Dear Senator Blumenthal:

“The US Senate passed an amendment by Senator Dianne Feinstein (D- Calif.) on Mar 22, 2010, that would require the FAA to conduct a study of air quality in the cabins of US airliners. The amendment was designed to ensure that the FAA has the information it needs to protect the public from harmful toxins in ventilation systems on commercial aircraft. Senator Feinstein’s amendment was included in the FAA Air Transportation Modernization and Safety Improvement Act. It required the FAA to complete a study of cabin air quality within one year. Second, the amendment provided the FAA with authority to mandate that airlines allow air quality monitoring on their aircraft for purposes of the study.

This amendment was necessary because the air in the passenger cabin is a mixture of recirculated cabin air and fresh air that is compressed in the airplane engine.Sometimes the air you breathe on an airplane gets contaminated with engine oils or hydraulic fluids that get heated to very high temperatures, often appearing as a smelly haze or smoke. That haze or smoke that enters the cabin air is a toxic soup and can contain carbon monoxide gas as well as chemicals called “Tricresyl organophosphates (TCPs) that can damage your nervous system, brain, lungs, and heart. It can create severe chronic health complications such as Aerotoxic Syndrome of the brain, Reactive Airways Dysfunction Syndrome of the lungs and Myocarditis of the heart. Exposure to TCPs can initially cause stomach aches, violent regurgitation, burning skin, respiratory distress, muscle weakness, disorientation, dizziness followed by delayed memory loss, body tremors, confusion and many other chronic often permanent incurable symptoms.

Exposure to this and other air toxins in cabin air is a serious matter. It has now been over six years since this amendment. As that time has passed there are now over 250,000 Aerotoxic Syndrome victims and counting worldwide who are either in treatment, disabled or dead from fume events. We are now demanding your attention to respond to a call for action to move this from the token research phase. We are requesting your support for a first ever comprehensive Cabin Air Quality Bill for immediate vote and implementation. Thank you for including Fume Event Flight Attendant and Pilot Training, New Cockpit Reporting Guidelines and Onboard Chemical CO2 Sensor Detectors. However, this would also need to minimally include these additional three areas:

1) a re-establishment of pre-deregulation maintenance standards on C-Check, Engine Overhaul and most importantly mandatory Wet Seal Engine replacement required at 5,000 flight hours as it was previously instead of the dangerous toxic 30,000 or more flight hours it is today.

2) require future aircraft models at Boeing and Airbus to return to the clean non-bleed air model that is utilized in the Boeing B787 Dreamliner and the new delivery bleed free option of the Airbus A320.

3) The Chemical Sensor Detectors for Carbon Monoxide would also need to be able to detect VOCs which are for Volatile Organic Compounds such as the TCP Tricresyl Phosphate and Beta Naphthylamine. VOC Chemical Sensor detectors are currently available with a company called RKI Instruments contact info: bob@rkiinstruments.com (800) 754-5165. The PID Gas Monitor has the ability to screen for these VOCs. As well as the VOC air filtrations system currently in use at DHL can filter them out of the air supply.

Thank you for your prompt attention and support for this important legislation that affects us all.

Sincerely,

Concerned Citizen

X____________________________ Email:_________________________Phone:______________________

 

 

 

If you have not done so already, then please print, sign and mail or fax the letter from this posting. We need to show our numbers that this issue matters to us. The Aviation Lobby from Airbus and Boeing are making their oppositions heard to the Senator. So we need to have an equally loud voice to show him our support. That we support the Cabin Air Quality amendment that he has proposed, as well as the need for him to include these other two most important parts of the amendment.

Thank you for your prompt attention and support for this important legislation that affects us all.

Please mail or fax you letter to this address below:

Senator Richard Blumenthal
Transportation Aviation Subcommittee
Cabin Air Quality Amendment
Passenger Bill of Rights
706 Hart Senate Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20510
tel (202) 224-2823
fax (202) 224-9673

 

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