Fear Mongering?, page 1

From CNN I picked up this story about toxins in airplanes.

From the story it is clear that the journalist is interested in promoting the fact that toxins are found in airplanes, and that they probably originate in the fuel and some sort of fault with the fuel lines that causes the fumes to enter the airconditioning system of an aircraft.

CNN news video

They find traces of Tricresyl phosphate on the back of a seat but alas not in the air. This is explained as probably being causes by a previous air pollution event having left traces on the seat.

Reason for this post is that I find this type of journalism very one-sided and with a clear aim of pointing a finger in a specific direction.

As it happens Tricresyl Phosphate is used in a number of places (apart from jet fuel as claimed by the journalist in his in depth investigation):

Tricresyl phosphate is used as a plasticizer in nitrocellulose, acrylate lacquers, varnishes, and in polyvinyl chloride. It is a flame retardant in plastics and rubbers. It is used as a gasoline additive as a lead scavenger for tetra-ethyl lead.[2] It is a hydraulic fluid and a heat exchange medium. Exploiting its hydrophobic properties, it is used in waterproofing of materials. It is a solvent for extractions, a solvent for nitrocellulose and other polymers. It is also used as an AW additive and EP additive in lubricants, and in hydraulic fluids.[

It is in fact used in fuel BUT ALSO as a flameretardent in palstic and rubbers - which would be a good idea on an airplane (one might suspect).

The in depth analysis done by the journalist finds TCP in the places where one would expect to find it and he also has to acknowledge that the quantity found was not enough to be concerned about.

But still.......

I just thought you'd like a conspiracy tread that exposed the journalists trying to instill fear rather than the usual ones about TheMan trying to hold you down.