[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 68 (Thursday, May 26, 1994)] [Extensions of Remarks] [Page E] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov] [Congressional Record: May 26, 1994] From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] AIRLINER CABIN AIR QUALITY ACT ______ HON. JAMES L. OBERSTAR of minnesota in the house of representatives Wednesday, May 25, 1994 Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, today I have introduced the Airliner Cabin Air Quality Act of 1994, to prohibit smoking on international flights to and from the United States. Congress banned smoking on all domestic flights of 6 hours or less in 1990. However, smoking remained permitted on U.S. carriers on international flights, and most foreign carriers serving the United States permit smoking as well. On May 18, 1994, the Subcommittee on Aviation, which I chair, held a full day of hearings on airliner cabin air quality. While there are many concerns about the overall quality of the air, the single most effective--and cost-free--action that we can take is to ban smoking on international flights. Most persuasive to the subcommittee at this hearing, as at our previous one, was the testimony of flight attendants, who are forced to spend their working lives aboard aircraft. Our flight attendant witnesses detailed ailments which they and their colleagues incur in the small, enclosed, smoke-filled cabin environment. They described health problems ranging from eye, nose and throat irritation, headache, nausea, dizziness, blurred vision, shortness of breath, and heart palpitations to permanent disability and even death from the occupational hazards of their jobs in airplanes. Nonsmoking flight attendants are suffering and dying from diseases common to smokers-- simply from working in the smoking section. There is also a safety issue involved. Flight attendant witnesses showed us photographs of cigarette butts all over the floor of the airplane--a potential fire hazard. They testified to passengers falling asleep in their seats, dropping lighted cigarettes on the floor--a clear fire risk. Equally outrageous is the plight of children stuck in the smoking section with their parents. And businessmen who must be at their peak when they arrive at their destination, but stagger off, jet-lagged and debilitated by smoke-caused allergies and sensitivities. And pleasure travellers whose vacations are ruined by smoke-induced illnesses. And the millions of nonsmoking passengers who cannot really get away from the smoke, no matter where they sit in the airplane. Mr. Speaker, the International Civil Aviation Organization [ICAO] has proposed that nations end smoking on aircraft in 1996. This is a proposal only, and unless all countries agree, passengers and flight attendants will continue to suffer, and airlines forced to go nonsmoking will maintain that they are at a competitive disadvantage. Airlines serving the United States, whether carrying the U.S. flag or some other, would under my bill be smoke-free. There would thus be no competitive disadvantage between U.S. and foreign airlines, and I believe that the airlines themselves as well as the vast majority of their employees and passengers will welcome enactment of this bill. ____________________