The graphic (website) version of this newsletter can be accessed at:
http://pages.prodigy.net/rockaway/newsletter459.htm

Aviation Conspiracy Newsletter 
#459........................................................................December 
16,  2007 Past newsletters can be accessed at: 
http://pages.prodigy.net/rockaway/ACNewsmenu.htm  The PASSUR airport flight 
tracking system at many major U.S. airports  http://www.passur.com/sites.htm 
(you must have Java installed to view it). If you want to get the newsletter 
sent to you every week, sign up to AviationWatch. Bill Mulcahy 
rockaway@prodigy.net

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Quote of the Week:  "Our results indicate excess risks of hypertension 
related to long term noise exposure, primarily for night-time aircraft 
noise" excerpt from the "conclusions" of the European Union funded study on 
"Hypertension and Exposure to Noise near Airports"

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Communities Demand Health Impact Assessment Of Airspace Redesign Scheme!!!

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As Bill Sees It (Editorial): New Jersey Environmental Group Demands Governor 
Assess Health Impact Of FAA Plan!!! Robert Belzer, president of  New Jersey 
Citizen Against Aircraft Noise (NJCAAN), is demanding New Jersey's governor, 
Jon Corzine (picture below left), stop the implementation of the new FAA 
routing plan until there is study of the actual impacts the aircraft noise 
will have on the health of the victims in New Jersey. This plan was recently 
approved by the bi-state agency called the Port Authority. While New York 
and New Jersey governors apparently support the airspace rerouting plan, 
Connecticut's Governor Rell is fighting it!!! Gov. Corzine shares control 
over the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, along with New York's 
Governor Spitzer. The Port Authority NEVER would have approved the FAA 
scheme without these politicians support. Mr. Belzer refers to a recent 
European Union commission study that links aircraft noise to serious health 
impacts, like hypertension. These governors apparently approve of the FAA's 
phony method of determining noise impacts that does not include other 
"ambient" background noise in their distorted formula. The people of New 
Jersey should wake up to the fact, like New Yorkers have, that their 
governor  works for "special interests" and cares little for their health 
and welfare. If the FAA airspace redesign plan goes into effect this week, 
New Jersey voters should work to make Corzine a one term governor like New 
York's governor Spitzer obviously will be. Voters will have noisy planes 
over their heads to remind them who sold them out.

Congress And EPA Have Also Sold Out American's Health To The Aviation 
Industry!!! For years the EPA and the FAA have ignored the health impacts of 
aircraft noise on American citizens in order to please their aviation 
industry corporate masters. While American politicians were busy working to 
remove funding from the EPA's Office of Noise Abatement and Control the FAA 
was busy looking for ways to hide the health effects of noise pollution on 
Americans. It is no mistake that studies about the health impacts of the 
ever-expanding aviation industry monster is not being done by the U.S., but 
by other countries. It once again proves, what Americans are discovering 
more and more every day, that "our" government is control by greedy 
corporate interests which care little about our health and welfare. And it's 
getting worse as more and more of these evil corporations become 
"multi-national" with no allegiance to any country or its people and only to 
the profit margin of their spread sheets.

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European Union Commission Exposes Health Impacts Of Aircraft Noise!!! An 
increasing number of people are exposed to aircraft and road traffic noise. 
Hypertension is an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease and even 
a small contribution in risk from environmental factors may have a major 
impact on public health. The HYENA study aimed to assess the relations 
between noise from aircraft or road traffic near airports and the risk of 
hypertension. Air traffic continues to increase world-wide, and recent 
forecasts by the International Transport Association (IATA) predict an 
average annual growth in the number passengers of 4.3% until 2015. As a 
consequence the airspace is becoming crowded, in particular in the vicinity 
of airports, and pollution increases from aircraft exhaust emissions as well 
as from the associated road traffic. The study population included persons 
45-70 years old at the time of interview, with a minimum length of residence 
of five years, living near one of six major European airports (London 
Heathrow, Berlin Tegel. Amsterdam Schiphol, Stockholm Arlanda, Milan 
Malpensa and Athens Elephterios Venizelos airport). In Stockholm, the 
population living near City Airport (Bromma) was also included to increase 
the number of exposed subjects. To maximize exposure contrast, we used a 
stratified sample of the population. Read report at (you need Acrobat Reader 
installed): http://www.ehponline.org/members/2007/10775/10775.pdf

EPA Talks About Their "Unfunded" Office of Noise Abatement and Control 
(ONAC)  (from EPA website)  In the past, EPA coordinated all federal noise 
control activities through its Office of Noise Abatement and Control. In 
1981, the Administration at that time concluded that noise issues were best 
handled at the state or local government level.  As a result, the EPA phased 
out the office's funding in 1982 as part of a shift in federal noise control 
policy to transfer the primary responsibility of regulating noise to state 
and local governments.  The Noise Control Act of 1972 and the Quiet 
Communities Act of 1978, however, were not rescinded by Congress and remain 
in effect today, although essentially unfunded. Note that all federal noise 
regulations remain in effect, and are enforced by either EPA or a designated 
federal agency.  These regulations cover standards for transportation 
equipment, motor carriers, low-noise-emission products, and construction 
equipment. You can view them at the Government Printing Office Web site at: 
http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?sid=8b62aa545305455a88fd40506ad10718&c=ecfr&tpl=/ecfrbrowse/Title40/40cfrv24_02.tpl 
Editor's Note: This was the only time that an EPA office ever was 
"unfunded." It still exists although I imagine it is just some guy sitting 
in the office with a disconnected phone. That's the way the airline industry 
and their paid stooges in congress like it.

