Scientists analyze blood to test for toxic airplane air exposure

Inside a freezer in a research laboratory at the University of Washington are blood and blood plasma samples from 92 people who suffer from mysterious illnesses, including tremors, memory loss and severe migraine headaches.They are mostly pilots and flight attendants who suspect they've been poisoned in their workplace -- on board the aircraft they fly.
Clement Furlong, University of Washington professor of medicine and genome sciences, leads a team of scientists who have been collecting the samples for 2 ½ years.
Furlong said his team is a few months away from finalizing a blood analysis test that will be able to definitely confirm whether the study participants were indeed poisoned by toxic fumes.
Results of Furlong's research could expand recognition of what a select group of researchers believes is a largely unrecognized risk of flying: the chance that poisonous fumes enter the cabin.
"There's a danger of inhaling compounds that are coming out of the engine," said Furlong in his laboratory. See a diagram of how the air is circulated »
The air we breathe on board a plane is a 50-50 mix of filtered, recirculated air and so-called "bleed air" -- which bleeds off the engines, and then is pressurized and cooled before being sent into the cabin through vents. If an engine oil seal leaks, aviation engineers and scientists say, the bleed air can become contaminated with toxins.
In 2002 the National Academies of Sciences' National Research Council reported "contaminant exposures result from the intake of chemical contaminants (e.g., engine lubricating oils, hydraulic fluids, deicing fluids and their degradation products) into the Environmental Control System and then into the cabin."

"There's a danger of inhaling compounds that are coming out of the engine," said Furlong in his laboratory.


The air we breathe on board a plane is a 50-50 mix of filtered, recirculated air and so-called "bleed air" -- which bleeds off the engines, and then is pressurized and cooled before being sent into the cabin through vents. If an engine oil seal leaks, aviation engineers and scientists say, the bleed air can become contaminated with toxins.
In 2002 the National Academies of Sciences' National Research Council reported "contaminant exposures result from the intake of chemical contaminants (e.g., engine lubricating oils, hydraulic fluids, deicing fluids and their degradation products) into the Environmental Control System and then into the cabin."

Of particular concern are toxic anti-wear agents in the oil, designed to prolong an engine's life, called tricresyl phosphates.
"The engine seals fail and there's very potent toxins that can come on board," said Furlong.
Neuropsychologist Sarah Mackenzie Ross of University College London studied 27 British pilots who claimed they had inhaled contaminated air and subsequently had difficulty processing information and slowed reaction times. Her testing confirmed their symptoms.
"They did appear to underperform on tasks that required attention, processing speed, reaction time, and what we call executive functioning, which is high-level decision making," said Ross.
Former flight attendant Terry Williams believes she is a victim of such a "fume event." She complains of debilitating migraine headaches, tremors, and blind spots in her field of vision.
"It's been so constant and just continues to worsen so it's extremely frustrating," said Williams, who is suing Boeing, the owner of McDonnell Douglas, which made the MD-82 aircraft on which she worked. "I'm frustrated that I don't feel any better and it's over two years after the exposure."
Boeing told CNN, "It is our belief that air quality on airplanes is healthy and safe."
In its response to Williams' suit, the company said: "The potential for bleed air contamination has been known through the aviation industry for many years." But Boeing denies any responsibility for Terry Williams' illness.
While Williams' symptoms appear to be quite rare, it appears that fume events occur with regularity.
A British study for the House of Lords found fume events in 1 of every 2,000 flights. In the U.S., airlines are required to report "fume events" to the Federal Aviation Administration. There were 108 such reports last year.
So why wouldn't more flight attendants, pilots and passengers suffer symptoms?
Furlong said a small percentage of people (how small is not known) appear to be highly sensitive to the most toxic chemicals. They may be genetically disposed to a strong reaction, possessing multiple genes of metabolizing proteins in their livers, or temporarily have high enzyme levels (which can be triggered by prescription drugs) that will act on the inhaled chemicals to magnify their toxicity.
"If you happen to be taking a medication that turns on the protein that converts pre-toxin to very potent toxin, you've got an issue," said Furlong.
As a result, someone sitting next to a victim may have inhaled the same contaminated fumes, but not suffer the same reaction.
How might you know that you may have been exposed to a "fume event" while flying? Experts say the telltale sign is a "dirty sock" smell. That's butyric acid from engine oil, which itself is not highly toxic. But along with it comes the deadly nonodorous compounds tri-ortho-cresyl phosphate and mono-ortho-cresyl phosphate

Boeing's new plane, the 787 Dreamliner, has been designed so that air entering the cabin from outside will not "bleed" off the engines. The company says that's only for fuel efficiency purposes, not because of any concern about the quality of bleed air in its current fleet of aircraft.
Indeed, Boeing and the FAA say the air quality on airplanes is as good or better than that of the average office building or home.

