Medical News Today reported on The Lung Association's online campaign for pet-free flights in July. The campaign followed Air Canada's decision to allow pets to travel in the passenger cabins of airplanes. The Health Committee Chair, Joy Smith, responded that she ‘shares the concerns for the effects … on the health of those travelers with allergies’ but that Air Canada's decision is ‘operational … made by a private company at arm's length from the Government.’
The Director of Government Relations for The Lung Association, Cameron Bishop, expressed the group's disappointment with such a stance. ‘As Chair of the Health Committee, Joy Smith has a mandate to act in the best interests of Canadians with lung disease who may be adversely affected … Simply because a company makes an 'operational' decision does not negate her or her Committee's responsibility to review that in a public health context.’
He continues, ‘People with asthma, COPD, lung cancer or other respiratory diseases should not be put at risk because of an airline's desire to put corporate needs in business class while public health is forced to ride in economy.’
As many allergy sufferers know from unpleasant experience, the air inside airplane cabins re-circulates. Even a tiny amount of allergen spreads quickly; no matter how far away an allergy sufferer may be from a pet, they could still suffer and develop sypmtoms. For those who have asthma or COPD, the response can be wheezing, coughing, and swelling in the airways which can be life-threatening.
While products such as the Plane Clean Air Filter can help, sometimes they are not enough, and sometimes consequences are too risky.
What do you think? Should the government step in and regulate this issue? What has your experience been when taking flights with other passenger's pets onboard?