For flight attendants and other frequent flyers that experience jet lag on a regular basis, a recent study has linked chronic jet lag to increased health risks. The research, published in the July 20 issue of the scientific journal Current Biology, was conducted on female mice with a predisposition to breast cancer. The mice were raised in a simulated environment with changes made to light and temperature once a week, which had drastic effects on sleep patterns.

Results showed that jet lagged mice developed cancer at a more rapid rate than the control group, which did not have any changes made to their habitat. The affected mice developed tumors eight weeks sooner than control mice, and also experienced significant weight gain despite eating the same amount of food. The impacted group was also found to have slept more in response to an irregular sleep-wake cycle.

Study authors from the National Institute of Public Health in the Netherlands surmise that the health issues were linked to the mice’s circadian rhythm, an internal clock that controls bodily functions in nearly every living organism. The mechanism regulates important functions such as breathing, sleeping and digestion. Scientists monitored changes using biological markers, including melatonin and cortisol hormones and body temperature.

Researcher Harry van Steeg compared what the mice endured to flying back and forth from Amsterdam to Australia once a week in the entirety of a single lifespan.  Since human and mice organ structures are nearly identical, scientists expect the findings would be similar in humans.

Mammalian circadian rhythms take into account environmental feedback, such as light patterns. The body’s organs function in accordance and change their timings when there is a disruption to its schedule. In cases of jet lag, an offset circadian rhythm can cause the brain to take longer to adjust, and thus affect other organs. This imbalance is believed to be the cause for arising health issues.

The study concludes that: “Due to the growing 24/7 economy, shift work will become increasingly part of our society and will, therefore, increasingly affect public health outcomes. Our experimental setup provides a unique tool for exploring underlying mechanisms as well as devising countermeasures.”

Congressman John Mica (R-FL) has introduced a bill that would limit the amount airlines could charge passengers for checked baggage to $4.50. Why $4.50? That’s the Passenger Facility Charge (PFC) that airports tack onto the cost of every airline ticket.

Mica, who serves as Chairman of the House Transportation Oversight Subcommittee, says, “This is fair and equitable since airports have been held to that fee level for handling passengers at the same $4.50 limitation by law for the past 15 years. During that decade and a half, most major carriers have imposed dramatically increased baggage and service fees. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.”

As Brad Tuttle reports for money.com, airports are limited to $4.50 for each leg of a journey, and, in the case of a flight with multiple layovers, are capped at a maximum of $9 per one-way trip and $18 per round trip. The money is used—or at least is supposed to be used—to fund airport infrastructure maintenance and improvements.

Mica, however, believes that this is not the case. Although airlines are reaping the rewards of increased baggage fees, those revenues are not directly contributing to improvement in airport infrastructure. As Jelisa Castrodale points out on roadwarriors.com, Mica prepared a Congressional report in May called “U.S. Airports in Crisis,” highlighting the key infrastructure crisis that our domestic airports are facing.

Castrodale notes that Airlines for America, the country’s largest airline trade association, has criticized Mica’s proposal, stating, “What’s good for travelers is to not nearly double the tax they pay to step foot in an airport when airports have more than enough resources to invest in infrastructure today.”  Indeed, it is difficult to think of an airport project in America that has been halted due to a lack of resources.

Yet Checked Bag Fees Add Up

In the not too distant past, airlines charged nothing to check one—or even two—bags. The practice of tacking on fees of $25 or more per bag is now commonplace. This has resulted in a huge windfall for the airline industry. Revenue garnered from airline fees has tripled since 2008. According to statistics from the Department of Transportation, airlines collectively took in $3.6 billion in extra baggage fees in 2014, a 5.3% increase from 2013.