Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential health impacts of repeated exposure to contaminated cabin air on aircrew.

In 2024, the UK independent advisory Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment (COT) published its latest statement on aircraft cabin air quality following a request from the Department for Transport. This followed a COT statement published in 2007, and a position paper published in 2013.

Overall, the latest COT statement concluded that the concentrations of the chemical contaminants (organophosphates, volatile organic compounds including as mixtures, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide) reported in aircraft cabin air are unlikely to cause adverse health effects in aircrew following acute or long-term exposures.

The 2024 statement on statement on aircraft cabin air quality is available at the following link:

https://cot.food.gov.uk/Statement%20on%20Aircraft%20Cabin%20Air%20Quality