Human Health Section

The public health impacts, from this type of jet air pollution and lingering jet contrails, may include, but are not limited to, respiratory problems, flu-like symptoms, asthma, allergies, chronic sore or raspy throats, coughing, eye and skin irritations, nose bleeds, and breathing difficulties.

Our elected representatives are responsible for protecting public health, the health of our children, pets, wildlife, and our trees. If you are experiencing these symptoms after heavy jet spray days please contact your elected representatives. (Please note that your farm animals and pets may be subject to the same type of symptoms.) In addition, your doctors should be advised of what is happening in your area. They can then start to work toward solutions to these problems rather than enriching the pharmaceutical companies by prescribing drugs to mask these symptoms.

SUBSONIC JET EMISSIONS REPORT

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY PA420-R-99-013 - Final Report "Evaluation of Air Pollutant Emissions from Subsonic Commercial Jet Aircraft", U.S. Environmental Protection Agency April 1999. Excerpts from this report are reprinted below:
"Public Health and Aircraft Emissions":

"Ultimately, EPA's principal concern in evaluating and controlling (jet fuel) emissions is the preservation of human health and, secondarily, the protection of public welfare (including protection against damage to crops, vegetation, animals, and buildings)...In particular, they have significant concerns regarding the effect of NOx on local and regional environments. Tropospheric NOx has multiple environmental quality impacts…contributing to ground-level O3 and PM, but also air toxic concentrations, excess nitrogen loads to sensitive water bodies, and acidification of sensitive ecosystems (EPA 1997a)." (PM = Particulate Matter)

"Table 1.1 Representative health effects of air pollutants.” Jet Emission Pollutants:

‘Ozone - Lung function impairment, effects on exercise performance, increased airway responsiveness, increased susceptibility to respiratory infection, increased hospital admissions and emergency room visits, and pulmonary inflammation, lung structure damage. (Examples of these effects are chronic inflammation and structural damage to lung tissue and accelerated decline in baseline lung function.)”

“Carbon Monoxide - Cardiovascular effects, especially in those persons with heart conditions…Similar health effects on animals as on humans.”

“Nitrogen Oxides - Lung irrigation and lower resistance to respiratory infections. Premature mortality, aggravation of respiratory and cardiovascular disease, changes in lung function and increased respiratory symptoms, changes to lung tissues and structure, and altered respiratory defense mechanisms…” (Asthmatics are especially sensitive.)

“Volatile Organic Compounds - Eye and respiratory tract irritation, headaches, dizziness, visual disorders, and memory impairment.”

“Table 1.2 Representative Environmental Effects:

Ozone - Crop damage, damage to trees and decreased resistance to disease for both crops and other plants. (Ground-level ozone interferes with the ability of plants to produce and store food so that growth, reproduction and overall plant health are compromised. By weakening trees and other plants, ozone can make plants more susceptible to disease, insect attacks, and harsh weather ...Ground level ozone can also kill or damage leaves so that they fall off the plants too soon or become spotted and brown...")

“Nitrogen Oxides - Acid rain, visibility degradation, particle formation, contribution towards ozone formation. NO2 is an important precursor to both ozone and acidic precipitation, which harms both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems...NOx also plays a role in the formation of acid rain. Acid rain causes surface water acidification and damages trees...NOx contributes to the formation of particles in the atmosphere, with the resulting health and visibility effects...)”

“Particulate Matter - Visibility degradation and…safety effects for aircraft from reduced visibility. (PM is the generic term for a broad class of chemically and physically diverse substances that exist as discrete particles...over a wide range of sizes...PM may either be emitted directly or formed in the atmosphere by the transformations of gaseous emissions of compounds including NOx, VOCs, and sulfur oxides SOx...In addition to the evidence found for health effects associated with aggravation of asthma and increased respiratory illness, and that they may be chronic health effects associated with long-term exposure to high concentrations of coarse particles (FR, July 18, 1997)..."

"...the nature of the effects that have been reported to be associated with ambient PM, including premature mortality, aggravation of respiratory and cardiovascular disease…change in lung function and increased respiratory symptoms, changes to lung tissues and structure, and altered respiratory defense mechanisms; and sensitive sub-populations that appear to be at greater risk to such effects, specifically individuals with respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease and the elderly...children, asthmatic children and adults..."

“Volatile Organic Compounds - Contribution towards ozone formation, odors, and some direct effect on buildings and plants." (...They can arise from evaporation or incomplete fuel combustion. As a class, VOCs react with NOx in the atmosphere to form ozone, but individual VOCs may have additional health effects. Some VOCs have little or no known direct health effect, while other VOCs, such as benzene, are carcinogens...Eye and respiratory tract irritation, headaches, dizziness, visual disorders, and memory impairment are among the immediate symptoms that some people have experienced soon after exposure to some organics...At high levels, VOCs can have a damaging effect on plants...VOCs that contain chlorine can also contribute to stratospheric ozone depletion.)..."

