Dealers display ill effects of secondhand smoke in long-awaited results
Jump to full article: Las Vegas Sun, 2009-05-07
Author: Liz Benston
Intro: Las Vegas casino dealers are exposed to a host of harmful chemicals through secondhand smoke while on the job, according to a new National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health study.
The study, the first to examine the effects of secondhand smoke in Las Vegas casinos, reported that the dealers had traces of a tobacco-specific carcinogen in their urine.
The results were drawn from 124 casino dealers at Bally’s, Caesars Palace and Paris Las Vegas who wore portable pumps that measured the level of tobacco smoke in the air during their shifts. In addition, 114 dealers submitted urine samples to the agency before and after their shifts.
The institute conducted research and interviewed workers during three on-site visits from July 2005 through January 2006.
Anti-smoking advocates hailed the results of the long-awaited study, which mirror previous government and privately funded research on secondhand smoke and are expected to provide ammunition to those pressuring the gaming industry to implement smoking bans.
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The institute’s report found that a majority of the 147 dealers who completed a separate health survey reported symptoms such as red or irritated eyes, a cough, stuffy nose, runny nose and headache. In total, 11 percent of the dealers studied, who did not work in poker rooms at the time, had been diagnosed with asthma, while 35 percent had symptoms suggestive of work-related asthma. Many poker rooms have voluntarily banned smoking.
“That strikes me as enormous,” considering that only about 7 percent of the national population suffers from asthmatic symptoms, said James Repace . . .
A spokesman for Harrah’s Entertainment, which owns the casinos at issue in the study, declined to comment on specific findings, saying the company is still reviewing the report.
In response to the smoking ban recommendation, spokesman Gary Thompson said the company would consider a nationwide smoking ban provided that it includes all gambling venues, such as racetracks and tribal casinos.
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