30 January2006 : Column 18W

Cabin Air Supply

Mr Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will ask the Civil Aviation Authority to investigate organophosphate contamination of cabin air supply on commercial aircraft; and if he will make a statement.

Ms Buck: The House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology did an investigation, which reported in November 2000 and said:

“The absence of confirmed cases of tri-ortho-cresyl phosphate (TOCP) poisoning from cabin air and the very low levels of TOCP that would be found in even in the highly unlikely worst case of contamination from oil leaking into the air supply lead us to conclude that the concerns about significant risk to the health of airline passengers and crew are not substantiated."

In 2004 the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) published research into fume events by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Porton Down and the (then) Defence Evaluation and Research Agency. That concluded that

'no single component or set of components can be identified which at conceivable concentrations would definitely cause the symptoms reported in cabin air quality incidents'.

But acids were found which could act as irritants, and as a result CAA brought in specific troubleshooting and maintenance actions to minimise the potential for fume events.

The inter-departmental Aviation Health Working Group has recently arranged for the independent Committee on Toxicity (COT) to review further evidence which the British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA) has collected. This process is under way and should help us to specify any further research needs in an area where public funds have already been invested without finding a link between cabin air and long-term health problems.

Meanwhile, some research is starting in the USA funded by the Federal Aviation Administration. Government officials are in touch with the research team to monitor progress. In principle, we are interested to join in international research when we have a clearer idea of the needs, and we shall review our position on the American project after the COT has held a formal meeting in public in the spring.