New sustainable agriculture fellowships result in green jobs for fresh crop of campus food activists

As a new crop of college graduates worries about finding that all-important first job, and students flock to internships in food and farming, Bon Appetit Management Company (http://www.bamco.com) has established a program that brightens new graduates’ job prospects. The sustainable food service leader has created three new career-boosting paid fellowships for young campus activists involved in sustainable food and social justice. The new fellows will work directly with farmers around the country to assess overall sustainability, including labor practices in agricultural operations that supply the company’s 400 kitchens in 29 states. The Bon Appétit fellows will gather information about best practices on both small, owner-operated farms and conventional large-scale farms that currently supply products to Bon Appétit kitchens. Fellows will evaluate farmworker labor conditions, farm biodiversity, and handling of farm waste. Their reporting will be used by the company to determine how it can work with its long-time Farm to Fork small-operator partners and larger conventional suppliers to ensure the entire supply chain is as safe, efficient, and fair to farmers and farmworkers as possible. Their work will deepen understanding and strengthen relationships between buyers and farmers, ultimately benefiting the nation’s food system. Bon Appétit’s Farm to Fork partners are farms located within 150 miles of each specific restaurant where the food is served. Chefs in all 400 Bon Appétit restaurants work directly with Farm to Fork farms to meet the company’s commitment of sourcing at least 20% of all food items locally. With 10 years of the Farm-to-Fork local sourcing program under the company’s belt, Bon Appétit is taking the next step to look at labor issues both in current small-farmer partners and larger operations. Following a move in April 2009 to support the Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ quest for fairness in the Florida tomato fields, Bon Appétit realized the need to explore what the company’s role could be in facilitating fair labor practices throughout their entire supply chain. The fellows will provide an informational bridge that will plant the seeds for meaningful partnerships, helping farms of all sizes serve larger buyers more effectively while fulfilling Bon Appétit’s overall sustainability goals. Says Maisie Greenawalt, Vice President, Bon Appétit Management Company, “Meaningful change at all points of the food system is our goal. The fellows program allows us to involve young people in a way that invests in both these deserving graduates and the farmers who have fed them throughout their college years. This work will result in a deeper understanding of the issues facing farmers and suppliers, and help us define a viable approach to farm worker justice as the final link in the chain of sustainability from farm to table. ” Working on the East Coast is fellow Carolina Fojo who graduated in May with honors from Washington University in St. Louis with a degree in Cultural Anthropology. Fojo has lived with indigenous Fair Trade coffee producers in Oaxaca, Mexico and interned with UN affiliated NGOs on Fair Trade and worker migration issues. West Coast fellow Vera Chang is an honors graduate in Global Ethics from Carleton College. Vera is certified in permaculture design and is currently completing an apprenticeship in Ecological Horticulture. Chang was also an intern with The California Food & Justice Coalition and Founder and President of Food Truth, a student organization at Carleton focusing on food issues. Midwest fellow Dayna Burtness graduated with honors from St. Olaf College with an individual major in The Politics and Practices of US Agriculture. Burtness was co-founder of St. Olaf’s student- run farm, and served as an intern with the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. She went on to become a Program Associate for the institute’s Local Foods Program. All fellows are hired for a period of one year with a possibility of renewal for a second term. “Agriculture in the United States today faces real pressure to change for the better. As a recent college graduate, I see my Bon Appetit fellowship as a fascinating and critical opportunity for me to work on positive ways to improve our national food system. This is a terrific chance to bring together the best thinking in business with young graduates’ energy and commitment. I look forward to working towards a more socially responsible food system with Bon Appetit and partnering farms." said Dayna Burtness, Midwest fellow. In today’s economy, recent graduates face a tough climate for first-time employment. At the same time, challenges in the food system present an unprecedented opportunity for positive change. Landing a dream green job is a boost for these hardworking young people, giving them first-hand experience of the sweet spot between business and sustainability and providing a platform for career growth in the years to come.




About Bon Appétit Bon Appétit Management Company (www.bamco.com) is an onsite restaurant company offering full foodservice management to corporations, universities and specialty venues. Bon Appétit is committed to sourcing sustainable, local foods for all cafés throughout the country. A pioneer in environmentally sound sourcing policies, Bon Appétit has developed programs addressing local purchasing, the overuse of antibiotics, sustainable seafood, cage-free eggs, and most recently, the connection between food and climate change. The company has received numerous awards for its work from organizations like the Natural Resources Defense Council, Seafood Choices Alliance, The Humane Society of the United States, and Food Alliance. Based in Palo Alto, CA, Bon Appétit has more than 400 cafés in 29 states, including eBay, the University of Pennsylvania and the Getty Center.

