"Foot Concerns Exposed In Airport Security Lines"

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

7 On Your Side Investigates
Foot Concerns Exposed In Airport Security Lines
KGO-TV Ch 7 (ABC), San Francisco (CA)


You're probably familiar with removing your shoes while going through
airport security. But have you thought about what you're walking through in
your bare feet? 

7 On Your Side has one word for it: gross. And as it turns out, that's the
word being used by experts and laypeople alike. 

You know the drill at airport security lines. Get in line, take off your
shoes and send them through the security x-ray. Then you walk through the
metal detector barefoot, right where the person in front of you walked
barefoot, and the person in front of them, and the person in front of them
and on and on and on -- all barefoot. 

Ron Wilson, ABC7 aviation consultant: "This carpet is almost never cleaned.
It's vacuumed every once in a while, but seldom really cleaned." 

It's like that at nearly every airport. So is there a health risk? 

We wanted to know, so our colleagues in San Diego used Petri dishes to
gather samples where passengers picked up their carry-ons from the conveyer
belts. We also got samples from Las Vegas and Phoenix and they were taken to
a laboratory for testing. 

Lab technician: "We would grow the culture for five days." 

You are looking right into the microscope at one sample we took. It is
bacteria. 

Lab technician: "We are trying to figure out what kind of bacteria they
are." 

The tests continued and we found molds and viruses and real concerns. 

UC's Dr. Daniel Lee sees the results of our tests. 

Dr. Daniel Lee: "I do have real concerns with what you have found. Staffoid
is an organism that can cause skin infections that go deep through the
layers. The other organism that I saw was nazeria, which is of the species
that can lead to gonorrhea." 

Dr. Dean Edell: "It is really gross. I mean, I look at it and think, 'Am I
the only one noticing this?' It's been matted down by sweaty greasy feet for
months and months and months." 

ABC7's Dr. Dean Edell says it's real, it's gross and without reports like
this, some diseases passed along could go easily unnoticed. 

Dr. Dean Edell: "Now if you came to your doctor with plantar warts the last
thing the doctor would ask you is, 'Did you go to an airport recently?' So I
doubt we would even notice if there were an increase." 

Passenger: "They should give us foot coverings. Little footies." 

They do that in some airports, like Dallas, but you have to know about it
and you have to ask for them. 

Ron Wilson, ABC7 aviation consultant: "I think there are things the airports
can do to lessen the problem. Install a hard surface that can be easily
cleaned or something like that. Then you come by, every couple of hours if
need be, and sanitize it, wash it down and clean it." 

If you're as disgusted as we are, complain to your lawmakers and local
airport. If we all make our voices heard, something will get done.

This issue is just now being addressed because the change in security
practices are still relatively new and changing. Dr. Dean Edell tells me, it
was only a few months back that podiatrists began to look into the issue.
Hopefully our report will help show airport and security officials there is
an area of public health that needs be addressed. 

Dr. Dean pointed out in my conversation with him that taking off shoes and
walking where everyone else walks is sending a bad public health message. We
ask members of the public to wash their hands regularly to keep from passing
on germs, but then we have a public policy of taking off our shoes in an
unclean area. Mixed messages are never a good idea. 

If you don't want to take off your shoes do you have a choice? So much
airport security is based on local practices that I can't say for certain
how many airports will allow it, but many do permit consumers to keep their
shoes on, however those that request the special consideration must go into
another area for a more thorough screening. That can take a great deal more
time. 

Here is a fascinating fact our aviation expert Ron Wilson passed on to me:
The SFO carpet color is based on sweepings the airport took from its outside
sidewalks. The colors of the carpet are similar to the colors in the
sweepings, thus hiding any dirt tracked into the terminal.

Click or paste the link to view the video:
 http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news&id=4297954

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Share it with other readers in our CAA Discussion Forums

http://www.californiaaviation.org/dcfp/dcboard.php


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