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AIRLINER CABIN AIR QUALITY i) y 4. P 96/11:103-61 Airliner Cabin Air Quality (103-61. HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON AVIATION OFTHE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC WORKS AND TRANSPORTATION HOUSE OP REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED THIRD CONGRESS SECOND SESSION MAY 18, 1994 Printed for the use of the Committee on Public Works and Transportation AIRLINER CABIN AIR QUALITY (103-61) HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON AVIATION OF THE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC WORKS AND TRANSPORTATION HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED THIRD CONGRESS SECOND SESSION MAY 18, 1994 Printed for the use of the Committee on Public Works and Transportation U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON 1994 : ForsalebytheU.S.GovernmentPrintingOffice SuperintendentofDocuments,CongressionalSalesOffice,Washington,DC 20402 ISBN 0-16-045997-4 COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC WORKS AND TRANSPORTATION NORMAN Y. MINETA, California, Chair JAMES L. OBERSTAR, Minnesota BUD SHUSTER, Pennsylvania NICK J. RAHALL II, West Virginia WILLIAM F. CLLNGER, Jr., Pennsylvania DOUGLAS APPLEGATE, Ohio THOMAS E. PETRI, Wisconsin RON de LUGO, Virgin Islands SHERWOOD L. BOEHLERT, New York ROBERT A. BORSKI, Pennsylvania JAMES M. INHOFE, Oklahoma TIM VALENTINE, North Carolina BILL EMERSON, Missouri WILLIAM O. LIPINSKI, Illinois JOHN J. DUNCAN, Jr., Tennessee ROBERT E. WISE, Jr., West Virginia SUSAN MOLINARI, New York JAMES A. TRAFICANT, Jr., Ohio WILLIAM H. ZELIFF, Jr., New Hampshire JPAEMTEERSAA. DHeAFYAEZSI,O,LoOuriesgiaonna TWHAOYMNAEST.W.GIELWCIHNRGE,STI,lliMnoairsyland BOB CLEMENT, Tennessee JENNIFER DUNN, Washington JERRY F. COSTELLO, Illinois Y. TIM HUTCHINSON, Arkansas MIKE PARKER, Mississippi BILL BAKER, California GREG LAUGHLIN, Texas MICHAEL A. "MAC" COLLINS, Georgia PETE GEREN, Texas JAY KIM, California GEORGE E. SANGMEISTER, Illinois DAVID A. LEVY, New York GLENN POSHARD, Illinois STEPHEN HORN, California DICK SWETT, New Hampshire BOB FRANKS, New Jersey BBAURDBCARRAAMERRO,SEAlCaObLaLmIaNS, Michigan PHEOTWEARRID. BP.LU"TBEU,CKM"asMsaccKhEusOeNt,tsCalifornia ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of JOHN L. MICA, Florida Columbia PETER HOEKSTRA, Michigan LUCLEN E. BLACKWELL, Pennsylvania JACK QUINN, New York JERROLD NADLER, NewYork VERNON J. EHLERS, Michigan SAM COPPERSMITH, Arizona LESLIE L. BYRNE, Virginia MARIA CANTWELL, Washington PAT DANNER, Missouri KAREN SHEPHERD, Utah ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey JAMES E. CLYBURN, South Carolina CORRINE BROWN, Florida NATHAN DEAL, Georgia JAMES A. BARCIA, Michigan DAN HAMBURG, California BOB FILNER, California WALTER R. TUCKER III, California EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, Texas PETER W. BARCA, Wisconsin (ID Ill Subcommittee on Aviation JAMES L. OBERSTAR, Minnesota, Chair RON DE LUGO, Virgin Islands, WILLIAM F. CLENGER, Jr., Pennsylvania Vice Chair SHERWOOD L. BOEHLERT, New York WILLIAM O. LIPINSKI, Illinois JAMES M. INHOFE, Oklahoma PETE GEREN, Texas JOHN J. DUNCAN, Jr., Tennessee GEORGE E. SANGMEISTER, Illinois THOMAS W. EWING, Illinois BARBARA ROSE COLLINS, Michigan WAYNE T. GILCHREST, Maryland SAM COPPERSMITH, Arizona JENNIFER DUNN, Washington ROBERT A. BORSKI, Pennsylvania MICHAEL A. "MAC" COLLINS, Georgia TIM VALENTINE, North Carolina JAY KIM, California PETER A. DeFAZIO, Oregon DAVID A. LEVY, New York JAMES A. HAYES, Louisiana STEPHEN HORN, California BOB CLEMENT, Tennessee HOWARD P. "BUCK" McKEON, California JERRY COSTELLO, Illinois JOHN L. MICA, Florida MIKE PARKER, Mississippi VERNON J. EHLERS, Michigan GREG LAUGHLIN, Texas