writing in response to the call
for evidence on the health effects of air travel, with particular
emphasis on any relevant new evidence that has emerged since 2000,
and on the extent to which Government, regulators and the airline
industry have kept pace with such evidence.
2. I would specifically address recommendations
1.43 (c), (d) and (e) in the 2000 Report on Air Travel and Health.
3. In June 2005 I forwarded a letter, to
Dr Ruge at the CAA expressing my concerns about contamination
of the breathing air supply to the pressure cabin. Dr Ruge confirmed
that the "results (of UK Government and CAA initiated and
sponsored research into cabin air quality)" which "did
not suggest that there is a health risk for passengers, including
infants, or crew" were contained in the paper Cabin Air,
published in 2004,[82]
and that "Other research has been carried out and can be
found on the DH website".[83]
4. Looking first at: CAA Paper 2004/04 Title:
Cabin Air Quality,[84]
I found that: "The research described in this report addresses
the effect of cabin air contamination on the pilot's ability to
safely fly and land the aircraft. The CAA decided to conduct this
research following a small number of events where flight crew
effectiveness was reduced, possibly due to oil products present
in cabin air. Although some references are made concerning long
term health effects, the scope of this research did not include
an attempt to determine the extent of any such risk."
5. So, with reference to health effects,
especially to passengers, and certainly infants, this paper appeared
irrelevant. However, this paper did provide, at Appendix A to
Chapter 2 (page 14), a graphic illustration of contamination found
within a breathing air duct.
6. Moving onto the other research; the overview
from the DfT[85]
led to the main document: Client Report: Extending CabinAir measurements
to include older aircraft types utilised in high volume short
haul operation Client report number 212034.[86]
7. Whilst the work was informative I could
not find any reference to the diversity, including infants, of
passengers carried. Accordingly I again asked Dr Ruge for any
further "UK Government and CAA initiated and sponsored research
into cabin air quality" that do not "suggest that there
is a health risk for passengers, including infants, or crew".
I received no further information.
8. On 8 December 2005 (Hansard, House
of Lords, Column GC133) The Countess of Mar stated:
"Despite the two key recommendations of
the Select Committee identified by the AHWG to the Building Research
Establishment for its client report, extending cabin air measurements
to include older aircraft types utilised in high volume short
haul operation, of October 2003, there is still no regular monitoring
of cabin air quality. The recommendations stated:
"We recommend that airlines collect, record
and use at least some of the basic cabin environment data being
continuously monitored, not only to give authoritative substance
to their refutation of the common allegations, but also to provide
a better basis for public confidence in these matters. Indeed
we are surprised that they do not already do so... We recommend
airlines to carry out simple and inexpensive cabin atmosphere
sampling programmes from time to time, and to make provision for
spot sample collection in the case of unusual circumstances. This
would be helpful to passengers and staff and also benefit the
airlines themselves."
Recent Written Answers given by the Minister
to my questions have elicited the fact that there is no monitoring
and no filtration on aeroplanes. The only time that an aircraft
is monitored is when it is commissioned. That is a horrendous
thought. Why, five years after the Select Committee made those
simple, inexpensive recommendations, has nothing been done to
implement them? I am told that an efficient filtering system costs
a few thousand pounds—peanuts when compared with the cost
of an aircraft, the cost of sick leave for a crew or, worse still,
the loss of an aeroplane full of passengers.
9. On 8 March 2006 (Hansard Column
812), in response to Lord Davies of Oldham, the Countess said:
"My Lords, the Minister called in aid the
House of Lords Science and Technology Select Committee report.
Need I remind him that it did not say that there was no problem
over contaminated air and that it recommended that air quality
in cabins and cockpits should be regularly monitored? It is now
six years later and no such monitoring has taken place."
10. As to new evidence there was a paper
published in 2005 The effect of high altitude commercial air
travel on oxygen saturation, and in 2006 Activation of
coagulation system during air travel: a crossover study."[87]
The latter is quite important since the role
of cabin altitude on oxygen in blood content is beginning to be
known for a general population. However, the relation of blood
oxygen content and air pressure to Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) contaminant
health effects is, I believe, unknown.
11. I remain concerned that:
— Some of the recommendations
of the House of Lords Science and Technology Select Committee
have not been implemented;
— Given there is no filtration
nor monitoring of the breathing air supply to the pressure cabin
it is surely impossible to ensure that this life critical supply
is maintained, all stages of transit, at an optimum level?
12. Perhaps the way forward lies with the
Boeing 787 (Dreamliner) which, I am given to understand, will
not use a bleed air supply for the pressure cabin.
17 June 2007
82 http://www.caa.co.uk/application.aspx?categoryid=33&pagetype=90&applicationid=11&mode=detail&id=1250 Back
83
http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_control/documents/contentserverteplate/dft_index.hcst?n=
9778&l=3 Back
84
http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/33/CAPAP2004_04.PDF Back
85
http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_aviation/documents/page/dft_aviation_-027561.hcsp Back
86
http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_aviation/documents/page/dft_aviation_-027562.pdf Back
87
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=16530577&dopt=Abstract Back
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