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With the two recent EPA reports about the unsafe drinking water found on airliners, (EPA Makes Passenger Aircraft Water Testing Information Available, Sept 20, 2004, & Airline drinking water: New tests Jan 19 a second round of sampling of 169 aircraft at 12 airports found water quality problems on 17.2 percent of these aircraft were total-coliform-positive For more information and to view publicly available testing data, visit: http://www.epa.gov/airlinewater/). we are in a unique position to help alleviate public fears and begin renewing passenger trust and safety regarding drinking water.
Crowded environments like airplanes, offices, schools, and hospitals can be spawning grounds for germs and viruses that cause colds. Among the leading health concerns of the 600 million people (FAA statistic) who fly each year on commercial airliners, is catching colds while flying. Research has shown that the practice of recycling cabin air (which saves fuel costs) actually spreads germs that cause contagion, regularly spreading such viruses as influenza and the common cold. According to published reports, workers in our highly technological society now spend close to 90% of their time indoors. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that our exposure to pollution may be as much as five times greater indoors than outdoors!
"The Environmental Protection Agency, that nemesis of industry, has stated flatly that beyond the pollution of our waterways and the poisoning of the atmosphere, one of the biggest threats to public health is the interior environment of our schools, hospitals, shopping malls and office buildings. The indoor air in perhaps a quarter of these buildings may be dangerous to our health." -60 Minutes. CBS Television.
Current methods for detecting and counting airborne bacteria in enclosed buildings may be inadequate and understate the total number of airborne organisms, say researchers from the University of Maryland and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the September 1997 issue of the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology.
Indoor air pollution has become a serious concern. Newer, energy efficient buildings are usually sealed, recycling the air and increasing the number of bacteria in the environment. An estimated 10 to 25 million workers in the
In the study the researchers tested the effects of aerosolization on viability and colony-forming ability on several bacterial species. The bacteria were sprayed into glass containers and then total numbers were counted by two different methods. The first method was the method traditionally employed to determine indoor air quality where the bacteria are cultured and the colonies formed are counted. The other was direct staining and counting of viable bacteria. The researchers found that less than 10 percent of the aerosolized bacteria were capable of forming colonies.
"From these results it is concluded that the bacterial strains included in this study did not respond to standard culture methods after aerosolization," say the researchers. "The plate [colony] count provides an estimate of only those few cells least affected by exposure to air." (J.F. Heidelberg, M. Shahamat, M. Levin,
Several of these stories have been adapted from a news release issued by American Society for Microbiology.
http://www.airlinesafety.com/articles/FSFCabinAir.htm
http://www.californialung.org/spotlight/02fw_air_quality.html
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