Re: Medical effects of contaminated air CONFIRMED
The problem with all that is that you can't pin it on the aircraft so easily.
Nobody is suggesting that inhaling pyrolised (not just hot) oil is good for you. However the real question is how much did you ingest, and what effect it has had.
You say you experienced the standard 146 "smelly socks" first flight smell. So what? The nose is extremely sensitive, with most compounds it will detect them at a few parts per million. More to the point, there are dozens of other smells you may experience during your working day, that could also be harmful - everything from fuel smells to the pyrolised crew meal the #1 just handed you. How do you quantify their effects? Also, you mention experiencing this on the ground - but that is actually the least dangerous phase of you job, as you have other forms of ventilation available to you.
You may believe that exposure to what is basically a smell, has caused the symptoms you describe. How do you know? How can you be sure that you don't have some other problem? Or is it just that you have read the stuff that AOPIS peddles, put two and two together, and come up with a bag of apples? Do you have any evidence at all that you problems come from fumes?
The reason that the medical people don't know much about it, is that nobody has told them. That is because the authorities that regulate medical matters in aviation do not believe that the evidence yet exists of a direct causal link between cabin fumes and the rather large basket of ailments that BALPA are seeking evidence of.
This whole thing reminds me of the furore over cellphones a few years ago. All of a sudden, cellphones were frying our brains. Or not... has anyone heard anything about that recently? Didn't think so. Once the possibility of litigation receded, interest waned.
If you want a risk-free life, take up knitting (with suitably blunt needles).