Was the air inside an airplane cleaner in the days when smoking was allowed?

I`ve often thought that smoking when you are sick might actually be good for you. With all the harmful things in cigarettes going into your body, that cigarette smoke must do some pretty nasty things to all those tiny bacteria and viruses running around inside of us.

a reply to: Tardacus

The dutch used tobacco smoke to treat coughs (makes sense).

There is a lot more in the historical document I posted about how tobacco smoke was used. For awhile it was a panacea until doctors figured out that most of the good came from the nicotine and that nicotine in sufficient dosage could be poisonous.

Tired of Control Freaks

a reply to: TiredofControlFreaks

So if Ebola ever becomes airborne will they re introduce smoking on planes .

I get your point as tobacco has many uses, and I bet (in my non scientist way) in the old days all the tobacco on planes probably kept flu and colds from spreading as much as they do now.

Still, I'd hate to see smoking return to closed public places. I spent a lot of my childhood on trans Atlantic flights and the smoke was as nauseating as the alcoholics were entertaining

Open the damn air vents already and never mind the fuel costs! Seriously, the air on planes now is like huffing a mix of dirty underwear and plastic.

a reply to: igloo

I agree that ventilation would cure alot of ills - including excessive smoke. With modern ventilation and filtration, there is little reason to return to the days of irritating smoke concentrations.

www.charlestondailymail.com...

As both chambers of the state Legislature are advancing bills that could undo smoking bans in places such as buildings owned by veterans groups and bars with limited video gaming licenses, another tobacco battle could soon begin in the Statehouse. - See more at: www.charlestondailymail.com...

Tired of Control Freaks

Well... yeah... but... the airlines were able to cut a lot of money off of their bottom line over the past 40 years.

And I am quite sure they passed along that savings to the customer... right? So it's totally worth it! Cause only like a couple people died right? Imagine the millions of people that could've died from possibly having to smell cigarette smoke from time to time. Thanks to the airlines and the no smoking in buildings, countless lives were saved! Yay! Goooooo PLANET!!!

a reply to: 3n19m470

LOL - all for the goal of a tobacco-free world! ain't prohibition grand?

I would like to take this discussion a lot further and discuss the relationship between smoke-free and asthma and the relationship with mites.

I am going to be looking at california to make my point. California is the very heart of the anti-smoker world and started the smoking ban craze in 1995. So we are going to be looking at the massive effect on "health" status of the population.

Lets see what a tobacco-free world really looks like

Tired of Control Freaks

originally posted by: Krazysh0t
a reply to: TiredofControlFreaks

You do know that the answer to this problem is to just have the airlines put the air vents back in?

Air vents? There have not been air intake vents on commercial airliners since cabin pressurization came about (with the first flight of the Boeing 307 in 1938.) All of the air you breathe on a modern jet aircraft enters the engine, where it is compressed (from 25kPa to >250kPa. It is then bled off from this compressor section of the engine, usually at a pressure interface to avoid internal flow disruption. This really hot air is then mixed in the air conditioner pack and enters the cabin. Any excess air exits through one or more outflow valves, usually located in the rear pressure bulkhead of the fuselage. This bleed air is also used to provide ice protection to parts of the aircraft such as the wings, tail, and nacelles, and to provide warm air in a space between the fuselage and the interior cabin wall to help warm the cabin in the -30C ambient environment
BTW, the new Boeing 787 has a different pressurization system, using pumps to compress the air.

a reply to: F4guy

well thank you for that information - it appears that 40 years of no-smoking influenced a change in the design of the air handling system in airplanes.

I guess we are all stuck with really bad air now!

Tired of Control Freaks

originally posted by: TiredofControlFreaks
a reply to: F4guy

well thank you for that information - it appears that 40 years of no-smoking influenced a change in the design of the air handling system in airplanes.

I guess we are all stuck with really bad air now!

Tired of Control Freaks

Actually all domestic flights have been smoke free for 25 years aand the 787 change was only a change in compression method, from bleed air to pumps and was done sololy for improved fuel consumption, due to a more
efficient secondary power extraction, transfer,and usage.

a reply to: F4guy

I am sorry but you are being too technical for my brain. Are you saying that there was never any way to introduce fresh air into the cabin?

Tired of Control Freaks

originally posted by: TiredofControlFreaks
a reply to: F4guy

I am sorry but you are being too technical for my brain. Are you saying that there was never any way to introduce fresh air into the cabin?

Tired of Control Freaks

The air that comes in the cabin is exactly the same air that is outside. It has just been squeezed a lot so you can breathe. Actually, you could breathe at 39,000 feet with no pressurization but it wouldn't do you any good since the partial pressure in the lungs (about 150 mmHg) and the arteries (80-100 mm Hg) would be higher than the partial pressure of oxygen around you (about 30 mm Hg) So you would end up oxygenating the atmosphere. For a little while. Humans can do ok with about 80 mm Hg, but less than that you get addled, then unconscious, then dead. Flying a bunch of dead passengers around is not a good business model, so you have to squeeze oxygen into the lungs of passengers by pressurizing the cabin (or making the pax continually wear a mask with 100% O2. Part of the air in the cabin is recirculated because it facilitates temperature and humidity control, but even the recirculated part originated from the same stuff as is outside the window. The pilot can control the amount of pressurization and the rates of climb and descent of cabin altitude, but cannot (except on some Frogjet (Airbus) models, vary the recirculation ratios.

