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June 5, 2003
Contact: Dawn Deeks 202-712-9799 ext. 804
Flight Attendants Demand Protection from Toxic Cabin Air
WASHINGTON, DC –Patricia Friend, International President of the Association of Flight Attendants, AFL-CIO, will testify before the House Transportation and Infrastructure committee to expose the health effects of toxic cabin air in the aircraft cabin.
While the SARS scare has generated heightened interest in cabin air quality, the virus is not the only cause for serious concern with the quality of aircraft air. The heavy use of recirculated air, fumes from heated engine oils and hydraulic fluid and the use of hazardous pesticides in the cabin can lead to serious debilitating illnesses for crew members and passengers.
Many of the health concerns created by aircraft air quality problems could be more easily addressed if flight attendants had OSHA protections. Instead, the Federal Aviation Administration has sole jurisdiction over health and safety in the aircraft cabin, which has resulted in an injury and illness rate (calculated by days away from work data) of 8 percent, more than four times higher than the national average.
More than 50,000 flight attendants at 26 airlines join together to form AFA, the world’s largest flight attendant union. Visit us @ www.afanet.org .
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