BUD SHUSTER, Pennsylvania DICK SWETT, New Hampshire (Ex Officio) BUD CRAMER, Alabama LUCIEN E. BLACKWELL, Pennsylvania MARIA CANTWELL, Washington PAT DANNER, Missouri KAREN SHEPHERD, Utah CORRINE BROWN, Florida NICK J. RAHALL II, West Virginia NORMAN Y. MINETA, California (Ex Officio) CONTENTS Page Summary ofsubjectmatter VIII TESTIMONY Banzhaf, John F., Ill, Professor ofLaw, George Washington University, Exec- utive Director, Action on Smokingand Health [ASH] 188 Canny, Hon. Joseph P., DeputyAssistant Secretary for Transportation Policy, U.S. Department ofTransportation, accompanied by Arnold Konheim, Sen- ior Policy Analyst, Office of the Secretary of Transportation, Thomas McSweeney, Director, Aircraft Certification Service, Federal Aviation Ad- ministration, and Dr. Jon L. Jordan, Federal Air Surgeon, Federal Aviation Administration 44 Clarke, Deanne, FlightAttendant 84 Cone, Dr. James E., MD., MPH., Medical Consultant, Association of Flight Attendants, AFL-CIO 132 DeFazio, Hon. Peter, a Representativein Congress from Oregon 8 Hagan, Joyce, International Flight Attendant, accompanied by Beth Welker, International FlightAttendant 84 Halfpenny, Paul, Member, Committee on Space StationFreedom 139 Hendrick, Donna, President, Airline Division, Canadian Union ofPublic Em- ployees [CUPE] 84 Hinman, Dr. Alan R., M.D., M.P.H., Director, National Center for Prevention Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], Public Health Service, U.S. Department ofHealth and Human Services 44 Johnson, Stephen L., Acting Director, Registration Division, Office of Pes- ticidePrograms, U.S. Environmental ProtectionAgency 44 Landry, James E., President, Air Transport Association, accompanied by Dr. Jolanda Janczewski, President, Consolidated Safety Services, Inc., and Mi- chael Rioux,Vice President, Engineering, Maintenance and Materiel 158 Ludwig, Sue, FlightAttendant 132 Maki, Dee, National President, Association of Flight Attendants, AFL-CIO, accompaniedby ChrisWitkowski, DirectorofSafety 84 Miller, Mary Ellen, Director of Safety and Health, Independent Federation ofFlightAttendants 84 Nadler, Hon. Jerrold, a Representativein Congress from NewYork 31 Robeson, Robert E., Jr., Vice President, Civil Aviation, Aerospace Industries Association ofAmerica, Inc 165 Spengler, Dr. John, Ph.D., Department of Environmental Health, Harvard University School of Public Health, accompanied by Dr. Harriet Burge, Ph.D., ProfessorofMicrobiology, Harvard University 132 White, Dr. John, Ph.D., Past President, American LungAssociation, on behalf of the American Lung Association, American Heart Association, American CancerSociety, Partners in The Coalition on SmokingOR Health 181 Young, Patricia, American Airlines FlightAttendant 84 PREPARED STATEMENTS SUBMITTED BY MEMBERS OF CONGRESS Blackwell, Hon. Lucien E., ofPennsylvania 6 Clinger, Hon. William F., ofPennsylvania 4 DeFazio, Hon. Peter, ofOregon 28 Lipinski, Hon. William O., ofIllinois 6 PREPARED STATEMENTS SUBMITTED BY WITNESSES Banzhaf, John F., Ill 197 (V) VI Page Canny, Joseph P 213 Clarke, Deanne 218 Cone, Dr. James E., M.D., M.P.H 226 Hagan, Joyce 233 Hendrick, Donna 260 Hinman, Dr. Alan R., M.D., M.P.H 300 Johnson, Stephen L 309 Jordan, Dr. Jon L., M.D 317 Landry, James E 321 Ludwig, Sue 376 Maki, Dee 380 Miller, Mary Ellen 396 Robeson, Robert E.,Jr 409 Spengler, Dr. John, Ph.D 422 Welker, Beth 429 White, Dr. John, Ph.D 431 Young, Patricia 444 SUBMISSIONS FOR THE RECORD Association ofFlightAttendants: Answers toquestions submitted by Representative Oberstar 117 Letters from flight attendants and passengers 124 Hon. Joseph P. Canny, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy, U.S. Department ofTransportation, Response to Question from Representa- tive Horn 80 Hon. PeterDeFazio, a Representative in Congress from Oregon: Letter to Hon. William J. Clinton from Representative Peter DeFazio and Sen. Patrick Leahy, May 18, 1994 10 StatementofSen. Patrick Leahy, a Senatorin Congress from Vermont .... 