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| .PESTICIDE: PASSENGERS ARE NOT INSECTS.. |
Where passengers get
sprayed |
In 1992, Fairechild blew the whistle on the airlines for routinely spraying passengers with pesticides as if they were insects. Airline employee turned activist, Diana had been medically grounded in December 1987 with pesticide poisoning, after enduring decades of getting sprayed with pesticides in aircraft cabins. Fairechild's startling revelations were covered extensively by national and international media. As she was too ill to travel, journalists and television production crews traveled to Hawaii for interviews. Reuters News Service, Forbes, Dateline, and Hardcopy, among others, picked up the story. As the news traveled around the world, it angered passengers and unsettled Washington bureaucrats. Fairechild's personal experience being sprayed by pesticides hundreds of times had been devasting. As an international flight attendant, pesticide was sprayed right on Diana's skin. She began to realize something was very wrong when her eyes swelled up the size of golf balls on flights when pesticide was sprayed. Looking for answers, she went to a doctor and found that the pesticide used on airplanes was toxic. The doctor tested her in a double blind study and found she was having an allergic reaction to that pesticide. Diana tried avoiding the flights with pesticides, but it was impossible. With no other alternative, she was forced to give up flying. Diana Fairechild took her case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and, although she never recouped any money, she has not given up the fight for others. FROM DIANA: I cannot understand why people, especially labor leaders and all workers, do not see the great wrong in permitting an employer to poison employees. Everyone can see the wrong when an employer uses a whip and whips an employee. What is there about poisoning an employee that is less destructive than a few lashes with a whip? Do no hit the employee; but it's okay to poison an employee! That's what the airlines are doing every day to their employees—and their passengers!
Since the 1930s, many nations around the world have required the "disinsection" of inbound, international aircraft. "Disinsection" is jargon, of course. It means the spraying of airplanes with bug killers. Prepare to be shocked. Sometimes disinsections are done with the passengers on board, even though the warning label on the pesticide says "hazardous to humans" and "avoid breathing vapors." The insecticide used on commercial jets is a product sold for home use under the label Black Knight Roach Killer. In May 1994, this pyrethrin pesticide lost its Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approval for use in "occupied aircraft." Unfortunately, passengers are still getting sprayed day after day under a loophole which permits remaining stocks to be used up. There are four ways disinsection is accomplished. Disinsection Type #1 After landing and before disembarking, the local authorities board and spray pesticide into the air. Each "applicator," while walking up the aisle, aims two cans of pesticide simultaneously 180 degrees in opposite directions, aiming the poison spray towards the narrow space between the overhead bins and the passengers' heads. All the while, passengers are required to keep seatbelts fastened and the air-conditioning is off. The pesticide's label states "avoid contact with skin and eyes" and "wash contaminated clothing separately from other laundry," yet, you can clearly see its mist land on all the passengers and crew on board and no warning whatsoever is offered to passengers and crew. Disinsection Type #2 Prior to landing, approximately 30 minutes before touchdown, flight attendants disinsect in the same manner as the local authorities (above). Disinsection Type #3 After takeoff, flight attendants walk down the aisles spraying pesticide behind them as in Type 2 Disinsection (above). Disinsection Type #4 The plane is saturated with a "residual" pesticide applied every six to eight weeks. The term "residual" suggests that the toxic effects will linger through the departures and arrivals of passengers for two months. Because of its residual presence, passengers breathe the stuff for the entire duration of their flight. The pesticide used on these aircraft, permethrin, is a suspected carcinogen and a liver and lung "enfeebler." More and more, airplanes are using this type of disinsection so passengers don't know and don't complain. Airplanes treated with residual spray are, sad to say, not restricted to these destinations -- they can show up on any route. A United flight attendant told me she worked such a jet on the Los Angeles/ Hong Kong nonstop. The certificate of residual spray with its date of application can be found on board in first class, inside the forward left-hand coat closet. In March 1995, the Department of Transportation invited public comment as to whether US airlines should be required to provide notice to passengers if their flight would include a pesticide shower. Here is my comment: March 17, 1995 Docket Clerk, Docket No.
