KARMA Consequences good or bad as a result of actions
KARMA Consequences good or bad as a result of actions
Not clear air, but toxic air turbulences
Following my recent article Turbulent Times for Boeing's Leader Trudie Dadd has written the following article:
Before we start, just in case you missed it:
Senator Josh Hawley ruthlessly grills Boeing’s CEO and asks him, point blank, why he hasn't resigned.
Good question!
Both Boeing and Airbus continue to claim safety is their main priority. They also claim the air inside their aircraft is safe for everyone to breathe despite there being no filtration of the air drawn from the engines in any bleed-air aircraft (all commercial aircraft except the Boeing 787).
Who thinks it’s safe for pilots to be exposed to fumes that can cause them to become incapacitated while flying aircraft?
A few headlines:
Fume events: The toxic gases that may be harming aircrew and passengers (BBC)
Accident: British Airways A320 at Paphos on Oct 19th, 2019, fumes in the cockpit, both pilots were partially incapacitated (Aviation Herald)
Incident: Swiss A333 near Genoa on July 4th, 2018, nasty odor on board (Aviation Herald)
British Airways pilot was overcome by 'sweaty socks' fumes in Airbus A320 cockpit and had to make an emergency landing at Heathrow, report reveals (Daily Mail source)
We consider the slightest possibility of pilot incapacitation reckless and completely unacceptable.
We also believe that the incapacitation of cabin crew from fume inhalation is equally reckless and unacceptable. Cabin crew are primarily onboard aircraft for your safety. Should the need arise, they are required to respond to any emergency including the evacuation of aircraft.
In October 2016 in a fume event onboard an Airbus A380, twelve cabin crew ‘were cause for concern’. Fortunately, the aircraft diverted and landed safely; but what if things hadn’t turned out so well and an evacuation was required after landing with half of the crew being a ‘cause for concern’?
‘Cabin crew became concerned they couldn't cover the doors for landing with that many cabin crew already affected and close to being incapacitated.’
A headline:
Accident - British Airways A388 near Vancouver on Oct 24th, 2016, fumes on board, 26 treated for smoke inhalation (Aviation Herald)
In 2018 swab samples were taken onboard British Airways Airbus A380s which confirmed the presence of the organophosphates TCP and TBP (source).
Exposure to toxic fumes is unacceptable in any other workplace, so why has it been allowed to continue onboard aircraft?
Repeated exposure to low levels of toxic chemicals, particularly mixtures containing Organophosphates, over time, can cause dysfunction in the liver enzymes responsible for the metabolization and removal of toxins.
‘Toxic burden can further inhibit the body’s detox system because toxins trigger elevated oxidative stress and increase demand on the body’s detoxification pathways, particularly in the liver.
When the liver can’t adequately eliminate toxins or infectious byproducts, these toxins can clog normal detox pathways and lead to a range of chronic inflammation symptoms.’ (sic source)
‘The broad substrate specificity, isoenzyme multiplicity, and inducibility of many of these enzyme systems make them particularly well adapted to handling the vast array of different chemical structures in the environment to which we are exposed daily. However, some chemicals may also be converted to more toxic metabolites by certain of these enzymes, implying that variations in the latter may be important predisposing factors for toxicity.’ (sic source)
Some people have genetic variations in systems of biotransformation or detoxication which makes them more vulnerable and susceptible to injury or diseases from exposure to toxic chemicals.
‘Metabolic detoxification (detox)—or biotransformation—is a physiological function that removes toxic substances from our body. Genetic variability and dietary factors may affect the function of detox enzymes, thus impacting the body’s sensitivity to toxic substances of endogenous and exogenous origin.’ (sic source)
Shown below are just a few of the toxic chemicals used in aircraft oil and hydraulic fluid which are commonly found in the fat biopsies of airline crew.
These chemicals are all Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs) which are known to cause injury at low levels of exposure in mixtures such as aircraft oil:
Benzene:
‘Conclusions: Long-term exposure to low concentrations of ambient benzene significantly increases mortality risk in the general population. Ambient benzene represents a potential threat to public health, and further investigations are needed to support timely pollution regulation and health protection.’ (source)
‘Benzene Exposure Leads to Lipodystrophy and Alters Endocrine Activity In Vivo and In Vitro’. (source)
Toluene:
‘Prolonged, low-level occupational exposures to pure toluene are rare; most industrial exposures include solvent mixtures and cause a so-called solvent syndrome, resulting in change in personality and progressing to permanent cognitive impairment.’ (source)
‘Toluene is a solvent that has been shown to cause sensory irritation (i.e., eye and upper respiratory irritation) and central nervous system depression in humans at high acute airborne exposures. Prolonged or repeated exposures have been associated with neurophysiological decrements and acquired color vision impairment (dyschromatopsia).’ (source)
Xylene:
‘The adverse effects of xylene are well documented and their associations with other solvents are also evaluated.’
