Pressure builds for action over toxic fumes on flights
The airline industry is coming under more pressure to investigate the harmful effects of toxic fumes on flights after the death of a British Airways air steward.
The family and friends of Matthew Bass (pictured here), who had also worked for easyJet, have started a campaign because they believe the 35-year-old died due to Aerotoxic Syndrome after breathing contaminated cabin air.
They want to put pressure on the Government to investigate the problem and to raise money to help the families of other possible victims to pay for special post-mortem testing to establish the ‘real cause of death of their loved one’.
They are also planning legal action, which they claim is backed by the union Unite.
Matthew, who had worked as cabin crew for 15 years, died in his sleep on January 30.
His family say in the last six months of his life, Matthew frequently complained of tiredness, digestive problems and occasionally suffered mild bouts of trembling.
Doctors had believed he was suffering from Crohn’s disease, but this was ruled out by post-mortem tests, which failed to establish a cause.
However, the family decided to pay for a second post mortem examination, carried out by a pathologist in Holland, which found evidence of chronic exposure to organophosphates, which are found in synthetic fertilisers, insecticides and jet engine oil.
"The results were then examined in the US by one of, if not the, worlds leading authority on organophosphate poisoning and the results were confirmed," says the campaign website, which has already got hundreds of people to sign its petition.
"The most difficult part of all of this to come to terms with is that the airlines, industry and the government have known this has been happening for decades but are doing nothing to prevent it."
Earlier this week it was confirmed that a Dorset coroner has submitted a report about toxic fumes in plane cabins to the Civil Aviation Authority following an investigation into the death of a BA pilot, Richard Westgate, who died aged 43 in December 2012.
Sheriff Stanhope Payne, the senior coroner for Dorset, claims that those who are regularly exposed to fumes in planes face ‘consequential damage to their health’.
A spokesman for the CAA confirmed it had received the report and said it ‘will review in detail and respond to the coroner accordingly’.
Despite concerns about toxic fumes going back as far as 2000, a review commissioned by the Department of Transport in 2007 did not establish a link between cabin air and pilot illness. However, it did not rule it out.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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