This is an issue rarely spoken about which affects the health and safety of every person who travels by plane. The lies, deception and collusion which run throughout our legislative representatives in Washington due to the powerful aviation lobby of Boeing and Airbus. The aviation establishment has successfully hidden this health danger from the American people since the early 1950s. Many passengers are completely unaware of aviation history. It was during 1963 that airlines and manufacturers quietly switched air sources for aircraft.

That year aircraft moved from a fresh air source from separate fuselage intake valves to contaminated air that is now taken in from the engines, and is called, "bleed air." The next huge danger began in 1978 during airline deregulation. During this year that the crucial engine wet seals maintenance replacements were extended from 5,000 flight miles to every 30,000 flight miles. Ever since this time the contamination of the breathing air, causing visible and invisible fume events, went from 2% worldwide to where we are now. Today we have fume events daily and around the world, all airlines, and practically all aircraft, needlessly endangering the health of thousands of passengers and crew by this blatant maintenance and construction negligence.

Anyone who has ever come forward to speak out about this problem has faced character assassination, ridicule, and even termination from their airline careers. Countless injured people continue to suffer in silence while others have lost their careers by becoming permanently disabled or are dying due to having been exposed to these neurotoxins. The few brave doctors and scientists who have risked their medical careers to go on record refer to this health condition as Aerotoxic Syndrome, the new "asbestos of the airline industry."

These fume event exposures create dangerous bodily reactions which include: violent regurgitations, severe migraines, inflamed nerve endings of the brain, disorientation, incapacitation, blurred vision, respiratory distress, heart spasms, memory loss and compromised cognitive brain functions. Cells and nerves become damaged, often permanently. If visible fume events are frequent or if for instance crews and frequent flyers are constantly exposed to even low level, low dose residual toxic levels, it can lead to chronic sickness which does not go away. Each in-breath of contaminated cabin air is a new dose.

Those who develop the chronic sickness and continue to fly have either became disabled or died of sudden cardiac arrest as the toxins have moved into their heart tissues, causing Lymphocytic Myocarditis, whereby the toxins caused inflammation of the heart muscle. These neurotoxins were found in the heart tissues during autopsies of deceased Aerotoxic Syndrome diagnosed pilots and cabin crew. (ref: Dr Michel Mulder of the Netherlands.) Specific protein enzymes are found at highly elevated levels, which are only present if a person has been exposed to these toxins. (ref: Dr Mohamed Abou-Donia of Duke University Medical Center.)

This is a highly important story which affects us all: passengers, families, the elderly, babies, pregnant mothers-to-be, and crew, with pilots in danger of becoming incapacitated in flight ! This is of huge importance to cabin crew and frequent flyers in particular, as they are the largest high-risk group for this disorder. When you travel on an airplane and suddenly, for no reason become violently “air sick”, or after coming home you have headaches, disorientation, migraines, flu-like symptoms and fatigue, you could be suffering from a poisoning. The airlines try to tell you that this is just “Jet Lag.” But more often than not this is an attempt to cover up the real cause. Airlines have been hiding this information from passengers and cabin crew for over 60 years. Neurotoxins in the cabin air, such as i.e.: TCP Organophosphates and other so-called (VOCs) Volatile Organic Compounds that are neuro-toxic and cancerous. These chemicals can lead to chronic illness, disable you mentally and physically and even cause death.

Aerotoxic Syndrome: This condition was first diagnosed and named by the French medical scientist Dr. Jean- Christophe Balouet on October 20, 1999. This was done in collaboration with his fellow scientists, Dr. Harry Hoffman and Professor Chris Winder. There are presently over 250,000 cabin crew and passengers worldwide who are now diagnosed with this type of health condition.

Senator Dianne Feinstein introduced an amendment in 2010 to research this issue. It has now been six years since the order to move this legislation from the token research category into action with implementation. Passenger rights and flight attendant groups have begun to rally with a petition and writing campaign which will place pressure of our legislative representatives to take action with a first ever Cabin Air Quality bill for America. This would include: mandatory chemical sensors placed on all current bleed air aircraft, a return to the safer original 5,000 flight miles engine wet seal replacement window from 1978 and a requirement for all future aircraft designs to be the previous safer non-bleed air design which is currently in use with today's new Boeing 787.

We can be the change in aviation’s future. Yet, we can not do it without your help. Our future children deserve airline travel that is both safe and healthy and will not make them sick while on-board. Now is the time for action. Please join us today and contact your local senator or congressman with a demand for action. This Cabin Air Quality bill is the right thing to do for America today.

I will take questions on this post If any passengers or crew have encountered a fume event and are in need of more information.

a reply to: FumeEvent

Can you tell me....was the ban on smoking in airplanes a deliberate ploy to be able to shut down the clean air and save fuel?

Tired of Control Freaks