The lawmaker wants to crack down on mid-air flatulence. Photo / 123RF
The lawmaker wants to crack down on mid-air flatulence. Photo / 123RF
A Kenyan MP is causing a big stink with demands that the country passes laws to stop passengers farting on planes, saying it can cause "discomfort and insecurity on board".
Lilian Achieng Gogo, the MP for the Rangwe constituency in Western Kenya made the comments as Parliament discussed amendments to laws governing offences on board aircraft.
"There is one irritant that it is often ignored, and this is the level of farting within the aircraft," she said.
"If this is not managed well it can cause discomfort and insecurity on board".
Gogo called for medical intervention to halt the noxious gas: "We should have systems of the food offered on board and we should have basic medical systems that are able to reduce the level of gas that one can exude within the flight."
Lilian Achieng Gogo made the comments in Parliament. Photo / Supplied
The call for action on malodorous mile-high miscreants isn't the first time that discussion of flatulence has wafted through Kenya's debating chambers.
Earlier this year, an ill wind blew across the debating chamber at the Homa Bay County Assembly when lawmakers were forced to pause their debate while the perpetrator of a particularly horrific fart was identified.
Julius Gaya was first to point the finger, saying: "Honourable Speaker, one of us has polluted the air and I know who it is," reported the BBC.
That should have ended the matter, given that it is well known that he who smelt it, dealt it.
However, the accused man took the bait and trumpeted back: "I am not the one. I cannot do such a thing in front of my colleagues."
This admission complicated the search for the source of the stench because, as any child will tell you, it has been proven many times that he who denied it, supplied it.
The situation was not helped by the fact that it was a hot day in Homa Bay and the debate followed a particularly heavy lunch, according to local media.
It was left to Speaker Edwin Kakach to bring order, asking lawmakers to exit the chamber while the gas dissipated and ordering his staff to find air fresheners: "Get whatever flavour you will find in any office, whether it's vanilla or strawberry," he reportedly demanded.
Danish surgeon Jacob Rosenberg examined the issue of in-flight flatulence in a paper he wrote for the New Zealand Medical Journal.
Rosenberg told the South China Morning Post his "light bulb" moment was triggered by a plastic bottle.
"I watched a bottle shrink on a descent and it gave me the idea," said Rosenberg.
"Several times while flying I noticed that my belly increased in size and sometimes with extensive air passage."
Rosenberg said the reason behind this is simple. "When cabin pressure decreases, the natural air inside the bowel will expand. And since there is only limited space in the large bowel, it is a natural consequence to fart."
