Rep. Dina Titus’ Casino Smoking Comments Light a Fire Under Public Health Group
United States Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nevada) represents one of 15 states where commercial casinos continue to allow indoor tobacco use. Her comments last week suggesting that today’s casinos have state-of-the-art ventilation systems that have made indoor smoking more acceptable were quickly pushed back on by a leading public health group.
Titus was in Washington, DC, last Thursday for an event titled, “Betting on the Future of Gaming.” The discussion was hosted by news outlet Semafor and sponsored by the American Gaming Association (AGA).
Titus, who represents Nevada’s First Congressional District that includes Clark County and Las Vegas, said in her state, casinos highly regulate themselves and are proactive in taking steps to protect both workers and patrons.
If you go anywhere on the Strip, they have the very latest technology. It’s not the low ceiling, old-time places that are so smoky. Even some of the slot machine banks have filters on the side that suck out the bad air,” Titus answered about efforts to ban casino smoking.
When pressed about whether she hears from constituents about casino smoking concerns, Titus, who chairs the Congressional Gaming Caucus, said such remarks are rare.
“Well, not lately because of all of the improvements that [casinos] have made,” Titus said.
Clean Air Group Responds
Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights (ANR) issued a statement condemning Titus’ remarks.
“Given the support for smoke-free casinos from patrons, working people, public health officials, and the public at large, we encourage Rep. Titus to support her constituents and use her role as the Congressional Gaming Caucus chair to push the industry to end this outdated business practice,” said ANR President and CEO Cynthia Hallett.
Hallett cited comments from the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, whose members design casino ventilation systems, that the gaming industry’s claims that such airflow mechanisms do not fully remove carcinogens from secondhand smoke.
The engineers who design ventilation systems have repeatedly told casinos to stop claiming that they protect workers and guests from dangerous secondhand smoke. These systems remove odor, not carcinogens,” Hallett added.
Titus did say that “secondhand smoke is certainly something to take into consideration.” She reasoned that if the Culinary Union, the largest trade group representing casino workers in Nevada, wishes to eliminate smoking, the organization likely has the political clout to “find some movement.”
Secondhand Smoke Knows No Bounds
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) agreed last year with Hallett’s contentions that ventilation systems aren’t effective in eradicating secondhand smoke from indoor places.
The federal health agency wrote in a report titled, “What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Your Lungs,” that scientific studies of air quality in casinos where smoking is allowed found elevated levels of Particulate Matter (PM). Specifically, the CDC tested for aerosol PM with a diameter <2.5 µm, which the agency says is a carrier for secondhand smoke.
The CDC tests conducted inside Las Vegas casinos with smoking and nonsmoking sections found an average PM2.5 level of 165 μg/m3, far above the 30 μg/m3 rate that the agency says is considered healthy with little to no risk of secondhand smoke exposure. The CDC added that average PM2.5 levels of 83 μg/m3 were detected in gaming areas supposedly smoke-free.
Nevada is one of only eight states where casinos can permit indoor smoking anywhere on their gaming floors. The CDC says only 100% smoke-free casinos adequately safeguard workers and patrons from secondhand smoke.
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