-We'll call her "Jane". That's not her real name but since she's still dealing,  we want to protect her identity. She is a slightly built woman in her mid-40's; A mom and by all standards, a good employee.  But she made one lamentable error: she committed  the audacious   sin  of  moving  a  smoldering  ashtray  a  few inches away in an attempt to redirect its black gray smoke  from  her face....

She was  fired!  To  an  outsider,  that  would seem to be a rare and isolated incident hardly worth  mentioning.   But to Nevada's Casino Dealers it  is neither a rare nor an isolated  occurrence; it is simply casino's management   way of  saying that   breathing secondhand smoke is just part of the job. As we examine the problem   we   find   that management's attitude  is  just  the tip of the iceberg. The real culprit is the tobacco industry and its' underlying assertion that "se- condhand smoke-is-not a health threat". They  spare no  effort  to further the perperception that secondhand smoke and disease have no relation to  each other.

"The single most dangerous consumer product  ever  sold"

  Aside from those sickened by breathing the secondhand smoke,  the smokers themselves die from using  these despicable  weeds.  The  tobacco companies deny everything, Bull.......! The tobacco companies claim their innocence even though they know that cigarettes kill  400,000  Americans  every  year, and that smoking causes almost all lung and throat cancers and is responsible for about 10% of all cancer deaths.  Smoking causes cardiovascular disease and is res- ponsible for approximately one-third of all heart disease deaths.  In addition  it causes various pulmonary diseases, including emphysema and it also causes stillbirths and  neonatal deaths among the babies of mothers who smoke.  And even  though it is less  traumatic,  there is the respiratory  and  eye irritation suffered by people, such as dealers who are forced to breathe the vile byproduct of.... "the single most dangerous consumer product ever sold", according to U.S. Congressman Henry W.  Waxman (D- Calif.).  The tobacco companies go on to deny that nicotine is an addictive and dangerous  drug and  they swear on stacks of bibles that they do  not  manipulate its' content or its' concentration in cigarettes.

"The Facts"

  Lies..!  Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds, and all the rest, have made many patent applications over the years, for processes that do  that very thing,  i.e. manipulate the  levels of  nicotine  in  their  cigarettes.  What planet are these guys on?  Or better, ...how stupid do they think we are? They have the facts, and have had them for years. They have chosen to keep them  from  the  public and  from the U.S. Congress. By so doing, they have deceived us  and  inhibited our right to choose and to take steps to make our workplace safe.  All for the sake of profit. Deceit...!

  So, what do we do about it? Well, as you may have heard,  the Nevada Casino Dealers Association has filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of Nevada's Casino Dealers seeking damages for injuries and  economic losses caused by their exposure to secondhand smoke If you wish to join the lawsuit and be represented   by  the attorneys  who filed  this class action, call or write the  NCDA and a packet  of  documents will  be sent  to you explaining  what  you must do. The NCDA is located  at: P.O. Box 71496, Las Vegas, NV 89104. Telephone number is: (702)474-9766 Fax: (702) 474-9767

--By Jack M. Lipsman