New York: ROCKLAND COUNTY NEW YORK CITIZENS TO HOLD 3rd PROTEST OF FAA'S 
PLAN TO SEND HUNDREDS OF AIRPLANES DAILY THROUGH THE HEART OF THEIR 
COMMUNITY
To: quietrockland@gmail.com
 ROCKLAND COUNTY NEW YORK CITIZENS TO HOLD 3 rd PROTEST OF FAA'S PLAN TO 
SEND HUNDREDS OF AIRPLANES DAILY THROUGH THE HEART OF THEIR COMMUNITY



·        Rally Begins at 11am Sunday, December 16, 2007

·        The Suffern Community Center, 41 Washington Ave in Village of 
Suffern - Rockland County, NY.

·        Up to 600 flights per day will be routed less than 1 mile above 
Rockland County communities on descent to Newark Liberty International 
Airport.

·        Residents are outraged that the FAA is rushing implementation ahead 
of the GAO Audit





ROCKLAND COUNTY, NY: Concerned Rockland residents will hold a 3rd rally 
Sunday to protest a federal plan to direct up to 600 new flights through the 
heart of the County, as part of a new proposed flight plan developed by the 
FAA in concert with commercial airlines.



"Having recently discovered that the FAA is looking to rush the 
implementation of the plan, Rockland County citizens en masse are organizing 
as quickly as possible to put a stop to this initiative, which threatens the 
security and quality of life of the citizens of Rockland and surrounding 
counties," said Tom Sullivan, Spokesman for the group Quiet Rockland.



"We are seeking volunteers to help us spread the word, contact elected 
officials, lobby Washington DC, support the County's litigation counsel, and 
sign paper and online petitions. We must stop the FAA from implementing this 
flawed plan," Sullivan continued.

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                                                    Important Aviation News 
Stories This Week

A four year Key action 4 Environment and Health study

1 December 2002 - 30 November 2006

The HYENA paper: 'Hypertension and Exposure to Noise near Airports - the 
HYENA study' has been accepted by Environmental Health Perspectives and is 
available online at: http://www.ehponline.org/members/2007/10775/10775.pdf

Background

Few investigators have studied health effects associated with exposure to 
aircraft noise.  The overall evidence suggests that a weak association 
exists between long-term noise exposure and high blood pressure or 
cardiovascular disease, but studies to date have shown  contradictory 
results.  There are some indications that the potential effects of noise on 
blood pressure may be mediated via stress hormones.

Previous studies have traditionally considered noise from a single specific 
source only, such as aircraft or road traffic.  Aircraft noise might be more 
annoying than road traffic noise, but findings from previous studies are 
unclear.  Subjective attitudes towards  the noise and the activities 
disturbed may modify the effect of noise quite considerably.

Several studies have shown excess risk of cardiovascular disease associated 
with air pollution.  Airports act as hotspots for both air pollution and 
noise.  Therefore, it may be important to consider exposure to ambient air 
pollution as a possible confounder/effect modifier of the association 
between community noise and high blood pressure/cardiovascular disease.  The 
main source of noise, however, tends to derive from aircraft movements, 
while much of the air pollution is associated with road transport generated 
by the airports.

Objectives

The overall project aim is to assess the impacts on cardiovascular health of 
noise generated by aircraft and road traffic.  The project will evaluate the 
modifying effects of air pollution on noise associated cardiovascular 
effects, and will analyse the difference in blood pressure resulting from 
different noise exposure patterns.  The role of annoyance and sleep 
disturbances due to noise, on blood pressure, will be assessed, and the 
impact of aircraft and road traffic noise on stress hormone levels will be 
investigated.  Acute changes in blood pressure following short-term changes 
in noise levels will be assessed.

The specific objectives are:

·         To analyse the exposure-response relationships in adults between 
long-term exposure to airport related noise and high blood pressure.

·         To evaluate the modifying effects of traffic related air pollution 
(NO2, PM) on noise associated cardiovascular risk factors and cardiovascular 
disease.

·         To analyse the difference in blood pressure resulting from 
different noise exposure patterns.

·         To assess the possible modifying effects by annoyance and sleep 
disturbances due to road and aircraft noise, on blood pressure.

·         To analyse the impact of aircraft and road traffic noise on stress 
hormone levels.

·         To analyse the effects of noise exposure on high blood pressure in 
susceptible subgroups of the population.

·         To provide scientific basis and support for guidelines for a 
European policy on noise abatement.



Methods

The project includes cross-sectional studies near major airports in Germany 
(Berlin Tegel), Greece (Athens), Italy (Milano Malpensa), the Netherlands 
(Amsterdam Schiphol), Sweden (Stockholm Arlanda) and the UK (London 
Heathrow), including a total of 6,000 study subjects.

The studies will use uniform methods for the assessment of noise exposure 
and health effects (blood pressure, ischaemic heart disease). Stress 
hormones will be determined in saliva and disturbance/annoyance will be 
investigated using questionnaires.  Exposure to air pollution will be 
assessed at selected airports.  Random effects models allowing for repeated 
measurements in selected individuals will be used to assess short-term 
changes in blood pressure following changes in noise levels.  A pooled 
analysis and an overall evaluation of the results will be undertaken.

The studies are conducted in the vicinity of airports with a wide range of 
exposures, from low to high levels of noise exposure from different sources, 
which will allow for detailed analyses of exposure-response relationships 
for the general population as well as for susceptible subgroups