Airlines accused of hindering key blood clot study LONDON (Reuters) =97 Airlines are dragging their feet in co-operating with a= =20 study on whether so-called economy class syndrome, which causes potentially= =20 deadly blood clots, is linked to flying, a leading researcher told Reuters= =20 on Wednesday. One of the scientists in charge of the investigation conducted by the World= =20 Health Organisation (WHO) said that the carriers' slowness had hindered his= =20 team's research. "The airlines' defensive reaction is counterproductive,"=20 the scientist, Frits Rosendaal, said. An international airline lobby group= =20 denied the accusation. The investigation seeks to prove whether or not the= =20 potentially deadly syndrome, known as deep vein thrombosis (DVT), is=20 related to flying and is crucial to airlines and victims battling each=20 other in courts around the world. "The airlines are not really used to this= =20 kind of research. That combined with a defensive position =97 being scared= of=20 publicity, lawsuits or losing travellers =97 have helped cause delays...,"= he=20 said. As a result, Rosendaal said the issuing of questionnaires crucial to a=20 pilot study had been delayed by about five months. Rosendaal did not say which carriers had been slowing down the study, which= =20 needs airlines' co-operation to analyse hundreds of thousands of fliers=20 over the next few years. The International Air Transport Association, which= =20 represents the majority of the world's international carriers, defended the= =20 industry and said carriers were doing everything in their power to help=20 with the study. "The fact is that we are co-operating to the best of our ability and don't= =20 feel that it is fair to accuse the airlines of dragging their feet," said=20 an association spokeswoman. "The airlines are ready to go on their part of= =20 the study," she said, adding that two airlines were participating in the=20 pilot study, but declined to say which carriers were involved. Sources=20 close to the airlines told Reuters that the two airlines participating in=20 the study are British Airways and Brazil's flagship airline Varig. BA said= =20 it would let IATA speak for it on the subject and Varig declined to comment. DVT A FLYING DISEASE? A link between DVT =97 which can cause blood clots in the legs that break=20 away and invade the lungs and heart =97 and flying would give claimants=20 around the world powerful ammunition to pursue airlines and demand millions= =20 of pounds in damages. Cases in England, Canada, United States and Australia pit DVT sufferers and= =20 their families against the world's leading airlines, including Europe's=20 largest, British Airways, and the world's biggest, American Airlines. Ruth= =20 Christophersen, whose 28-year-old daughter Emma died after a flight from=20 Australia to Britain, said the airlines' actions appear to show that=20 airlines are not interested in finding out if there is a link between=20 flying and the ailment. "I wonder, do the airlines not want an answer? I=20 would have thought that the airlines would have sought to get the study=20 done and not put obstacles in the way," she said. DVT victims and their=20 families suffered a stinging defeat in December when a London judge blocked= =20 claimants' attempts to sue 27 airlines, including BA and American Airlines,= =20 whose parent is AMR, over claims that cramped seating on long flights=20 caused the potentially deadly blood clots. Claimants say the airlines knew about the risks of DVT for years but did=20 not inform passengers, while the airlines maintain DVT is not a flying=20 disease. The airlines argue that DVT is not an accident under a key 1929=20 international agreement governing air travel, and therefore they cannot be= =20 held responsible. The London decision ran counter to a ruling made earlier= =20 on the same day in Australia involving Qantas and British Airways over a=20 blood clot suffered by a passenger on a long-haul flight. Lawyers for the=20 airlines have said they would appeal against the decision in Australia, and= =20 claimants have said they would appeal in the case in London. The WHO study= =20 is also being looked at carefully by DVT victims and their lawyers in=20 Canada and the United States, where several cases are winding their way=20 through the legal systems. In the United States, law firm of O'Reilly,=20 Collins and Danko in California, has a number of DVT-related clients and=20 recently obtained a settlement from American Airlines, a move that=20 surprised lawyers in the London case because it ran counter to the=20 airlines' policy of not settling DVT cases. But lawyers, DVT sufferers and= =20 airlines will have to wait for years to find out if DVT is linked=20 definitively to flying, since the study's results will likely not be=20 released until 2007, at the earliest, according to Rosendaal. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: www.pichemas.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************