These two new published scientific papers relating to the contaminated air on aircraft issue are very significant. One discusses the mechanism which may explain why people get health effcts from exposure and one is based on research done by an engine oil manufacturer about the toxicicity of the engine oil anti wear additives used today and which will be used in the future. For those of you who follow the issue, it has long been argued by some that the engine anti wear additive blend used in engine oils - tricresyl phosphate - has very low levels of the ortho isomers of TCP known as TOCP, MOCP and DOCP so all is OK as the other isomers are ok. The other isomers (meta and para isomer blends) are constantly detected in the aircraft cabin so the hope was this argument that they were safe was correct but this new paper shows that the other isomers are anything but OK.

1. The role of nanoparticles in bleed air in the etiology of Aerotoxic Syndrome: A review of cabin air-quality studies of 2003–2023
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full...4.2024.2327348

2. Organophosphate toxicity patterns: A new approach for assessing organophosphate neurotoxicity
https://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc...0438942400815X

Fascinating Tristan.....
It seems to me that all OPs (and VOCs and CO) are pretty bad things to have in the tin can cauldron of airliner cabins but solutions do exist to prevent the contamination of paying pax and unwitting crews (although the av world is a slow-adopter).
However, an issue not often discussed here, is that the longevity and bio-accumulation of these toxins in our environment may have rather worse long-term effects than previously thought.
Is it possible to stop using them altogether in aviation oil?
We seem to be seeding our world from above, rather like a crop-duster....contaminating all life on earth slowly. Or is that science fiction?

Latest from the petition. https://www.change.org/p/stop-contam...te&utm_term=cs

Possible yes, but as you say the aviation world is a slow-adopter. All jet turbine oils contain 2-3% TCP (one has a slightly different phosphate of similar structure). Removing an approved additive from a formulation and replacing it with different chemistry is considered a major change and sends the formulation back for full approvals. That process takes up to ten years and millions of dollars. Once one oil is fully approved the system may allow read across on the new additive to other formulations, although that is not written into the current process.

It is probably faster and cheaper to address the fume issue with some engine design changes or a scrubbing system in the air system.