Pregnancy and Air Travel -Reply

[FRAMEP@ORAU.GOV]

Hi dee ho neighbors:

The concern might be related to the fact that sometime around 1990,
the Department of Transportation submitted a report to Congress that
dealt in part with the risks to airline passengers from cosmic rays.
The recommendations in this report were carried by the Associated
Press and got a fair bit of play in the media. As I understand it,
the report suggested that the risk from cosmic rays was comparable to
the risk from the exposure to a smoke-filled cabin (hey, I'm just
relaying what the report apparently said, no harangue about effects
at low doses is required  here). This happened about the time
Congress was banning smoking on certain flights. Again, as I
understand it, the report made special note of the risks during the
first trimester. Another concern was not the exposures during routine
flights but the risks associated with major solar flares of the sort
that come along once a decade. 

I have an article from one magazine that came out after the
congressional report encouraging people to write to congress
insisting that radiation alert systems be installed on all planes.

Paul Frame
Professional Training Programs
ORISE
framep@orau.gov