Dream Buster
You are missing the point on many levels.
Nobody is suggesting that an APU cannot produce fumes (mainly when mishandled).
Nobody is suggesting that engine oil does not contain nasty substances, or that these substances are bad for you.
Where the problems start, is when you make the leap from oil containing nasty substances to people breathing them and getting sick, because, as you say yourself, nobody knows what the fumes actually consist of.
Even you are not sure on what might have caused your health problems, because, as you say yourself, after all the research, the fumes you have breathed "may" have caused your health problems. So you really don't know what has caused your health to deteriorate - but you have chosen fumes as the most likely culprit. You may well be right, and as I have already said, I have no issue with the fact that many pilots are experiencing health issues, and that those health issues "may" be related to oil, APUs and OPs.
My point - and this is the one you seem to have missed - is that it is up to YOU and the various lobby groups to prove it. Or at least provide enough evidence to get a major investigation underway.
The COT don't support you. You would say "well of course they don't, they are protecting the airlines", but you are unable to explain WHY they would want to support the airlines, or what possible motive they could have to suppress the "truth". According to the various groups fighting this battle, the installation of filters would fix it forever, or the use of different oils would have the same effect. If that is true, a government edict to fix the problem would have a small economic effect on the airlines and manufacturers - so what possible reason could they have to withold such an edict? Certainly not from the fear of putting airlines out of business - so why?
The Australian government didn't support such action either - they too found the evidence less than compelling.
Just for the sake of bringing some balance to this - do you live in a house that contains any MDF or particleboard, plywood, adhesives, paints, PVC windows or vinyl floors? If so, read this:
Chemicals like urea formaldehyde, a possible carcinogen and known sensitizer, are given off by particleboard and MDF (medium density fibreboard) used for trim, countertops, shelving and cabinetry. Hardwood plywoods are also glued together with urea formaldehyde resins. Many adhesives and paints contain solvents (vapours) such as xylene and toluene, while vinyl floors and PVC windows give off vinyl chloride, a known carcinogen.
It takes a new home about 15 years to fully off-gas these pollutants.
"You are more likely to get sick from pollution in your home and office than from pollution in the air outside," says Nolan, who knows first-hand about environmental sensitivities. She and daughter Allison, now 12, developed multiple chemical sensitivities and suffered for years before discovering the problem. Nolan and husband Norm Leeming had built a series of new homes, moving into each successively and the buildup of urea formaldehyde affected them.
"We got sicker and sicker and sicker," Nolan recalls. She couldn't eat many foods or use soaps, shampoos and cosmetics. She had difficulty breathing, couldn't think straight and had to give up her work. "I lost 30 pounds. My daughter couldn't go to school."
Now, after making all the connections, they live in a 17-year-old house that has finished off-gassing, with hardwood and ceramic floors. They eat organic and Allison goes to a school that accommodates her needs.
"It's wonderful," Nolan said. "We both have our lives back."
Leeming now builds healthy homes.
The good news is that there are many green options available to replace the poisonous ones and you don't have to go too far to get them. Home Depot, for example, now carries Columbia Forest Products, which offer completely formaldehyde-free plywood, 2-by-4s, 2-by-6s and so on.
Now please tell me how many of those products are banned in the UK (or Australia), and then ask yourself why. It is the same problem - chemical sensitisation - as affected pilots seem to be suffering. Now answer me this - is it the APUs that are affecting pilots, or their kitchen worktops?
(Quote from
http://www.canadiansforproperlybuilt...rofhealth.html)