Airlines to issue DVT alert 
   Ministers order blood-clot warnings with tickets 

   Airlines will be ordered to hand out health warnings with tickets
   for long-haul flights as the Government acts to end the scandal
   of deaths and injuries caused by deep vein thrombosis (DVT),
   also known as 'economy class syndrome'. Despite repeated
   denials by airlines, the Government is now convinced there is
   enough evidence to link potentially lethal blood clots with hours
   spent in cramped plane seats. 

   The Observer can also reveal that the industry-approved body
   representing passenger interests has told the Government there
   is a direct link between DVT and long-haul flights, contradicting
   the airlines themselves. 

   In a document written for officials involved in the Department of
   Transport's aviation review, the Air Transport Users Council
   (AUC) said the risk is of 'great concern'. 

   'There appears to be sufficient evidence to suggest a relationship
   between long-haul flying and DVT,' says the document,
   submitted to the Government in April. 'It may be attributable to
   being seated for a long time, but may also be related to aspects
   of the cabin environment.' 

   It is the first time an organisation so closely linked to the airline
   industry has made such a direct association between the two
   issues. 

   'The results of this research are necessary to allow the
   Department of Health to issue definitive information on the level
   of risk and authoritative guidance on action to reduce the risk,' it
   says. 

   Campaigners seized on the developments as evidence that a
   'conspiracy of silence' on DVT is beginning to break down. 'It is
   about time all those organisations involved in this came clean,'
   said John Smith, Labour MP for the Vale of Glamorgan, who has
   led a House of Commons campaign on DVT after a constituent's
   son died from a blood clot soon after a 16-hour flight home from
   his honeymoon in Hawaii. 

   'This problem is no respecter of age or health - it could be killing
   thousands of people a year. We just don't know. We are talking
   about a major public health problem - we need to know the
   answers now, not in 10 years' time.' 

   kamal.ahmed@observer.co.uk

   Kamal Ahmed, political editor 
   Sunday 5 August 2001
   The Observer 

   "The Observer" - English Sunday broadsheet

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  Evidence file for - "Our advance warning - September 2000"

  http://www.perceptions.couk.com/uef/fertility.html#caution   


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