North America will map carbon-intensive industries

At the North American Leaders' Summit last week, a new type of atlas was unveiled. The "North American Carbon Atlas" will pinpoint carbon-intensive industries and locate underground sites for carbon capture and storage in the US, Canada and Mexico. The partnership will also explore ways to collaborate on research, development and demonstration. "It will be important for the database to follow changes from year to year," says Diana Liverman of the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford according to the New Scientist. If the project is well done, it could be the basis for carbon trading, she adds

COP15 – the crucial conference

The ambition of the Danish government is that the COP15 conference in Copenhagen will result in an ambitious global agreement incorporating all the countries of the world.
Ministry of Climate and Energy of Denmark
At the time of the adoption of the Bali Action Plan, the Danish, Polish and Indonesian governments agreed to strive to ensure that the COP15 conference in Copenhagen in 2009 would be absolutely crucial for the work of the next many years towards a better climate. The background to this decision was partly the increased focus on quick action in the latest report from the IPCC. It was also partly an acknowledgement of the fact that 2009 represents more or less the last chance to achieve an agreement, if this agreement is to be approved and ratified in time for it to come into force after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.
The UNFCCC’s history shows that countries can quickly move forward together, but also that they risk coming to a standstill because of internal disagreement. The ambition of the Danish government is that the COP15 conference in Copenhagen will result in an ambitious global agreement incorporating all the countries of the world.
Developments in the world since the Kyoto Protocol was negotiated in 1997 show that a new agreement is needed. China has replaced the USA as the largest emitter of greenhouse gases, and the price of oil has soared. This is a reminder of the fact that fossil fuels do not merely pollute; they are also a source of energy whose reserves are constantly being reduced. The aim of the Danish government is to achieve an agreement that both reduces the total quantity of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and is supported by as many countries as possible.

Solar power brings light to Bangladesh villages

With state-owned and private sector fossil-fuel power plants only capable of delivering up to 3,800 megawatts of electricity a day against a demand of 5,500 megawatts, solar energy systems offer some relief to millions of villagers in Bangladesh."Life has become much easier now," said Kulsum Begum, a mother of four whose husband and son work abroad and who lives in Pritomoddi, some 60 km (40 miles) southeast of the capital Dhaka.Begum installed a 40-watt solar system on the roof of her house. The system powers four light bulbs, one television and also recharges her lifeline: the mobile phone."Whenever I need something, I call my husband or son on the cell phone. I am so happy now," she said.The solar energy systems offered to Bangladesh villagers are heavily subsidized by the World Bank and run by the state-owned Infrastructure and Development Company Limited (IDCOL).Prices of a solar system span from 9,500 taka ($135) to 68,000 taka ($970) depending on capacity but the villagers usually pay in installments. Prices are also set to fall after the government lifted import duties on solar panels last month.Grameen Shakti, a non-profit organization linked to the Nobel Prize winning micro credit agency Grameen Bank, works with the World Bank and IDCOL to spread the technology throughout the impoverished country."Right now 2.5 million people are benefiting from solar energy and we have a plan to reach 10 million people by the end of 2012," said Dipal Chandra Barua, Managing Director of Grameen Shakti.Since June, Grameen Shakti has installed more than 250,000 solar home systems, accounting for some 66 per cent of the total of solar-powered households. Barua said around 10,000 new solar home systems are being fitted every month.

Youths from 110 countries inspire climate action

The biggest-ever youth conference on climate change began Monday, as 800 young environmental activists from 110 countries gathered in the central South Korean city of Daejeon.The week-long conference is aimed at giving young people a chance to demand action on global warming ahead of the pivotal UN climate change conference in Copenhagen in December.The youth climate conference "is a gathering of the generation that will inherit the outcome of the decisions taken in December and beyond,” said Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) which is organizing the event.The 800 participants aged between 10 and 24 years were chosen from thousands of applicants due to their outstanding green projects, the UN body said.Among these are a rap video by two Canadian teenagers on how people can reduce their environmental footprint, a drive to distribute 500 low-energy light bulbs in Nepal, a car pooling initiative in Samoa, a recycling project in Sierra Leone and a river clean-up in Russia.

Ocean temperature breaks the record

Once again, the world sets new temperature records. According to an analysis by NOAA's National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, USA, the planet’s ocean surface temperature in July has broken the previous high mark from 1998. The global ocean surface temperature for July was 0.59 degrees C (1.06 degrees F) above the 20th century average of 16.4 degrees C (61.5 degrees F). All in all, the planet was warmer than normal, though July ranked “only” fifth-warmest since world-wide records began in 1880. The combined average global land and ocean surface temperature for July 2009 ends at 0.57 degrees C (1.03 degrees F) above the 20th century average of 15.8 degrees C (60.4 degrees F). According to the federal scientists, it was hotter than usual in Europe, Northern Africa and a large part of Western North America. Across these regions, temperatures were about 2-4 degrees C (4-7 degrees F) above average. However, Southern South America, Central Canada, the Eastern United States and parts of Western and Eastern Asia experienced cooler than average conditions, where region-wide temperatures were nearly 2-4 degrees C (4-7 degrees F) below average