U.S. flight attendants union wants SARS protection WASHINGTON (Reuters) =97 The union for U.S. airline flight attendants=20 Thursday demanded immediate precautions be taken to protect flight=20 attendants from the deadly SARS pneumonia virus, including distribution of= =20 latex gloves and masks.The Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) said it=20 sent a letter asking the Federal Aviation Administration to issue an=20 emergency order requiring airlines to provide the gloves and masks to the=20 flight attendants, or at least allow them to wear their own. The union also wants airlines to develop passenger-screening methods and=20 provide guidance to flight attendants when a passenger exhibits symptoms=20 during a flight. A flight attendant on a Singapore Airlines flight between= =20 New York and Frankfurt on March 14 was infected with Severe Acute=20 Respiratory Syndrome, the union said in its letter to Dr. Jon Jordan,=20 Federal Air Surgeon at the FAA. Some 72 cases of confirmed or probable SARS= =20 have been reported in the United States, the union said, citing figures=20 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The World Health=20 Organization has reported additional cases in Canada, Taiwan, Italy,=20 Singapore, and Thailand, it added. "SARS has left many more unanswered=20 questions than it has answered, but given the reports of disease=20 transmission on aircraft, the evidence that minimal contact can be=20 sufficient to spread the disease, and the potential for close contact if=20 flight attendants must isolate potentially infected passengers, we ask that= =20 you will carefully consider this proposal," said Christopher Witkowski, the= =20 AFA's director of air safetey, health and security. The association represents more than 50,000 flight attendants at 26=20 airlines, the largest of which is No. 2 United, a unit of UAL Corp. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week:http://www.ttsailing.org/ TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************