Why Pilots Must Now Skip Alu Posto | Kolkata News – Times of India

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Kolkata: The irresistible alu posto-biulir dal combo may soon disappear from the platter of pilots and air traffic controllers in Kolkata after poppy seeds or khus khus was flagged by a medical officer as a substance that can turn out to be a red herring in dope tests done on them.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has introduced rules under which pilots, cabin crew and air traffic controllers will face random drug tests for psychoative substances. The rules came into effect from Monday.

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The list of banned substances includes opiates, metabolites, amphetamine and amphetamine-type stimulants, cannabis (marijuana), cocaine, barbiturates and benzodiazepines.
Controllers and pilots have been warned not to pop over-the-counter pills without checking their composition, particularly when consuming painkillers, anti-inflammatory drugs and common medicines for headache, cough and cold, including cough syrups. Youngsters who go to gyms have been similarly alerted about whey proteins and other off-the-shelf nutrition for muscle enhancement to ensure they do not contain performance-enhancing drugs.
“From now, we have to consult physicians for every ailment and carry the list of prohibitory drugs provided in the notification so that the doctor can refer to it before prescribing medicines,” a controller said.
Amphetamine is a central nervous system stimulant used in treatment of obesity and attention deficiency. Barbiturates are used to treat headache and insomnia. Benzodiazepines are also used to treat anxiety and insomnia.
The debate raging among Bengali pilots and controllers is whether posto or poppy seeds should be categorised as opiates.
“I don’t think posto should be an issue unless it is refined to develop an opiate. If that were the case, then consumption of grapes would be banned before breathalyzer tests,” a flight captain said.
When breathalyzers had earlier been introduced, pilots and controllers were warned not to use strong after-shave or deodorants while reporting for duty. There was a similar caution on taking homeopathic medicine closer to the duty hour as it was feared the alcohol content in them could trigger a false reading.
A veteran pilot said there were a lot of apprehensions when breathalyzers were first introduced around two decades back. “Systems evolve over time. In this case, too, the rules will gradually evolve,” the flight captain said.
While 10% controllers and pilots who report for duty are currently required to undergo breathalyzer tests to ensure that they are not under the influence of alcohol when on duty, the annual dope test will be done on 10% of controllers and pilots to check consumption of psychoactive substances.
“Testing will be done on urine samples collected from randomly selected employees. The test can be carried out post flight/post shift or anytime during the duty period as the case may be. The pre-flight testing requirement will be introduced in due course,” the DGCA notification states.
While dope testing has been in sports for sometime now and athletes are sensitized on the need to be very careful about the medication they take, pilots and controllers will also now have to be doubly careful or risk getting benched.

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