Pregnancy and Air Travel

[rcmannix@uci.edu (Richard C. Mannix)]

I recently received an inquiry from a woman who indicated that her
obstetrician had told her to avoid air travel during the first trimester of
her pregnancy due to the increased radiation exposure attendant to this form
of travel. (She is not exposed to radiation occupationally.) From previous
Radsafe postings, it seems that the total dose of radiation received during
a cross-country air flight is quite small (on the order of 10 millirems or
so, round trip). I am curious as to whether anyone else has received an
inquiry of this nature, and whether this type of instruction (avoidance of
air travel by pregnant women in the first trimester) is becoming
commonplace. Or does the woman who spoke with me just have a particularly
radiation-phobic physician?

By the way, it seems that there are considerably greater air travel-related
risks for pregnant women, such as lugging heavy suitcases, increased
physiological stress due to jet lag, etc. 

Rick Mannix
Univ. of Calif., Irvine
EH&S Office
rcmannix@uci.edu