- WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Federal Aviation Administration is recommending pilots
not take the impotence drug Viagra within six hours of flying because taking
it could make it tough to distinguish between the blues and greens found
in cockpit instruments and runway lights.
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- So far the drug doesn't seem to be a
problem for other transportation workers.
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- "For the above reasons, 'Six hours
from Viagra to throttle' is recommended," wrote Donato J. Borrillo,
a flight surgeon who issued the warning in the most recent issue of the
Federal Air Surgeon's Medical Bulletin. Borrillo is a physician. Studies
show it takes about six hours for Viagra to leave the bloodstream.
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- The phrase mimics the abstinence rule
for pilots who drink alcohol: "Eight hours from bottle to throttle."
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- In clinical studies of Viagra, 3 percent
of patients reported seeing a bluish haze. Others taking higher-than-recommended
doses had trouble telling the difference between blue and green.
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- Both conditions are troublesome for pilots,
since blue and green lights are used to outline taxiways and illuminate
digital instrument panels.
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- Borrillo, who is commander of flight
medicine at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, issued his vision warning
in a bulletin to flight surgeons. They are the doctors who must certify
that pilots are healthy enough to fly.
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- He noted that Viagra inhibits the action
of an enzyme that contributes to impotence. But that same enzyme, phosphodiesterase,
is also present in the eye and is critical for cells to change light into
brain signals.
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- Borrillo warned that "full attention
to the instrument scan and the task at hand may be compromised" by
Viagra.
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- He also wrote that because Viagra can
cause "confusion" for pilots, "it is the author's view that
a minimum of six hours should pass from 'as needed' dosing and flying.
Furthermore, the continued (daily) use of sildenafil is incompatible with
safe flying." Sildenafil is the chemical name for Viagra.
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- While no accidents have been linked to
Viagra use, the FAA decided to recommend it not be used within six hours
of flying, said agency spokeswoman Kathryn Creedy.
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- She said the agency would continue to
monitor the drug.
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- Northwest Airlines instituted a policy
earlier this year requiring its pilots who take Viagra to wait 24 hours
before flying, said company spokesman Jon Austin.
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- Pilots, particularly those who fly commercial
aircraft, are some of the most medically restricted transportation workers.
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- They must have a physical at least every
year, and they must tell their doctor every six months what medications
they are taking. In addition, they are limited to flying 100 hours a month.
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- John Mazor, spokesman for the Air Line
Pilots Association, said the restriction is actually less severe than the
one pilots face when taking antihistamines. Federal law prohibits pilots
from flying before more than twice an antihistamine's effective time has
elapsed -- eight hours in the case of a tablet that is effective for four
hours.
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- "Usually the FAA doesn't deal with
a drug until it's been on the market a year or more," Mazor said.
"It probably comes under the heading of the FAA being a little more
cautious."
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