AirManager – Filtration System Could Stop Spread of Germs on Planes

A revolutionary new air filter could help reduce the spread of the H1N1 virus and other illnesses among passengers on board commercial airline flights, British researchers say. The aerospace giant BAE Systems has joined forces with Quest International, a small company based in Cheadle, near Manchester, England, to develop a machine that destroys up to 99.9 percent of infectious viruses and bacteria as well as pollutants that can circulate in the confines of an aircraft, especially on long-haul flights.

The device, called AirManager, uses a controlled electric field to filter out and destroy any airborne particles or germs as they pass through an aircraft’s air conditioning system, emitting only clean, sterilized air.

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US Military Halts Shipment of Deadly Toxins

U.S. Military leaders have suspended some activities at biological research laboratories to review safety rules for some of the world’s deadliest germs and toxins, including how they are shipped through civilian delivery services.

Defense officials said the action is part of a larger review ordered when a researcher at an Army laboratory apparently committed suicide last month after being told he would be charged in the 2001 anthrax attacks that killed five people in the United States.

Navy and Air Force officials told The Associated Press on Thursday that they are temporarily halting shipments of dangerous biological agents to and from their medical and research labs.

They also said that during the review, they will not allow anyone to handle such materials inside their labs unless the employee is enrolled in a special program to do so or is monitored by someone who is enrolled.

The Army has six, Navy five and Air Force two labs where biomedical research is done, and employees work with a range of dangerous materials such as anthrax and germs that cause Avian flu and encephalitis.

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