Opinion ID: 414311
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Special protections for persons especially sensitive to smoke

Text: 33 EDR-377 proposed a requirement that airlines provide special accommodations for persons who are unusually susceptible to physical ill-effects from breathing tobacco smoke. This proposal aimed to protect persons with respiratory, cardiovascular and other health conditions, for whom proximity to smoke is a significant health hazard. Although the Board requested and received practical suggestions from commenters concerning eligibility for such accommodations, it offered no explanation for its rejection of the proposal. 34 The Board's only consideration of the health effects of smoking related to a proposed total ban on smoking. The Board found that [t]he evidence of a link between 'passive smoking' and cancer is ... slight and controversial, 54 and concluded that a total ban on smoking would be inappropriate. That consideration does not, however, justify rejection of the proposed protections for passengers with special health conditions. Health hazards of passive smoking are presumably much greater for people with conditions such as emphysema than for normally healthy persons: 55 The Board recognized that fact when it proposed the special protections. It follows that the Board's failure to address those serious health concerns is arbitrary and capricious.