Aerospace Toxicology Overview: Aerial Application and Cabin Air Quality - Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology - page 33

resolve this toxicological and aviation safety issue would be to minimize risks by
preventing oil leaks into bleed air, and monitoring, cleaning, and/or replacing air ducts
on a regular schedule. In addition, a more thorough evaluation of the toxic nature of
the oil additives used in aircraft engines would be useful (Nicholson et al. 2003 ).

4 Summary

Aerospace toxicology is a rather recent development and is closely related to aero-
space medicine. Aerospace toxicology can be deined as a ield of study designed
to address the adverse effects of medications, chemicals, and contaminants on
humans who ly within or outside the atmosphere in aviation or on space lights.
The environment extending above and beyond the surface of the Earth is referred
to as aerospace. The term aviation is frequently used interchangeably with
aerospace.
The focus of the literature review performed to prepare this paper was on aero-
space toxicology-related subject matters, aerial application and aircraft cabin air
quality. Among the important topics addressed are the following:

• Aerial applications of agricultural chemicals, pesticidal toxicity, and exposures

to aerially applied mixtures of chemicals and their associated formulating
solvents/surfactants
The safety of aerially encountered chemicals and the bioanalytical methods used •

to monitor exposures to some of them
The presence of fumes and smoke, as well as other contaminants that may gener- •

ally be present in aircraft/space vehicle cabin air
And importantly, the toxic effects of aerially encountered contaminants, with •

emphasis on the degradation products of oils, luids, and lubricants used in
aircraft, and inally
Analytical methods used for monitoring human exposure to CO and HCN are

•

addressed in the review, as are the signs and symptoms associated with exposures
to these combustion gases

Although many agricultural chemical monitoring studies have been published, few
have dealt with the occurrence of such chemicals in aircraft cabin air. However,
agricultural chemicals do appear in cabin air; indeed, attempts have been made to
establish maximum allowable concentrations for several of the more potentially
toxic ones that are found in aircraft cabin air. In this article, I emphasize the need for
precautionary measures to be taken to minimize exposures to aerially encountered
chemicals, or aircraft cabin air contaminants and point out the need for future
research to better address toxicological evaluation of aircraft-engine oil additives.

Acknowledgments The author is grateful to Kristi J. Craft for assisting in the compilation of
references and for providing critical remarks and suggestions in the organizational and gram-
matical structures of the manuscript.