50031 I am a former international flight attendant. During the 21 years I worked for the airlines, I was repeatedly exposed to pesticide in my workplace. I was required to inhale it, and to have it on my skin, in my eyes, and on my clothing. Because of these exposures, I acquired multiple chemical sensitivities (MCS). MCS is the breakdown of the body's ability to detoxify everyday chemicals. This little-understood condition is triggered by significant exposure to toxic chemicals, either a single crippling dose or repeated small doses. Since 1987, when I was medically grounded, every day has been a cautious adjustment to, or avoidance of, environmental dangers completely unknown to most people. I am allergic to perfume, hair spray, glue, propane gas, car exhaust, interiors of relatively new cars, the finish on new clothes and sheets, dry-cleaned clothes, fabric softener, newsprint, mold, and much more. My treating physician and other medical experts have testified that I acquired MCS as a result of pesticides sprayed on me in my workplace. Here are my views on The Proposed Rule. The notice should be required: •
For all flights worldwide on all tickets written in the USA or by US agents
abroad. In addition, I suggest that: •
The name of the insecticide and its potential "acute symptoms" from the EPA
manual Recognition and Management of Pesticide Poisonings should be
related verbally upon ticket inquiry, and in writing upon ticket sale and
in advertisements. Thank you, Diana Fairechild For Types 1 and 2 Disensections: • When
you make your reservation, ask your airline for an "exemption to disinsection."
Your airline will most probably require a note from your doctor saying you
are allergic to pesticide, asthmatic, or pregnant. (No other circumstances
seem to deliver exemptions.) • During the disinsection, cover yourself with an airline blanket to reduce somewhat the amount of pesticide that you will absorb through your skin into your body, as well as the amount you will retain in your clothes and hair where off-gassing will continue to release toxins into your lungs. (Pesticides have even been reported in clothing that had been laundered ten times!) WHAT ELSE TO DO When you fly to a country that sprays pesticide? If you encounter pesticide spray on your flights: • Write to the country which requires disinsection and ask them to stop this practice. • Email copies of your letters to post on this page so that we can continue to update this list of offenders/polluters/abusers.
"I became ill after working a Los Angeles to Auckland, New Zealand flight. My skin was covered with a rash and I had to turn out the lights in my hotel room as my eyes were bright red and painful. On the return flight: my contact lenses clouded over, I had a raging headache and chest pain, and I lost my voice."-Anonymous International Flight Attendant "You asked for information on flights that require the passengers to be sprayed with insecticide. I have been working a 28-day on / 28-day off rotation in the Middle east (Dubai, United Arab Emirates) and living in Florida for the past eleven years. I average 6 1/2 round trips a year. For every trip I have flown, Emirates Airlines or British Airways from Dubai to London, I have been forced to endure the disinsection. The explanation is that British authorities require it. What makes it all the more puzzling is the fact there are few insects in Dubai, since it's a desert."-Bill Andrews "I just finished reading your very insightful article on the spraying of toxic pesticides on planes. I thought I would let you know that Canada also sprays pesticides on some of its flights. This has happened to me a number of times, returning from Cuba and Trinidad on Air Canada, Canadian Airlines and BWIA."-Chris McNicolls "I've flown Kenya Airways
from Nairobi to London four times since 1991. Each flight, we were sprayed
with pesticide while the plane was still on the ground in Nairobi after the
doors had been closed, so obviously no one was able to avoid it. Flight attendants
walked through with aerosol cans. No announcement was made. I think the worst
thing is that there were babies on board. I assume that it is worse for the
little ones."-Evelyn Staus "Thank you for your work against spraying on airplanes. How could the airlines authorize spraying poison on PEOPLE??? It's just nuts. I have worked in the past for a local organization called "GROW" (Grass Roots the Organic Way), which I joined after my cat got poisoned by the stuff the lawn service poured onto the grounds of our condo complex. The cat's still alive (after a week of seizures!), but I've learned an awful lot in the process. For example, I learned that there is a pesticide in some "deodorant" soaps! I've learned that for almost every toxic chemical we use, there are environmentally friendly and non-toxic ways of dealing with the problem."-Rochelle Rabin, Esq. "What a great idea! Finally, a good use for pesticides. The world is saved from over-population." -Alice Ellison |
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