Pregnancy and Air Travel

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

My thanks to all of you who provided input on the subject of "Pregnancy and
Air Travel".

What I told the woman who contacted me was that her obstetrician undoubtedly
considers it his utmost duty to do everything in his power to make sure that
she has a healthy baby. In so doing, he is advising her to avoid all
"unnecessary" risks, regardless of how trivial some of them may be. I told
her that while the risk to her unborn child due to radiation exposure during
air travel in the first trimester is very, very small, it is probably not
nonexistent. (This is in keeping with the comments of D. Lee Beidelman, who
mentioned the  increase in radiation dose rates during solar proton events.)
My advice to her was to travel by air during her pregnancy only when it is
necessary to do so (for her job, etc.), but to avoid taking unnecessary
trips. I told her that even though the risk due to radiation exposure is
very, very small, it would probably be best to avoid the other stresses
related to cross-country air travel, such as the lifting of heavy baggage,
jet lag, poor air quality in the airplane, unhealthful ( and un-tasty) food,
air turbulence, etc.

By the way, she provided me with the name of her obstetrician, and I will be
sharing the insights of you Radsafers with him.

Thanks again.

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