Call for inquiry into contaminated aircraft air
March 28, 2008
A global advocacy group has called for a public inquiry into what it claims is the ongoing exposure of passengers and crews to contaminated air on UK transport aircraft.
The Global Cabin Air Quality Executive (GCAQE), established in 2006, represents air crew — including pilots, cabin crew and engineers — and focuses on contaminated air issues and cabin air quality.
The group claims that thousands of air passengers are put at risk each year from toxic fumes leaking into aircraft cabins due to the issue of "bleed air".
For decades, the cabins of commercial jet aircraft have been supplied with air which is sucked into the engines before it is fed into the cabin, to be breathed by air passengers and crew.
The campaigners' concerns centre around the chemicals which are added to aircraft oil to help reduce wear on the engine.
The GCAQE says there are a number of chemicals in the oil, such as tricresyl phosphate and tributyl phosphate, which are known to have immuno- and neuro-toxic effects.
The GCAQE says it has secured the support of all the main opposition political parties in its call for a public inquiry. Concerned British Ministers have estimated that 1 in 2000 UK flights could be affected by so-called "fume events" while lobbyists in the GCAQE claim these events are occurring far more frequently, on a daily basis and have done so for over three decades.
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