AUDIO: AMERICAN AIRLINES UNIFORMS CAUSING RASHES, OOZING BLISTERS, WORSE
American Airlines came out with new uniforms for all 70,000 of its flight attendants last September. The attendants are saying the wool or polyester uniforms are making them sick – with oozing blisters, wheezing, rashes, itchy eyes, sore throats, fatigue and vertigo. An employee call center opened in October has gotten 450 formal complaints of health problems, 350 of them from flight attendants. It’s possible that chemicals in the uniform – a dye or an adhesive – is causing the severe reactions. The airline says it has spent more than $1 million for three rounds of toxicological tests that, so far, haven’t turned up any obvious causes for the maladies.
* Uhh … peanut allergy?
* Harmful chemicals? So – made in China, then?
* Never make uniforms from ground-up fire ants, that’s the lesson here.
* Never use wool that comes from sheep grazing in northern New Jersey.
* Maybe they could wear Hazmat suits under their uniforms?
* I’m not sure I want my flight attendant to be suffering from vertigo.
* Oozing blisters, wheezing, rashes, itchy eyes, sore throats, fatigue and vertigo? Are they sure it wasn’t the chicken parmigiana?
* Meanwhile, if you took chemicals on board an airplane that caused these symptoms, you’d end up at Guantanamo.
* I think Captain Sully ought to land these uniforms in the Hudson River.
* Frankly, I was impressed that an airline would have 70,000 flight attendants. It makes me sort of proud.
* Oh, I forgot. Airlines are a service industry – they don’t manufacture things. So if course they’re doing better than manufacturing right now.
* I tell you what – whoever manufactured these uniforms has got major problems.
* Usually when you’re out shopping for clothing you don’t say, “I’m looking for something that will give me oozing blisters.” You never say that.
CLIP: The ‘symptoms’ scene from “Airplane!”
