Perhaps one of the more unusual responses to the government's public health green paper is a collection of evidence-based research on the therapeutic value of pets.
Yet over the past twenty years, there has been a huge increase in research supporting the idea that pets are good for you.
Now the Society for Companion Animal Studies has pulled together much of the research for the first time in its response to Our Healthier Nation.
SCAS is urging a 'holistic view of the value of companion animals in society in planning for the health of the nation'.
The potential of companion animals in the prevention of and recovery from physical and mental illnesses and disability should be investigated, says the report, and it recommends that 'carefully planned pet-facilitated therapy programmes should be developed and introduced to institutions, including hospitals, prisons and residential accommodation for elderly and disabled people'.
It also says restrictions on pet-keeping in housing, including sheltered accommodation, should be examined.
SCAS cites a 1980 study of the relationship between pet ownership and cardiovascular health which showed that pet owners were more likely to be alive a year after discharge from a coronary care unit than non-pet owners.
Because it was thought possible that dog owners might be generally more healthy than cat owners or that the exercise of walking a dog was responsible for the improved survival rates, dog owners were removed from the dataset.
Repeated analysis showed that owners of pets other than dogs also had a better one-year survival rate than non-pet owners.
Studies in 1984 and 1992 showed that both the presence of pets and interactions with pets can have significant short-term influence on physiological and psychological indicators of stress.
Pet owners were found to have lower systolic blood pressure and lower lipid levels than non-pet owners.
In a 1990 study of the impact of new pet ownership on human health and well-being, cat and dog owners reported a reduction in minor health problems in the first month after acquiring a new pet. Pet owners also showed significant improvements in psychological well-being for six months after acquiring the animal.
SCAS believes the government should consider the financial savings that could result from introducing more pet-facilitated therapy programmes.
As founder and president of the Children in Hospital and Animal Therapy Association, a registered charity, Sandra Stone has been taking animals into the paediatric department at Chase Farm Hospital in north London for almost six years.
CHATA also works in other London hospitals, including Guy's, University College, Barnet General, Queen Elizabeth's in Hackney and the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital. Outside the capital the charity works in Hertfordshire, Lincolnshire, Lancashire, Scotland and Wales.
At Guy's Hospital CHATA is involved with children in the intensive care unit, and at UCH it works with bone marrow transplant patients.
Infection control nurses and microbiologists have sanctioned the animals' use in the hospitals. 'All animals are kept in a home environment and were selected for their docile temperaments,' Ms Stone stresses. 'They are also regularly checked by a vet and have certificates of zoonotic clearance.' (Zoonoses are animal diseases transmissable to humans.)
Dogs, rabbits and guinea-pigs are used with children who are clinically depressed, long-term or terminally ill and those who are missing their own animals.
Research involving CHATA is under way at Chase Farm, aiming to measure the effect of animal interaction on discharge time for children undergoing ear, nose and throat day surgery. With the support of consultant paediatrician Ian Pollock and senior nurse manager Chris Hales, the study will also measure the child's estimate of pain at intervals after surgery.
The children in the study interact with a rabbit and guinea-pigs, and Ms Stone says the results at this stage are favourable.
SCAS, 10b Leny Road, Callander, Scotland FK17 8BA.
CHATA, 87 Longland Drive, Totteridge, London N20 8HN.
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