With the significant increase of passengers committing fraud by passing off their pets as emotional support animals — this statement excludes anyone who travels with an animal for legitimate reasons — allergy sufferers cannot help but feel defenseless aboard airplanes, whose closed spaces only seem to exacerbate the situation…
A Possible Solution to Allergies Versus Animals Aboard Airplanes?
…and in response to this article pertaining to support animals versus allergies, Ma — who is a reader of The Gate — came up with an idea which could be considered a “wild thought” and out of the box: “Can the airline require that the animal be required to be groomed, clean 24 hours before the flight? Most service are pristine. Its the emotional lap dogs, cat and bird ladies that I’m talking about. This would cut down the contamination of the interior air quality.”
The answer might be obvious to you and other people — but I have not owned a pet in years; and I do not suffer from allergies. I decided to do some cursory research for the answer to this idea.
Interestingly, “the protein that causes allergies is found in an animal’s saliva, dander and urine”, according to this article from the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. “Almost 10 million pet owners — including children — are allergic to their animals.” Despite that statistic, almost half of all households in the United States include at least one dog or cat.
According to this article from the , the protein which causes allergies can also be found in the feces and saliva of animals as well. “They can be carried on clothes and can stay in carpets and furniture for months, even after an animal no longer lives there. The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology reported that dog and cat allergens are detectable in 100 percent of U.S. homes.”
Many of the sources I researched claim to indicate that the proper grooming of animals can help to reduce the discomfort of people who suffer from allergies — but according to this article from the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, “washing the pet every week may reduce airborne allergens, but is of questionable value in reducing a person’s symptoms.”
Summary
I am stopping short of declaring the suggestion by Ma to be a good solution — only because different people have different reactions to different allergies from different animals; and too many variables complicate the approach towards a uniform solution…
…but I cannot help but wonder if the idea is nothing to sneeze at if even a marginal improvement in the atmosphere aboard an airplane is better than the currently environment in which people with allergies quietly suffer.
If you suffer from an allergy to dogs, cats or other animals, I am interested in your thoughts: do you think this is a good idea which could potentially work?
Photograph ©2013 by Brian Cohen.
