- BOSTON -- The spraying of
passenger-filled airliner cabins with insecticide has raised a wave of
complaints after flight attendants aboard a crowded Air France flight,
taxiing this month in Paris for takeoff to Boston, sprayed the cabin, angering
many passengers who feared harmful effects.
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- Samson Munn, a Boston physician, was on the July 6 flight
with his pregnant wife and 21-month-old daughter. He said his daughter
became violently ill during the flight and that he worried about the insecticide's
effects on his unborn child.
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- "The administration to us of the insecticide was
against our will, without our explicit permission, and thus in clear violation
of medical ethics and generally accepted international norms of medical
care," Munn said.
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- Insecticide spraying is required on incoming flights
by a handful of nations, but the United States is not one of them. The
United States stopped the practice in 1979 after the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention determined it was potentially hazardous to passengers
and ineffective in keeping unwanted bugs out of the country.
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- An Air France spokeswoman said the decision to spray
on Flight 322 was made by the pilot after passengers alerted flight attendants
to the presence of flying ants inside the plane.
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- Bill Mosley, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Transportation,
said the spraying was unusual but didn't violate any U.S. or international
laws.
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- The insecticide used by Air France, permethrin, was approved
for use on airlines in the early 1990s by the World Health Organization.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, however, regards it as a possible
carcinogen, with exposure the most hazardous for children, people with
asthma and pregnant women.
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- In the mid-1990's, the agency barred the use of permethrin
on airliners flying in the United States. But the chemical is still used
in some household insect foggers and sprays, tick and flea sprays for grassy
areas around houses, flea dips and sprays for cats and dogs and also in
mosquito-control products.
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- Spraying is common on flights into many countries. Last
fall, a woman who said she had multiple chemical sensitivities was sprayed
with insecticide on an American Airlines flight landing in Jamaica. After
many passengers complained, the practice was stopped on the Jamaica flights.
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- According to the Transportation Department, six countries
require the spraying of incoming planes with passengers on board. They
are Grenada, India, Kiribati, Madagascar, Trinidad and Tobago and Uruguay.
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- Jamaica and five other countries - Australia, Barbados,
Fiji, New Zealand, and Panama - generally offer more flexibility, allowing
airlines to treat their planes with aerosol spraying or residual insecticides
if passengers are not on board. A handful of countries, including Guam,
Indonesia, South Africa, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, require insecticide
applications only on flights from countries posing risks of malaria and
yellow fever.
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- <http://www.iht.com/articles/103933.html>http://www.iht.com/articles/103933.html
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