Mardi Gras On line casino Seeks to Reverse Smokefree Progress
Nitro, WV — A proposal by the Mardi Gras On line casino would roll again Kanawha County’s smokefree protections by opening a brand new indoor smoking part.
In 2008, Kanawha County eradicated smoking in nearly all indoor public areas. This included the Mardi Gras On line casino beginning in 2009. After greater than a decade working 100% smokefree, the Mardi Gras On line casino is making an attempt to reintroduce smoking and vaping in a proposed new gaming room.
The Kanawha-Charleston Board of Well being opened a 30-day public remark interval for the on line casino’s proposal.
“This proposal would create a severe public well being danger for employees and the group,” stated Traci Kennedy, Midwest States Strategist for Individuals for Nonsmokers’ Rights (ANR). “The air flow methods championed by Mardi Gras On line casino executives usually are not an inexpensive compromise. In actuality, they provide no actual answer. Whereas air flow would possibly take away the scent of smoke, it does nothing to remove carcinogens and numerous different dangerous chemical compounds. Nobody ought to must cope with the inescapable risk of secondhand smoke publicity just because on line casino executives don’t take heed to specialists. The Board of Well being ought to put employee security first and reject the Mardi Gras On line casino’s proposal.”
Learn extra concerning the proposal right here.
BACKGROUND
Tobacco use and secondhand smoke publicity kills almost 500,000 Individuals yearly. Secondhand smoke places adults who don’t smoke prone to coronary coronary heart illness, stroke, and lung most cancers. In keeping with the Facilities for Illness Management, “There isn’t any risk-free degree of secondhand smoke. Even transient publicity could cause instant hurt. Fully eliminating smoking is the one option to totally shield individuals who don’t smoke from secondhand smoke publicity.”
Superior air filtration methods do shield in opposition to the well-established harms of secondhand smoke. In truth, the engineers who design these air flow methods say they don’t clear up the issue. These engineers, from the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), warn that even the most effective filtration and air flow methods “usually are not efficient in opposition to secondhand smoke” and “can scale back solely odor and discomfort however can not remove publicity… There isn’t any presently accessible or fairly anticipated air flow or air cleansing system that may adequately management or considerably scale back the well being dangers of [environmental tobacco smoke] to an appropriate degree.”
The Surgeon Basic launched a complete report underscoring the hazards of secondhand smoke and the crucial want for smokefree environments, together with casinos. The report highlights broad public assist with 75% of adults – together with frequent on line casino guests — favoring these insurance policies. The Surgeon Basic additional emphasizes: “Failure to guard workers in these settings dangers exacerbating well being disparities amongst on line casino and hospitality employees relative to employees who’re protected by office smokefree insurance policies. State, territorial, native, and tribal smokefree legal guidelines that apply to casinos would shield these workers in addition to guests from the well being results of secondhand tobacco smoke.”
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About ANR
Individuals for Nonsmokers’ Rights (ANR), sister group to ANR Basis, is a member-supported, non-profit advocacy group that has been working for over 45 years, since 1976, 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 repeatedly shined a light-weight on the tobacco business’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 inns. For extra data, please go to and https://smokefreecasinos.org.
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