Do you know aerotoxic syndrome (ATS)?
As you can imagine, the answer to this is 'No' far more often than 'Yes'!
There are, of course, exceptions among aircraft crew, and it would be rare for experts in the field of toxicology to be unaware of this! The toxicologists think, quite rightly, that the syndrome consists of clinical symptoms observed in people working in the aeronautics sector, whether they are flying crew or ground staff or indeed, observed in passengers, who are a large population and are also the most uninformed about the worrying 'syndrome', which is more commonly referred to as 'Air Cabin Syndrome'.
However, while this describes the syndrome, it does not tell us how air can become toxic within these heavily fortified aircraft. Surely this is too far-fetched to be true?
Let us explore this rather unexpected riddle.
From a historical point of view, people have known of the possible health hazards from the air introduced in aircraft cabins, both military as well as civilian aircraft, since the 1950s.
However, it was only in &999 that these hazards were clearly described.
A group of experts comprising of Christ Winder, an Australian Professor of Toxicology, the French expert Jean-Christophe Balouet and Dr. Harry Hoffman, a surgeon in the US Navy, first named this new pathology 'Aerotoxic Syndrome'.