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - IPCC Special Report - Aviation and the Global Atmosphere - Summary for Policymakers – 1999:

"2. How Do Aircraft Affect Climate and Ozone? Aircraft emit gases and particles directly into the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere where they have an impact on atmospheric composition. These gases and particles…trigger formation of condensation trails (contrails)…”

"4.6 Cirrus Clouds. Extensive cirrus clouds have been observed to develop after the formation of persistent contrails. Increases in cirrus cloud cover (beyond those identified as line-shaped contrails) are found to be positively correlated with aircraft emissions..."

*Note: The full report is available online at: http://www.epa.gov/oms/regs/nonroad/aviation/r99013.pdf or on the EPA Website.

ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS
1. If JP-4 or JP-8 Jet Fuel consists of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons, including poly aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), naphthalene and benzene (a known carcinogen), how will increasing jet fuel emissions impact public health?

2. When will our elected officials direct our local air pollution districts to start testing our air for barium (salts), aluminum (oxides), perchlorate, cadmium, manganese, magnesium, lead, iron, tungsten, and carcinogenic poly aromatic hydrocarbons like naphthalene and benzene?

3. Are fine particles of aluminum oxide and other highly refractive metals being released by jets over our state along with aluminum coated fiberglass (Chaff)?

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The Real Estate Section: The Press Democrat - Sonoma County - December 7, 2002: "Toxic Mold Problem Spreading...Mold has become a huge legal and financial problem for homeowners and insurer, not to mention a significant health concern. Now it is turning into a big headache at commercial properties-from apartments to hotels to shopping centers..."

(My note: The rapid increase in mold could be caused by the effects of lingering jet contrails that cover our skies and keeping sunlight from reaching the earth's surface. Since there is documentation that these unmarked, non-commercial jets are flying over most of the United States on any given day, would this not impact the amount of sunlight reaching the earth? Could this be keeping normal moisture from evaporating or leave many areas experiencing higher humidity than normal, thereby causing mold problems? Why not call for an investigation of this potential problem?)

"...The fungal growth, found in damp or wet conditions, has been blamed for a number of health problems, including breathing difficulties, headaches, nausea, gastrointestinal ailments, skin rashes, several allergic reactions and neurological damage...The problem has been most severe Texas and California...But the fact that mold problems are creeping into bigger properties is spooking commercial real-estate owners and insurers..."

"...Robert Hartwig, chief economist at the Insurance Information Institute, says most insurers have reported triple-digit increases in the frequency of mold-related claims in commercial buildings over the past year...Watch for clues on property tours such as leaks, wet spots, condensation and stains or musty odors...Obtain copies of all existing indoor air quality and mold reports..."

"...Meanwhile, legislators across the country are calling for more research into mold. States including California, texas, New Jersey, Indiana and Maryland have established task forces or proposed legislation that will develop guidelines and regulations on the program..." Note that insurance policies may start excluding mold due to increasing lawsuit. In addition, the CDC is beginning to study the health effects of mold.

(Note: It should be noted that moss has been found, in the last year, growing on asphalt roofs and in rain gutters. In Mendocino County this is highly unusual due to our County usually having very low humidity. It is believed that this change is due to being almost constantly under reduced or no sunlight resulting form lingering jet contrails present on an almost daily basis and increased humidity from this process.)

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November 2000 - California State Air Resources Control Board Fact Sheet on "Children's Environmental Health Protection": "Children and Air Pollution - Children to not react the same to air pollutants as adults. Children: 1) Breathe Faster, (2) Have greater exposure to some air pollutants than do adults; and (3) Can be more susceptible to damage to their developing organs and immune systems...Toxic Air Pollutants - A list of special toxic air pollutants that may cause increased illness to infants and children..." was compiled on July 1, 2001, and is available by contacting their public information office or website: www.arb.ca.gov.

"...Each year air pollution claims upwards of 50,000 lives in the United States alone, but this and other information often fails to make its way out of the pages of scientific journals..." to the public. A review of recent studies concludes that Air Pollution Causes Asthma. "...A long-held consensus view of the health effects of air pollution-namely, that outdoor pollutants exacerbate, but do not necessarily cause the most common chronic disease of childhoods, asthma-must be re-examined in light of several recent studies...At sites...in Taiwan, Israel and California researchers have demonstrated an association between outdoor air pollution and the development of asthma in children and adults alike. These findings may help explain not only how and why asthma develops, but shed light on the cause of epidemic-like increases in its prevalence..."

"...Despite such striking relationships between exposure to air pollution and asthma aggravation, air pollution has not been regarded as a cause of the disease. Increasingly, however, recent studies have been suggesting that air pollution may, indeed, be a cause of asthma...as in the USC study of children-that ozone is the most likely cause of air pollution-related asthma..."

"...The federal Clean Air Act and the California Clean Air Act both require that an air pollution standard be set at a level that protects the health of sensitive populations (children, for example) against the adverse effects of air pollution...The ASHMOG study results suggest that the current and proposed standards should be re-examined for their adequacy in light of its findings..."

