Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
Ed Yeates Reporting ....Pressure is mounting on the airline industry to improve the quality of AIR passengers breathe inside planes.
With increasing risks from SARS and other infectious diseases - one airline has already started using a new filter developed by a Utah research group.
Come and fly aboard SARS air!
Not really. But that's probably how some world travelers feel these days worrying about coughs and sneezes in the cabins.
But some airlines are trying to change the image by stepping up the potency of air filters.
Dr. Glenn Meixell/BioXUSA: "IF YOU LOOK BACK OVER THE PAST FIVE YEARS IN TERMS OF ILLNESSES THAT PEOPLE ARE CONTRACTING AND TRANSPORTING ON AN AIRCRAFT - WE SIMPLY HAVE TO GET TO A POINT WHERE WE CHANGE HOW WE DO BUSINESS."
With FAA approval, Southwest Airlines is doing just that.
It's trying this new filter from the Utah based BioXUSA research group which uses impregnated compounds that kill bacteria and somes viruses.
Ed Yeates, KSL Science Specialist: "THE REASON I'M REQUIRED TO WEAR A WHITE COAT AND GOGGLES IN THIS LAB IS BECAUSE IT'S HERE WHERE THE FILTER MATERIAL IS TESTED. A STREAM OF AIR WITH INJECTED PATHOGENS ACTUALLY FLOWS THROUGH THE FILTER MATERIAL."
Data collected here at Nelson Labs shows a 99.97 kill ratio - mostly for bacteria and fungal growths. But future tests will use simulant viruses that closely resemble the Coronovirus family - a suspect right now for the mystery illness SARS.
Dr. Jerry Nelson, Nelson Certified Laboratories: "AND YOU CAN DETERMINE NOT JUST THE NUMBERS THAT SURVIVE BUT THE TIME FRAME IN WHICH THEY DO SURVIVE ON THE SURFACE."
And it's not just filters. Masks too will soon contain the embedded antimicrobial compounds.
Dr. Glenn Meixell/BioXUSA: "WE'RE RIGHT NOW IN PROTOTYPE PRODUCTION FOR THE MASKS AND THEY SHOULD BE AVAILABLE IN 30 TO 60 DAYS."
Pressure is also increasing on airlines to boost outside air flow into their planes. For now, it's only 50 percent outside air. The rest is recirculated from inside the cabin.
Airlines have been reluctant to increase outside air flow into cabins because it increases fuel costs. Most companies could not afford to make the change without raising ticket prices.
