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Airline cabins to be tested for fumes

The cabins of commercial jets will be tested for toxic fumes after a report, backed by the British government, called for an investigation into whether pilots are being disorientated by poor quality air.

The Committee on Toxicity said there was a “large body of anecdotal and descriptive evidence” linking ill-health among crew to poor air quality, but further work was needed to show if there was a definite link.

It recommended that the U.K. Department for Transport test thousands of flights on a range of aircraft for the presence of harmful fumes such as carbon monoxide.

The airline pilots’ union, Balpa, maintains that crew have been made ill by air being sucked in through jet engines, becoming contaminated with oil fumes, and then pumped on board through ventilation systems.

The report follows a recent study which found that 27 commercial jet pilots suffered memory loss and cognitive failure corresponding with symptoms of exposure to toxic organophosphates.

The study by Sarah Mackenzie-Ross, a neuro-psychologist from University College London, revealed that pilots suffered memory lapses, fatigue and dizziness. Some pilots could not retain instructions from air traffic controllers and, in one case, forgot to lower landing gear until a colleague intervened. “If pilots are cognitively impaired, it is a disaster waiting to happen,” Dr. Mackenzie-Ross said on Thursday. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2007

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