Human exposure to jet propellant-8

Human exposure to Jet Propellant-8 (JP-8) has increased dramatically over the past 20 years when JP-8 became the preferred fuel for military aircraft and land vehicles in the United States and NATO countries (Ritchie et al., 2001a). JP-8 is the single largest source (9.58 billion liters in 2000) of chemical exposure to military personnel in the United States (Henz, 1998, from Egeghy et al., 2003; Ritchie et al., 2003). Worldwide consumption of kerosene-based jet fuels has grown from approximately 227 billion liters in 1992 (Defense Fuels Supply Center, 1997) to 240 billion liters in 1998 (Armbrust Aviation Group, 1998). The rise in the use of kerosene-based fuels worldwide has expanded human exposure to these fuels from 1.3 million U.S. workers in 1992 (Defense Fuels Supply Center, 1997) to 2.0 million workers in 2003 (Ritchie et al., 2003). As worldwide demand for JP-8 and its commercial airline equivalent, Jet A or Jet A-1, increases annually, the number of workers exposed to kerosene-based fuels is expected to continually multiply.