IS this TRUE!!!?? if so, THIS IS SCARY!!

[Sheryl]

Hey Phyl and everyone - Maybe it's Massachusetts!!  Having lived here almost 60 (not for nine more days) years - more than half on Cape Cod (which they are doing research on the upper Cape - near Otis ANG), both my husband and I have benign brain tumors - his was a meningioma which had to be removed and I'm still waiting and watching on my 9th cranial nerve schwannoma.  On top of that, myself and two neighbors have had breast cancer and one had colon cancer.  There may be more but I've lost track of some of the people in the neighborhood.  I'm sure there's a genetic predisposition but I am wondering more and more about environmental factors. 
Sheryl

[Nancy Drew]

I have doubts about the noise and cell phone theories.  I went to a few concerts while in college, and I listen to loud music occasionally.  I hardly ever use a cell phone.  I think if the noise and cell phone theories were true there were be so many cases that it would be more like 1 in a 100 instead of 1 in 100,000 cases.  Just my opinion.  I agree that living is hazardous to one's health.  It would be nice to know what is going on, though, that causes this thing to appear.  With all of the advances in medicine, I have no doubts that one day we will know.  Hopefully it will lead to prevention.  I have a small AN (5mm x 4mm) and so far I am watch and wait.  No growth shown in second MRI.  I feel blessed so far, but I am still fairly young (47), and I know there is the possibility that it will grow.  Have decided not to worry about it for now, but sometimes it is hard.  Always on my mind literally!  Best wishes to all of you who are dealing with surgery, radiation and watch and wait issues.  Nancy

[Palace]

Hello all you "Adorable Newbies,"  (new definition of AN)


Studies.....We can compare notes and do our own conclusion.  You know........one day "coffee" is listed as bad for everyone and then the day after report is that it is good for you.  (everything in moderation, you know)  Big Sigh!  For what it is worth, I was born and lived very near the Burbank, CA. airport until my nineteeth birthday.  I left at night and never to return.  I would like to know why I have this darn thing, other than that I have always been extremely healthy.  (knock on wood)  This thing is the "pits" with so many symptoms. (extra large brain tumor)  Everyone has my sympathy, for sure.



Good luck to all of you,



Palace

[Palace]

PS

I grew up across the street from "high-volocity" radiation, I suppose.  There was a huge empty lot with high voltage towers; nineteen years living there! 



Palace

[Palace]

Oh well, strong coffee is scary too.  Maybe sugar and strong coffee can cause tumors.  The news changes every single week.  Oh, this is good for you and that isn't.  We need to do things in moderation.  I still wonder what gave me this AN thing.  It drives me crazy that I don't know why I have it.  (soon to be zapped, on the 29th, 30th of Nov. and Dec. 1st.

HAPPY NEW YEAR FOR US ALL COMING SOON,



Palace

[marystro]

My new PCP (I need one now to facilitate local on-going monitoring of AN with Stanford as remote) said it could be modern day "discovery bias".  I think that was the term he used?  Meaning more means (MRI, CT, etc.) to "discover" or identify diseases whereas years ago patients had them but might not know what they were or died of.  My Stanford doctors, new PCP and many others do not think cell phone is the culprit.

Mary

[Larry]

There are a number of posts on this site that attempted to find a "common cause" but I think that as with the current array of research being done, it is likely to be caused by any one of a number of factors.

cell phones (analogue not digital)
loud noise
bad gene /s
Exposure to microwaves,
etc

I don't think that we will ever get to the crux of the matter in our lifetime unfortunately.

laz

[Ingy M]

I have been a Flight attendant for 18 years. Need I say more?
I believe ALL my ear problems stem from engine noise and pressure changes. Radiation is the big culprit. Lots of ratiation on those airplanes!
Flight attendants have a high rate among them for uterine, breast and thyroid cancer. Prostate and brain cancer is common among pilots. I just had my thyroid removed. My endocrinologist believes it was a result of radiation exposure. Wouldn't be surprised if radiation is now the root to many health problems. Some studies have been done which indicate that the radiation from Chernobyl is just reaching us now...20 years later.  Hmmmm?

ingy

[Derek]

I have been a Flight attendant for 18 years. Need I say more?
I believe ALL my ear problems stem from engine noise and pressure changes. Radiation is the big culprit. Lots of ratiation on those airplanes!
Flight attendants have a high rate among them for uterine, breast and thyroid cancer. Prostate and brain cancer is common among pilots. I just had my thyroid removed. My endocrinologist believes it was a result of radiation exposure. Wouldn't be surprised if radiation is now the root to many health problems. Some studies have been done which indicate that the radiation from Chernobyl is just reaching us now...20 years later.  Hmmmm?

ingy

Hi 'Ingy'...

You have my sincere sympathy re your health problems particularly if your occupation has been a major contributory factor.

Are you aware of  whether the unions and other organisations representing the interests of airline personnel and indeed the interests of airline passengers have any data, statistics and evidence to support what you are indicating?