‘Acute and chronic xylene exposure should be an issue of concern for the population of all countries with special focus on those regions where xylene is observed in high concentration.’ (source)
‘This systematic review highlighted the current literature regarding the toxicity of technical xylene or mixed xylene on the female reproductive system. Based on human, animal, and in vitro studies, technical xylene affects the female reproductive system mainly from inhalational exposure. Technical xylene caused disturbances in menstrual regulation, endocrine performance, and ovarian cell functions.’ (source).
To date, 117 EDCs have been found in aircraft cabin air.
‘Whether low doses of EDCs influence certain human disorders is no longer conjecture, because epidemiological studies show that environmental exposures to EDCs are associated with human diseases and disabilities.’
( Paper 2012)
And yes, the organophosphates used in aircraft oil and hydraulic fluid are also endocrine-disrupting chemicals.
It was known from the 1950s through to the mid/late 1990s in the U.K. (before the U.K. Government set about changing the science on organophosphates) exactly how toxic and dangerous these chemicals are and how prolonged or repeated exposure to low levels could cause chronic injury.
Inappropriate Use of Risk Assessment in Addressing Health Hazards Posed by Civil Aircraft Cabin Air - CV Howard (2020)
“The science on chemicals provided by the chemical industry which has been promoted by our governments for decades, assured us there was no danger to health and only exposure to very high levels of these chemicals on a one-by-one basis could cause injury.
Exposure limits were introduced to convince us this was the case when only the concentration of each chemical individually was taken into account.
There was no thought of the cumulative effects from complex mixtures of chemicals."
Cumulative Effect
Cumulative Effect is the term used to describe how exposure to more than one chemical might affect the body. It is used to explain long-term exposure to mixtures of chemicals, such as pesticides or additives.
The EU started work on cumulative exposure risk in 2019 for pesticides, many of which have been in use for decades. Better late than never:
The synergistic effects remain unknown because no research (note: even the research recommended by the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee in 2007 into the Synergistic Effects of the chemicals in aircraft cabin air) has been done in this area; but we do know that certain chemicals and metals can react with other chemicals such as organophosphates, making them more toxic.
Synergy and the lack of research are still being discussed (in general) sixteen/seventeen years later:
“Based on the evidence available to date, assumptions that synergistic interactions in real-life mixtures are rare and their likelihood being therefore negligible appear to be premature.
Further research aiming to increase mechanistic understanding of the likelihood of synergisms and the frequency of co-occurrence of groups of chemicals giving rise to such synergisms is required.
In the meantime, potential synergisms should not be omitted from debates on the conservatism or otherwise of mixture allocation factor or other regulatory approaches to protect people and environment from mixture effects.”
“Synergistic effects of chemical mixtures: How frequent is rare?” by Olwenn V. Martin ( sic source)
Contamination after Fume Events
We still don’t know the concentrations of chemical contaminants produced during fume events or the concentrations in the air onboard aircraft at so-called low levels on every flight, because the aviation industry will not install monitoring equipment.
Most airlines use i.e. “Aerotracer” in their engineering departments to determine the cause of contamination after fume events.
This video about “Aerotracer” is from nine-plus years ago:
So there is technology available that could easily be adapted for use onboard aircraft. We would then find out exactly how safe the air onboard aircraft is.
The current members of the ‘Committee on Toxicity U.K.’ (COT), despite being supposedly at the top of their medical and/or scientific careers seem to know very little about the effects of toxic chemicals on human health and absolutely nothing about endocrine-disrupting chemicals, or their effects as shown in their (and the U.K. Government’s) position on aircraft cabin air which was recently reviewed:
‘The COT concluded that the reported levels of the chemical contaminants reviewed (OPs, VOCs including as mixtures, CO and CO2) in aircraft cabin air are unlikely to cause adverse health effects in aircrew following acute or long-term exposures”. COT April 2024
“Reported Levels”? With no real-time monitoring and measurements of levels of chemical contaminants in the cabin and cockpit and therefore no data, that is an absurd statement.
“Unlikely to cause adverse health effects”? Try telling that to the thousands, if not tens of thousands worldwide who can no longer work or no longer fly for a living because of their chronic health injuries.
And try telling that to the families who have lost family members at young ages who flew as pilots or cabin crew.
The truth is coming to light regarding Aerotoxic Syndrome, Gulf War Syndrome, and Farmer's sheep-dip poisoning caused by chemical mixtures containing organophosphates and other hazardous chemicals. These poisons have killed and continue to kill millions of people worldwide.
We can only hope that Karma will deal with those responsible and with those who enable this dreadful charade to continue.
By Trudie Dadd
Please sign and share our PETITION. On this page, you can also read the entire text which includes more chemicals researched and explained by Trudie.
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