To ask the Secretary of State for Transport who has advised her Department on air cabin quality and possible contamination in the last five years; to which institutions they are affiliated; which other organisations they have advised over that period; and which of those organisations operate on a commercial basis. (196733)

[holding answer 31 March 2008]: The advice the Department is acting upon comes from two sources; the Committee on Toxicity, an independent scientific committee that provides advice to the Food Standards Agency and Government Departments, and whose evidence review into cabin air was published in September 2007; and the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee whose report into Air Travel and Health was published in December 2007. Following this advice the Department is developing cabin air sampling research with a number of participating airlines to assemble real time data on substances which may be in cabin air during fume events. We are taking technical advice from a research team and steering group on how to collect and analyse the air samples.