Just wondered how people like me, with a diagnosed 2cm AN, who very rarely use air transport and who do not knowingly come into contact with radiation, also end up with an acoustic neuroma?

Regards

Derek

[Ingy M]

Hi Derek,

Many years ago, our Canadian government and military started a study on the amounts of radiation on an airplane. Several flight attendanta and pilots were to carry a small glass vial of liquid. The more bubbles present in the liquid the higher the radiation. This study went on for I think about 3 months and then abruptly stopped. The only results we (Flight attendant) were told of by the company was that the results found that levels were higher at the window seat, Cockpit (directly behing the satallite dish in the nose), and at high altitudes. High level routes were Hong Kong and other northern routes. Our union at the time told us that the study was discontinued because the levels were found to be far too high and the cost to the airline industry would be incredible. The actual levels were never published.
What does that tell ya? Let me just say that the only good thing about flying is that it gets you from one point to another fast. That's it.

http://www.pparc.ac.uk/Nw/Aircraft.asp I just found this.  I didn't read all of it, but this is along the same lines of what we did on our aircraft.
http://dwarmstr.blogspot.com/2006/04/airplane-radiation-graph-with-geiger.html
one more edit...
I had gotten my hearing checked several times during my career. Way back when, it showed I already had a reduction in my hearing. Would I try to get compensation for my hearing loss? Probobly not.  I could never prove that it was caused by flying. However, I believe it was.

ingy

[Mark]

Hi Ingy,

I was reading the exchange between you and Derek re: radiation risk associated flying. I had always been aware that the levels of exposure were higher at altitude, but not significantly above the amount of Rads given in an X ray. Obviously constant exposure such as a pilot or flight attendant receives is worthy of study. The second link of the UK study with Virgin Airlines was dated 2000, since that was 7 years ago I assume that it was finished. Do you know where we can find the results of that research?

Of more significant interest would be support of your claims that people working in airplanes have a dramatically higher incidence of different types of cancer. A study of the exposure levels is not very meaningful to me unless that translates into a undesirable outcome, i.e. increased illness. This would be a standard epidemological study that if there were suspicions or theories I would expect any one of a number of health agency's in the world ( NIH in the US) or teaching medical centers would have explored this issue at some point. My caution is that we should be able to document a higher incidence of occurrence in a specific population before making claims of what a cuase might be.

This has certainly peaked my curiosity since I am a frequent flyer and certainly don't want to have anything generate a reoccurrence of my AN. I also don't consider my self naive and recognize there are "agendas" in the world, but I think Oliver Stone style conspiracy allegations rarely play out. So while I certainly would in no way challenge the reality of this issue as a health risk I would look at it  in the same light I consider the "cell phone causes AN's " debate, which is until you can demonstrate an increase in the number of AN's diagnosed to begin with ( which I haven't seen a study to support) how can one start assigning causal factors.

That would be my two cents, but I'll certainly see if I can find some research out there that would be definitive on this issue.

Mark

[Mark]

OK, here are some links that may be of some use to the "risk of radiation exposure in flying" discussion. Because inquiring minds want to know 

The last one is the most relevant. At a minimum , it would be very inaccurate to say this issue hasn't been studied by a lot of different folks

mark

http://www.iswap.org/InflightRadiation.htm

http://www.cosis.net/abstracts/COSPAR04/00878/COSPAR04-A-00878.pdf

http://www.jlab.org/div_dept/train/rad_guide/effects.html

http://www.hpa.org.uk/publications/HPM/summer_2006.pdf

http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:D8FDAWrBsb8J:www.hpa.org.uk/publications/HPM/summer_2006.pdf+radiation+exposure+from+flying+causing+health+outcomes&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=22&gl=us

This might be the most useful
http://www.aviation-health.com/news/browse.php?load=ors.htm

[Ingy M]

Mark,

 I certainly wasn't trying to make a claim towards one theory or another.  My experience with this "inflight study" was 15 yrs ago.
The issue hadn't come up again until my doctor recently mentioned it to me when I had my thyroid removed. I doubt a study has been done on occurance rates of cancer with crew, I don't know. It sure would be interesting.  All I know is that I feel 100% better since I hung up my wings.
Whether an AN can develop from engine noise...who knows?

ingy

[Mark]

Hi Ingy,

I thought the issue you raised was very relevant and not one I had considered previously and while I would have no where near the exposure you have had as a flight attendant, I do fly more than most people so I thought it was worth pursuing. I posted the links to provide some credible studies to the question as I am never comfortable with blanket assumptions about this causes that without them.

If you looked at the last link I posted from Aviation Health there are references to about 10 studies on the subject including a couple from Air Canada which may be the one you were referencing. In general the consensus is that a) it is an issue that needs continued study b) there might be some statistical risk of increased skin and breast cancers, but not clear and c) more recent studies suggest little to no statistical increase over general population rates of occurrence. So, there are clearly some differences of opinion that make it a issue worth consideration and I appreciate you're raising it.

Cancer issue aside, I definitely feel better when I get out of a plane in every aspect, so I totally agree with that 

Mark