Immune modulation by dermal exposure to jet fuel

Over the years, military jet fuel has evolved to meet modern equipment needs, provide increased safety in fires and crashes, and provide better combat survivability. In the early 1990s, the United States Air Force began a gradual transformation to a new jet fuel. Jet Propulsion (JP)-4 was replaced by JP-8. JP-8 was refined to have a higher flash point, lower vapor pressure, and a lower freezing point than JP-4, to provide a fuel that was less combustible and more explosion proof, more resistant to evaporation during storage, and provide a fuel that performs well at the higher altitudes required during military operations. JP-8 is essentially the same fuel used by commercial airlines (Jet A), but it is supplemented with an anti-corrosive agent, an anti-icing agent, and an anti-static agent to meet the military’s performance specifications. JP-8 is a multi-use fuel used to fuel jet and turboprop aircraft, helicopters, and Navy ships. The Army and Marines use JP-8 to fuel tanks and fighting vehicles and trucks that can run on diesel. In the field, JP-8 is also used to fuel portable heating and air-conditioning units. It is estimated that over 2 million people a year are exposed to 60 billion gallons of jet fuel (Jet A or JP-8) (Ritchie et al., 2003). Jet fuel exposure is a major chemical exposure problem for military and civilian personnel who maintain jet engines, handle fuel, perform fuel tank maintenance, and work on the flight line. Those living on bases with increased flight traffic report that the smell of jet fuel combustion lingers in the air during peak hours (Gerardo Ramos, personal experience), making jet fuel exposure a major potential chemical risk exposure problem for military personnel regardless of whether or not they work on the flight line.