12 Letters to Hon. Sen. Patrick Leahy, ofVermont 14 Joyce Hagan, International FlightAttendant: Responses to posthearing questions submitted by Representative Ober- star 92 Excerptfrom 1986 NAS Study ofCabinAirQuality".!.!.!!!!!!!"!.!!!!!!!!.!.!!!!!".!! 94 Dr. Alan R. Hinman, Director, National Center for Prevention Services, Cen- ters for Disease Control and Prevention, Public Health Service, U.S. De- partment ofHealth and Human Services, Response to Questions from Rep- resentative Horn 81 Dr. Jon L. Jordan, M.D., Federal Air Surgeon, Federal Aviation Administra- tion, Response to Question from Representative Horn 66 James E. Landry, President, AirTransportAssociation, Letter Supplementing Testimony 191 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Responses to Questions from Rep- resentative Oberstar 82 PatriciaYoung, AmericanAirlines FlightAttendant: Proposal 5—StockholderResolution, March 31, 1994 106 Letter to Ms. Young from R.L. Crandall, Chairman and President, Amer- icanAirlines, August 14, 1989 108 ADDITIONS TO THE RECORD AirTransportAssociation,James E. Landry, President, letter 449 American Medical Association, James S. Todd, M.D., statement, May 27, 1994 454 Cash, Smith & Wages, Joan Wages, letter on behalf of Flight Attendants represented by the Association of Professional Flight Attendants at Amer- icanAirlines 509 Columbus Heating and Ventilating, Raymond A. Meister, P.E., Vice President ofEngineeringand the Industrial Division, Columbus, OH: Statement 461 AirQuality Inspection Summary, Healthy Buildings International, report, November 1993 476 Diana Fairechild, letter, May 13, 1994 488 Gail BoyerHayes, Private Pilot, letter, April 29, 1994 496 Anthony P. Hays, letter,June 17, 1994 498 Dorothy S. Lyddon, letter, June 15, 1994 499 Helen G. Morris, M.D., letter, April 25, 1994 500 VII Page Neurological Associates, PA, Stephen C. Padar, M.D., letter, April 25, 1994 .... 502 Northwest CoalitionforAlternatives to Pesticides, statement 503 JenniferShirley, letter, June 22, 1994 509 Walter J. Shea, President, Transportation Trades Department, AFL^CIO, statement 512 , VIII ]!.§>. House offKepreamtatiuea COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC WORKS E£^££tE .„. AND TRANSPORTATION SK-SSSSS? SUITE2165RAYBURNHOUSEOFFICEBUILDING m«c"uns*"."^', ' WASHINGTON,DC20515 Ji™«?e£"'.!Z\o« £MS""""'*' (202)225-4472 llT,<H»"."sn'.-"^, memorandum S:r°""""" s'H^iHt;.""-" TO: Members of the Subcommittee on Aviation FROM: Committee's Aviation Staff DATE: May 16, 1994 RE: SUMMARY OF SUBJECT MATTER for the hearing on AIR LINER CABIN AIR QUALITY, Wednesday, May 18, 1994, at 9:30 a.m. Efforts to improve airliner cabin air quality for the benefit of passengers and crew go back over a decade, and include legislation, rules, studies, three hearings by this subcommittee (including today's) , and citizen and flight attendant activism. The effort focused initially on smoking, culminating in the ban on smoking on all domestic flights of six hours or less. With the air somewhat cleared, concern has turned to the broader universe of contaminants, including the use of pesticides in airplanes with passengers and crew aboard (required by certain foreign countries) and the continued infliction of second-hand smoke on flight attendants on international flights. Despite findings of various studies that airliner cabin air is generally safe for healthy people, complaints from flight attendants who spend their working lives in this environment; concerns for the transmission of disease, including tuberculosis,