Insecticides debate buzzes - Aircraft "Disinsection"
Dennis Blank / USA TODAY 6nov00

When you see flight attendants spraying a plane's cabin shortly before landing in a foreign country, it's a safe bet they're not using air freshener. Try insecticide.

Spraying airplanes for bugs -- while passengers are aboard -- is required by six countries and allowed by at least six others as a way to kill unwanted species of insects that could harm plants or animals.

On-board pesticide spraying -- a controversial practice for years -- is under debate again because of two recent lawsuits by flight attendant groups and an outcry from citizen groups. Opponents say some sprays contain carcinogens and that exposure can cause nausea, fatigue and numbness in humans.

"Our contention is they should not use these products in all airplanes," says Linda Laurent, a Houston lawyer who has filed a class-action lawsuit in Louisiana and another one on behalf of 350 flight attendants in Los Angeles. "Repeated chronic doses are not safe."

Don't expect airlines to warn you what flights will be sprayed, though. A year ago, the Department of Transportation (DOT) dropped a proposal to require airlines and travel agents to inform customers when they buy their tickets if their destination requires spraying. The DOT said at the time the rule wasn't needed because 20 countries had discontinued the required spraying of all arriving flights and only two still mandated spraying when passengers were aboard.

But the DOT's Web site indicates the practice is more widespread. As of Dec. 1, the site says, Grenada, India, Kiribati, Trinidad and Tobago, Madagascar and Uruguay required spraying of inbound flights with aerosol sprays while passengers are on board. Six other countries -- Australia, Barbados, Fiji, Jamaica, New Zealand and Panama -- require spraying of all inbound flights but allow airlines to choose among three methods. Airlines can use an aerosol while passengers are on board or not, or apply a long-lasting insecticide in unoccupied cabins. If they use the third method, a residue remains on seats and other surfaces.

Airline industry officials say there's nothing to worry about.

"We don't think there is any danger to passengers who get on an airplane," says United Airlines spokesman Joe Hopkins.

The Air Transport Association, the airlines' trade group, continues to oppose any government mandate to tell passengers about countries' spraying rules, ATA lawyer David Berg says. Most airlines will disclose the practice if asked.

According to the DOT Web site, the World Health Organization has said that aircraft "disinsection" does not present a risk to human health "if performed appropriately." However, the report also noted that some people may experience temporary discomfort associated with aerosol insecticides.

Michael Miller of Los Angeles did. He says he suffered partial numbness in his fingers and toes and slight speech impairment up to a month after a flight to New Zealand that was sprayed. Tests revealed he had high amounts of a carcinogenic substance traced to a product sprayed in the cabin.

One of the most commonly used products is made by Airosol of Neodesha, Kan., one of six companies named in a lawsuit by flight attendants. One of the flight attendants' lawsuits contends that attendants have been "exposed to hazardous levels of these insecticides" made by Airosol, as well as those manufactured by Sumitomo Chemical America, McLaughlin Gormley King , Glaxo Wellcome, Burroughs Wellcome Foundation and Hoechst and Schering. Lawyers for Airosol and Sumitomo have denied allegations in formal responses to the lawsuit but did not return telephone calls from USA TODAY.

Gary Ordog, a physician and toxicologist in Valencia, Calif., said he is treating 10 United flight attendants who suffer from symptoms including chronic fatigue, headaches, rashes and memory loss. One is permanently disabled.

Spraying is also an issue in the USA, although U.S. airlines stopped spraying airliner cabins with passengers on board in the late 1970s. So-called residual spraying of unoccupied cabins and cargo areas is common. More than 1,000 jets a month in the USA are being treated with insecticides during overnight maintenance stops.

Terminex said it treats 1,000 to 1,500 aircraft a month in Atlanta, San Francisco and Chicago. It has contracts with several airlines: Delta, United, American, Hawaii Air, American Trans Air, Continental, Southwest and AirTran. More than a dozen products approved by the EPA for use on airlines are identified as being harmful to humans.

AIRCRAFT DISINSECTION REQUIREMENTS
USDOT source: http://ostpxweb.dot.gov/policy/safety/disin.htm 5nov00

Disinsection is permitted under international law in order to protect public health, agriculture and the environment. The World Health Organization and the International Civil Aviation Organization stipulate two approaches for aircraft disinsection--either spray the aircraft cabin, with an aerosolized insecticide, while passengers are on board or treat the aircraft's interior surfaces with a residual insecticide (residual method) while passengers are not on board. Panama and American Samoa have adopted a third method, in which aircraft are sprayed with an aerosolized insecticide while passengers are not on board.

Although the Report of the Informal Consultation on Aircraft Disinsection sponsored by the World Health Organization (November 6-10, 1995) concluded that aircraft disinsection, if performed appropriately, would not present a risk to human health, the report also noted that some individuals may experience transient discomfort following aircraft disinsection by aerosol application.

Although few countries now require that aircraft be disinsected, most countries reserve the right to do so, and, as such, could impose a disinsection requirement should they perceive a threat to their public health, agriculture or environment. Accordingly, travelers are advised to check with their travel agent or airline reservations agent when booking flights. Listed below are representatives of airlines who are knowledgeable on disinsection requirements:

Airline Contacts for Information on Disinsection

• American Airlines    Mr. Michael Brooks    817-967-2342 

• Continental Airlines    Mr. Dan Watson    713-324-5408    dwatso@coair.com

• Continental Micronesia    Mr. Dan Watson    713-324-5408    dwatso@coair.com

• Delta Airlines    Mr. John C. Marshall    404-715-3436    John.c.marshall@delta-air.com

• Northwest Airlines    Ms. Dana Heimdahl    612-727-6418    dana.heimdahl@nwa.com

• Trans World Airlines   Ms. Beatrice M. Lutz   314-429-8966   blutz@twa.com

• United Airlines    Mr. Randy Lee    650-634-4108    randy.lee@ual.com

• US Airways    Mr. Daniel Dunn    412-747-3695    dwdunn@usairways.com

The following lists of disinsection requirements were compiled from information provided by foreign governments and supplemented by information obtained from airlines.

Please submit any corrections to the following Internet address: arnold.konheim@ost.dot.gov . 

This list was last updated on September 28, 2000.

Countries requiring the disinsection of all in-bound flights with an aerosolized spray while passengers are on board 

Grenada, India, Kiribati, Madagascar, Trinidad, and Tobago, Uruguay

Countries requiring the disinsection of all in-bound flights but allowing, as an alternative to the above approach, either (a) the residual method or (b) the application of an aerosolized spray while passengers are not on board

Australia - Residual

Barbados - Residual

Fiji - Residual

Jamaica - Residual

New Zealand - Residual

Panama - Spraying

Countries that require disinsection of selected flights

Czech Republic - Areas of contagious diseases

Indonesia - Infected areas

South Africa - Areas of malaria or yellow fever

Switzerland - Intertropical Africa

United Kingdom - Malarial countries

Guam requires disinsection, but permits the residual method, of all flights from the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Thailand, Philippines, Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Federated States of Micronesia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and the Republic of the Marshal Islands and, during certain months, of flights from Taiwan, Korea and Japan.  

Pesticides
Top