"...Although these two studies demonstrate an association between ozone exposure and development of asthma, other studies seem to implicate other pollutants...Particulate Matter-Asthma Association...Researchs found associations between asthma in children and exposures to nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, and sulfur dioxide..."

"Worth Noting: Benzene as a Cause of Lymph System Cancer - Evidence continues to accumulate that air pollution poses special, and sometimes quite grave, risks for children. A recent study in Denmark, for example, suggests that those risks may include a cancer of the lymphatic system, or lymphoma, known as Hodgkin's disease...Benzene is both a constituent of gasoline and a combustion by product..." It may also be found in jet fuel and jet fuel emissions. Studies should be undertaken to determine the impact of commercial and non-commercial jet fuel emissions on both adults and children.

"...Central nervous system symptoms-such as fatigue, restlessness, depression, memory loss, balance, difficulty sleeping, anxiety, lethargy, headache, dizziness, and change in senses...respiratory symptoms-wheezing, shortness of breath, persistent cough, and bronchitis...Anemia and easy brusing..." were related to rising concentrations of hydrogen sulfide (H2S).

"...There is little doubt that extremely fine particles-what most would call soot-causes illness and death. The number of studies demonstrating this association has increased sharply in the past several years..." Cars, trucks, buses, jet airplanes, and factories, forest burning, agricultural burning, fireplaces, backyard waste burning, are all sources of this type of pollution. Forest fires alone have been demonstrated to increase "...emergency room visits for asthma, sinusitis, upper respiratory infections, and laryngitis..."

FACT SHEET - NOVEMBER , 2001

California State Air Resources Board: "...What exactly is particulate matter? Particulate matter (PM) is a complex mixture that consists of dry solid fragments, solid cores, with liquid coatings and small droplets of liquid. These tiny particles vary greatly in shape, size and chemical composition, and can be made up of many different materials such as metals, soot, soil and dust..." These particulates may also include Chaff - Aluminum Coated Fiberglass.

"What kinds of harmful effects can PM cause? Since the small particles that make up PM10 can easily penetrate deep into the lungs...Numerous studies have found significant associations between particulate matter (PM) and the number of human deaths reported daily. Harmful health effects have resulted from both short-and long-term exposures to particulate matter. During these periods of high PM levels, scientists also observed the worsening of both asthma symptoms and acute and chronic bronchitis..."

"... Scientists have found a relationship between high PM levels and reductions in various aspects of the healthy functioning of people's lungs. The elderly and people with heart and/or lung diseases may be sensitive to the effects of PM....In California, any concentration of PM10 above the current standards may result in harmful health effects. PM 10 levels in most areas of California exceed current state PM10 standards from a few, to many times each year..."

* Fine particles billow by the millions of tons each year into the air from gasoline, diesel and jet engines, industrial smokestacks, etc. Visibility measurements from polluting industrial sources to airports reflect concentrations of these fine soot particles and other particulate matter. In more rural areas air pollution seems to be increasing. This is exacerbated by increasing non-commercial jet fuel emissions, military use of Chaff (aluminum coated fiberglass particulates), and the additional substances found in lingering jet contrails - especially black contrails that may contain, among other substances, carbon black. We are requesting that studies be conducted to determine if both non-commercial and commercial jets are increasing air pollution and particulates over Mendocino, Lake & Sonoma Counties. In addition, we are requesting studies to determine if air pollution (including acid rain), and lack of sunlight from non-commercial and commercial lingering jet contrails is impacting both public health and the health of our trees.

The interest in the type of non-commercial jet emissions is of great importance in determining their impact on our environment. There are suspicions that smoke, chaff, carbon black, barium, aluminum, manganese, and other substances are being released into our atmosphere from these jets. It is difficult to believe that the number, type, shape, color and resulting types of chemically induced clouds are all "normal" contrails just made up of ice crystals. If they were "normal" then they would have been visible historically in our respective counties and not just a more recent phenomenon.

*It should also be noted that our skies turn clear deep blue when these unmarked non-commercial jets that leave lingering contrails are not present. Since the commercial airlines fly every day - this raises serious questions about the impact of these unmarked jets.

* Increasing automobile traffic and the increasing amount of land, that is being turned into acres of grapes, also adds to this problem, due to the particulate matter resulting from burning rather than using wood chippers to reduce cuttings to mulch that can be recycled.

ASTHMA

1. The EPA website: www.epa.gov/iaq/asthma/tntroduction.html gives detailed asthma information.

2. According to the EPA "...Nearly 1 in 13 school-age children has asthma, and that rate is rising more rapidly in preschool-aged children than in any other group. Asthma is the leading cause of school absenteeism due to a chronic illness...It affects 4.8 million children. Ozone pollution may trigger asthma attacks..." What other types of air pollution trigger asthma attacks?

3. What effect is the air pollution from the experimental jet spraying program and jet exhaust emissions having on the children living here?

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