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Landmark legal case will probe the link between Parkinson's disease and insecticide sprays used on long-haul flights

EXCLUSIVE MATTHEW BENNS •
The Daily Telegraph •
December 09, 2013 12:00AM

Former airline steward says disease has left him in agony
He appeared in Qantas ad while serving for 27 years
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LONG-haul flight attendants who have been forced to spray insecticide through aircraft cabins every time they landed in Australia fear the chemicals may have given them Parkinson's disease.

And experts have warned any frequent international flyer exposed to repeated doses of insecticide within an enclosed aircraft cabin could also face the same risk. ...

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Flight Attendant Links Airline Insecticide Use to His Parkinson’s


(Beyond Pesticides, December 10, 2013) A former steward for Australian-based Quantas airlines is suing the Australian government claiming that frequent insecticide use in airplane cabins resulted in his Parkinson’s disease diagnosis. Australia is among 49 countries that require pesticide spraying on some or all flights. Pesticide use on flights into the United States is not required, but is permitted under international law. (See here for a breakdown of pesticide use in American-based airlines, and here for information from the U.S. Department of Transportation on pesticide use in aircrafts.)

airline pesticide useBrett Vollus, former Quantas airline steward, worked for the company for 27 years until this past May when he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s and a malignant brain tumor. ...