Background information and Aerotoxic Association comment

In December 2007 it was recommended by the UK House of Lords Science and Technology Committee “to identify the substances produced during a fume event be completed urgently”

Projects such as this are normally tendered according to EU public procurement procedures, but in this instance this process was not followed and the contract was simply awarded to Cranfield University on account of its already very close relations with the aviation industry.

In 2006, prematurely medically retired airline pilots with Aerotoxic Syndrome – (medical term established 1999) said they were able to fill a BAe 146 airliner cabin with visible oil fumes on the ground, and offered to generate a “fume event” with invited interested parties witnessing it from a seat in the aircraft. The pilots’ expertise was declined and proposed testing considered ‘unethical’.

The university’s report is now eagerly awaited.

The Department for Transport (DfT) and Cranfield University agreed before that it “would be proper for the DfT to be alerted to any findings out of the ordinary” while the research was taking place.

As no such findings have been communicated, it is expected that the Cranfield will report ‘nothing out of the ordinary’.

The Aerotoxic Association strongly recommends that a true, independent public enquiry takes place urgently to identify the substances in a fume event.

Aerotoxic Association 14th March 2010.