Allergy Discrimination: Why Animals get a "Pass"

Question: Why is it that there are peanut-free baseball sections, smoke-free bars and warning labels on menus and food products yet those allegic to animal dander are still forced to ride in enclosed public transportation with someone else's pet?

Scenario: You can't smoke in bars now because a very biased and severly non-scientific study done almost 20 years ago may have discovered a possible link between secondhand smoke and cancer. Maybe. You can't eat peanuts in certain sections of the stadium now because some lady forgot to listen to the rest of the lyrics to "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" and she's scared her son might get sick from the peanut dust... But if you have deadly asthmatic allergies to animal dander, you know, the kind which closes up your throat and makes it impossible to breathe, therefore cutting off your access to oxygen (that thing you need to live) well then too bad for you. Better take the next bus.

Thoughts: The problem here is two things which both come down to perception:

First off is the idea of "allegies" as related to those Allegra and Claratin commercials. "sniffy nose" "red eyes" "sneezing" non-life thrteatening effects. Just annoyances. But that's not what happens to athmatics with animal dander allergies. Think more along the lines of stung-by-a-bee-sweeling-up-unable-to-breathe-three-seconds-from-death allergies. Then you'd be on teh correct train of thought. "Animal dander" does not mean your cat has t o be in my lap scratching my face to get me sick. It means that the dandruff or skin flakes given off your pet every single time it moves is transferred into the air and into my lungs which are now inflamed and closing off my oxygen supply.

The second problem here is the idea that pets are "cuter" than "cigarettes" so it's much easier to accept the "minor" inconveniences which come along. The problem is, I have asthma. I can walk around a smoker on the street. But I cannot remove myself from the bus or subway car (or dear god, the DELI) that you just waltzed your precious little allergy factory into. Animals do not belong near food. Seriously, I have to eat that stuff that your dog just shed hair all over. If I carried a bag of peanuts everywhere and started leaving peanut shells on everything I touched, you'd be darn sure they would ban "bags of peanuts" from everywhere but the peanutbutter aisle. People take THAT allergy seriously.

Conclusion: People, I beg of you. Leave the pets at home. You're killing me, literally. And while you're at it, buy a damn lint roller. If I can smell your pet on you you can still inflame my allergies just by leaning your fuzzy sweater all over my face on the train (unlike cigarette smoke, which is harmless on clothing). If precious needs to go everywhere with you, then you need to buy a car and deal with that animal allergy all on your own in your own space. But for the same reason that smokers can no longer light up in enclosed public places, YOU SHOULDN'T BE ALLOWED TO TAKE PETS THERE EITHER.

No matter how "adorable" an allergy source is, you are still causing someone else unnecessary discomfort and pain every time you take your animals into public transportation.