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Nevada
firms worst
in smoke-free policies
Study compares employers
nationwide
By
Emily Richmond
LAS VEGAS SUN / August 14, 2001
Dr. Karen
Arcotta, who heads the cardiology department at University
Medical Center, winces when she sees cigarette smoke wafting
into the air above slot machines in supermarkets or from
open doorways of smoking lounges at McCarran International
Airport. "It's pitiful,"
Arcotta said. "You can't get away from second-hand
smoke here if you try." |
TONY
Badillo, president of the International Union of Gaming
Employees (I U G E) says he developed asthma from exposure to
second-hand smoke.
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Nevada employers are worst
in the nation when it comes to protecting employees from
second-hand tobacco smoke, a new study by the National
Cancer Institute reports.
The study's findings came
as no surprise to Arcotta, who said Nevada has the most
adult smokers in the United States and the highest rates of
asthma and deaths from smoking-related diseases. An
estimated 3,000 nonsmokers nationwide die each year from
illnesses attributed to second-hand smoke.
Arcotta said she has
patients with lung cancer who never smoked a single
cigarette but were exposed to the second-hand smoke at home
or work.
The study, published
Friday in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental
Medicine, shows 48.7 percent of Nevada's workplaces have
smoke-free policies. That's compared with the national
average of 68.6 percent.
The fact that about 25
percent of Clark County's workers are employed by casinos
and hotels played a part in the findings, said Dr. David
Burns, a University of California at San Diego professor and
one of the study's authors. People who enjoy gambling
usually enjoy other risk-taking activities, including
smoking, Burns said.
Things could change as
more people move to Nevada from states with tougher
anti-tobacco regulations, Burns said.
"Minimizing exposure
to second-hand smoke is becoming the norm in other states,
and people moving to Nevada will expect the same
protections," Burns said.
Nonsmoking casino
employees in Nevada filed a class-action lawsuit against
several tobacco companies seeking money for medical
monitoring, but the case was rejected by a federal judge in
July.
The judge ruled there were
too many mitigating factors, such as the health of each
individual when they began work, to group the cases in a
class-action lawsuit. The judge's ruling is being appealed,
said Charles LoBello of Las Vegas, one of the attorneys
representing the casino workers.
Tony Badillo, a retired
blackjack dealer and one of the complainants in the suit,
said he developed asthma from years of exposure to tobacco
smoke. Badillo is president of the International Union of
Gaming Employees, which has worked to unionize casino
dealers in Las Vegas.
"There has to be
rooms for customers and dealers who don't want the
smoke," said Badillo, who worked at the Sands
hotel-casino for 42 years. "It's not enough to set
aside an area. Smoke doesn't understand those kinds of
boundaries."
Arlene Christensen,
another complainant, said doctors trace her chronic
bronchitis to breathing second-hand smoke while she worked
as a desk clerk. Christensen, who has worked in the industry
since 1956 and worked at the Maxim hotel-casino for more
than 20 years, said the casinos won't ban smoking as long as
the powerful tobacco lobby maintains its tight grip.
"It always comes down
to money," Christensen said Monday.
Karen Maccanello, a dealer
at the MGM Grand, said she's noticed a significant
improvement in air quality since she first began working in
casinos 20 years ago.
"I used to go home
and wash my hair and change my clothes," Maccanello
said. "The smoke isn't even really noticeable
anymore."
Maccanello, who doesn't
smoke, said imposing more limits on smoking in casinos would
hurt business and likely take a bite out of her paycheck.
Cleaning clothing may get
rid of the odor, but there's no way to remove the
cancer-causing chemicals that have been inhaled, according
to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in
Atlanta. A 1996 CDC study found nine out of 10 nonsmokers
had detectable levels of nicotine byproducts in their blood.
"We need to get the
message out that second-hand smoke isn't just an annoyance,
it can kill," Tricia Leland, program director for the
Las Vegas office of the American Cancer Society, said.
The poker rooms at the
Bellagio and the Mirage went smoke-free in June at the
request of guests, Wendie Mosca, spokeswoman for MGM MIRAGE,
said. The keno area adjacent to the Mirage poker room is
also now designated as smoke-free.
"The response has
been terrific," Mosca said.
Marty Clark, who was
visiting the MGM Grand on Sunday from Houston, said he would
favor making all of the casinos no-smoking zones.
"It's already the law
in most places," Clark said. "People shouldn't
have to put up with the smoke."
Linda Armstrong, also
visiting the MGM Grand from Texas, said she always requests
a nonsmoking hotel room when she travels.
"It (smoke) gets in
your hair and your clothes, even just walking through the
casino you leave and you can still smell it," Armstrong
said.
Bonnie Skaarland, a smoker
visiting Las Vegas for the first time from Apache Junction,
Ariz., said there are already enough laws governing where
and when people can light up.
"There should
certainly be places that choose to be nonsmoking, but the
government shouldn't be dictating to businesses what they're
allowed to do," Skaarland said. "Let the
individuals decide whether they want to go somewhere or
not."
Health officials during
the 2001 legislative session pushed unsuccessfully for the
passage of Senate Bill 258, which would allow local
governments to pass more stringent tobacco laws. The bill,
which failed, would have allowed cities and counties to ban
smoking on school campuses, in convenience and grocery
stores and in offices. The bill excluded casinos, bars and
bars within restaurants.
The states just above
Nevada in the national ranking were Kentucky, with 55.9
percent of workplaces prohibiting smoking, and North
Carolina, a major tobacco-producing state that increased its
smoke-free workplaces from 31 percent in 1999 to 61 percent
this year.
The states with the
largest percentage of smoke-free workplaces were Utah with
83.9 percent; Maryland, 81.2 percent; California, 76.9
percent; Massachusetts, 76.8 percent; and Vermont, 76.6
percent.
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2001/aug/14/512215138.html?nevada+firms+worst
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