Instead, she offered to gather the samples herself. While there, she was asked if she could arrange for a pilot to help with the project. She was temporarily displaced from her office due to construction and ended up working out of the TPMF building temporarily. Christina Hall, an aerospace physiologist with the Human Performance Optimization Flight, came across the project by chance. Samples were taken after a volunteer wore an air pump for eight hours and participated in a two hour flight. Air and swipe samples were determined to be the best indicators of whether exposure was taking place and if present, how harmful it is. (Courtesy photo)The generation of hexavalent chromium in the engine begged the question of whether pilots were being exposed to it in the air or through contact inside the cockpit. Hall volunteered to be the test subject in an investigation, looking into the potential exposure to carcinogens for personnel working with fighter jets. Christina Hall, a Human Performance Optimization Flight aerospace physiologist, displays her pre-flight gear at Kadena Air Base, Japan, Jan. There’s a potential contact and inhalation hazard over the course of eight hours.” Air and Swipe Samples Utilized “Hexavalent chromium has been identified by the Occupational Safety Health Administration as being a potential carcinogen. “Once it gets oxidized and reacts with calcium and magnesium that come from the engine, it creates this more hazardous part of hexavalent chromium, which is the concern,” she said. Madeleine Kallerud, the occupational health element chief for the Bioenvironmental Engineering Flight. Regular chromium is often used in anti-corrosion paint, which is used by General Electric on some of the aircraft parts they provide to Kadena Air Base, explained 1st Lt. They then turned to the Human Performance Optimization Flight and the Bioenvironmental Engineering Flight - their brother flights from the OMRS - to collect the samples needed for analyzing. KADENA AIR BASE, Japan - In 2020, the Air Force Medical Readiness Agency, began investigating whether there was possible exposure to carcinogens for personnel working with fighter jets, specifically to hexavalent chromium, a carcinogen created out of regular chromium.Īs a consulting agency for all of the Pacific Air Force, the Theatre Prevention Medicine Flight out of the 18th Operational Medical Readiness Squadron, were tasked to assist with the research.
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