Pilots ‘dropping like flies’

WASHINGTON - Former Air Force and Navy fighter pilots are calling on the military to begin early cancer screenings for aviators due to information from studies of a nearly 16 percent increase in deaths from the disease they suspect may be tied to radiation emitted from within the cockpit. “We are dropping like flies in our 50s from aggressive cancers,” retired Air Force Col. Eric Nelson, a former F-15E Strike Eagle weapons officer, told Tribune News Service. He cited prostate and esophageal cancers, lymphoma, and glioblastomas that have hit pilots he’s known, commanded or flew with. Nelson’s prostate cancer was detected at age 48, just three months after retirement. Over his career he’s accumulate more than 2,600 flying hours. In July, McClatchy newspapers reported on an AF study that reviewed the risk for prostate cancers among fighter pilots and new Veterans Health Administration data showing the rate of reported cases of prostate cancers annually among veterans using the VA health care system has risen almost 16 percent since FY 2000. The AF study also looked at cockpit exposure and found that “pilots have greater environmental exposure to ultraviolet and ionizing radiation … (and they also) have unique intra-cockpit exposures to non-ionizing radiation.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported that exposure to some types of radiation can cause cancer, however to date there has been no link established between the specific radiation emitted from radars on these advanced jets and the illnesses pilots are now seeing. What frustrates some pilots is that the government has looked into the connection between military service and cancer rates for years, with mixed results. A 2009 study looked at cancer rates among service members from 1990-2004 and reported that “prostate cancer rates in the military were twice those in the general population, and breast cancer rates were 20% to 40% higher.” But a 2011 study found no significant difference in prostate cancer rates between pilots and non-pilots in the military. None of the pilots who spoke with McClatchy said a greater risk of cancer would have kept them from flying. They said the military should acknowledge the risk and put additional protections in place for the next generation of aviators. It’s unlikely the services would retrofit aircraft to add protections against the sources of cockpit radiation, which may be difficult to isolate. “If we can’t change it, we need to be responsible and send an alert that people being exposed need to be screened earlier,” Crosby said. “If it’s caught early enough, there’s a lot of procedures that cannot just treat (prostate cancer) but cure it.” (Source: Tribune News Service 08/18/19)