After 15 Months of Testimony, Employees’ Rights and Public Well being Advocates Slam DTW for Prioritizing Cigar Bar Over Employee Security and Racial Fairness
Detroit, MI—Within the months following the discharge of a request for proposals for a cigar lounge in the primary terminal of Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW), public well being and employees’ rights advocates have been submitting tons of of feedback and testimony to maintain the airport smokefree—however the Wayne County Airport Authority (WCAA) has not listened. On Wednesday, January twenty first, the WCAA held a gathering to take heed to group members’ issues in regards to the well being dangers of permitting secondhand smoke into DTW. Whereas the WCAA publicly states it’s open to listening to the group’s issues and has public good in thoughts, it has nonetheless not rescinded its request for proposals.
“If we haven’t been clear earlier than, let me be clear now: secondhand smoke from cigars is harmful and poisonous, and it doesn’t matter in case you put a excessive price ticket on or put it in a elaborate wrapper, sit in a elaborate chair and drink a elaborate drink—secondhand smoke from cigars and even third hand smoke off-gassing WILL trigger hurt to your staff,” mentioned Onjewel Smith, Strategist, for Individuals for Nonsmokers’ Rights (ANR) in testimony offered on the assembly. “No employee must be put in hurt’s approach. No employee ought to need to signal a waiver, forfeit their rights, or conform to be harmed by a recognized poisonous chemical with a purpose to earn a dwelling and to supply for his or her households.
“So, I’d be remiss if I didn’t ask, why would you re-introduce smoking into an atmosphere that for thus lengthy has been a pillar of well being and security requirements, not simply in Detroit or Michigan however all through the nation. Figuring out what you understand about first, second, and thirdhand smoke, why would you even take an opportunity on risking the lives, the well being, and the livelihood of employees in that atmosphere?”
For the fifteenth consecutive month, round a dozen involved residents and public well being advocates testified in opposition to the proposed cigar bar at yesterday’s WCAA assembly. Simply two days after Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the assembly’s irony was not misplaced on attendees. Dr. Gregory Bolden, program supervisor of group initiatives for the Heart of Black Well being, quoted Dr. King throughout yesterday’s assembly: “Of all of the types of inequity, injustice in well being is probably the most stunning and inhumane.” By internet hosting a gathering wherein testimony of public well being issues and calls for for office protections fall on deaf ears, the WCAA dishonors the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. and exhibits the Detroit group that to the airport authority, their lives are expendable.
Permitting any kind of smoking in DTW would negatively influence the well being of its greater than 18,000 employees and greater than 31 million passengers. Even in nonsmoking areas, research in airports with smoking lounges persistently present elevated ranges of particulate matter (PM2.5), endangering the well being of each vacationers and staff. Yearly in Michigan, over 1,740 nonsmokers die due to publicity to secondhand smoke—it’s as much as the WCAA to get rid of all plans to open a cigar lounge in DTW and save lives within the course of.
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Individuals for Nonsmokers’ Rights (ANR) is a member-supported, non-profit advocacy group that has been working for 50 years to guard everybody’s proper to breathe unhazardous air in workplaces and public locations, from workplaces and airplanes to eating places, bars, and casinos. ANR has constantly shined a lightweight on the tobacco trade’s interference with sound and life-saving public well being measures and efficiently protected 61% of the inhabitants with native or statewide smokefree office, restaurant, and bar legal guidelines. ANR goals to shut gaps in smokefree protections for employees in all workplaces, together with bars, music venues, casinos, and motels. For extra info, please go to and https://smokefreecasinos.org.
Contact:
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