Smoke toxicity of common aircraft carpets

The smoke toxicity of three carpets commonly available for use in commercial aircraft was determined by ignition in a specially designed smoke apparatus. Rats were exposed for 15 min to three different fuel loads, on a weight-to-volume basis. Evaluation was by mortality, time of useful function (TUF), and unconsciousness. No deaths were noted with carpets A or C at 64 mg/l or 128 mg/l fuel load concentration; at 256 mg/l, 42% mortality resulted from carpet A and 4.5% with carpet C. Exposure to carpet B resulted in a mortality of 4.3%, 72.5%, and 100% at the three concentrations. The TUF data and time of unconsciousness correlated closely with the results of the mortality, but were much more sensitive. These studies indicate that a potential severe hazard exists with some types of carpet, and further research is needed to identify and eliminate these materials from aircraft interiors.