Clean air cropping up in more casinos

Tobacco critics are hammering on the gaming industry for exposing employees, customers and even children to secondhand cigarette smoke.

New hotel-casinos are installing expensive smoke-clearing systems, but critics say it isn't enough.

"The reality is there is no technology available to eliminate all of the toxins in cigarette and cigar smoke," said Mandy Canales-Salazar, director of Tobacco Control Programs for Las Vegas' chapter of the American Cancer Society.

Employees are still coming in constant contact with smoke, she says as she questioned the sincerity of the casinos' efforts to protect customers and employees.

Canales-Salazar advocates more nonsmoking areas on the main casino floors to provide a choice for patrons. Citing a 1994 Centers for Disease Control study, she said nonsmokers make up 79 percent of the U.S. population.

She also criticized the casino industry for not giving employees options on working in smoking sections and for marketing Las Vegas as a family destination when smoking is allowed in areas designed for children.

Tom Jones, associate professor of hotel management at UNLV, said "some of the casinos have taken a very active stance (toward dealing with tobacco smoke)," but added efforts vary widely.

Some casinos are meeting the standards of the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) -- indicating they have made progress toward minimizing the problem -- while others are falling short, Jones said.

In most cases, he advised, "the nose knows," meaning the senses can usually indicate a problem exists.

The Environmental Protection Agency classifies tobacco smoke as a Class A carcinogen, but Jones said, "We do not know how much exposure causes ... a cancer in an individual."

Further, he explained a zero level of cigarette smoke "has not become an economic reality" for casinos.

A controversial 1996 study funded by the Reno and Las Vegas Chambers of Commerce predicted a ban on smoking in casinos would cost the economy thousands of jobs and between $1.9 billion and $3.5 billion in lost tourism revenue over five years.

When the Silver City casino in Las Vegas went smoke free, revenues fell, forcing it to lift the ban in 1994.

One problem for casinos is scientific uncertainty.

Even after extensive research, engineers find it difficult to say what the goal for air quality should be, and if a safe level of smoke in an environment even exists.

Simon Turner, a director for Healthy Buildings International, a consulting firm that does proactive indoor air quality inspection programs, said the standards his firm uses come from a variety of sources worldwide.

Healthy Buildings has worked with the Mirage and other casinos, measuring levels and advising companies about how to maintain and improve indoor air quality.

The primary focus is on comfort because health standards are difficult to determine, he said. In health matters, his company defers to government standards determined by agencies such as Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Turner said OSHA establishes permissible exposure limits (PELs) for many of the components of cigarette smoke. The levels are usually below the acceptable mark in casinos, Turner said, although they may not be low enough to ensure comfort.

Debra Janes, a health scientist for OSHA, warned that even PELs do not fully represent the risks involved in tobacco smoke. The cumulative effects of the chemicals in cigarette smoke may be substantial even if individual elements are below the permissible limits.

An OSHA rule proposed in 1994 attempted to regulate indoor air quality, and part of the rule said traditional methods of ventilation were insufficient in protecting individuals in the workplace. It advocated separately ventilated, enclosed smoking areas.

Under the rule, which Janes said is still being considered, "No employee can be required to work in an area where there will be contamination from ETS (environmental tobacco smoke)."

Another source of standardized information is ASHRAE, which creates standards for ventilation like how much outside air must be brought into a smoking area.

The initial ASHRAE standard dealing with Indoor Air Quality was written in 1989 It suggested a level of ventilation that was early on determined to be insufficient from a health perspective, said Bud Offerman, president of San Francisco-based Indoor Environmental Engineers and member of the ASHRAE standards committee.

A push for revision came particularly after the EPA named environmental tobacco smoke as a "Group A (known human) carcinogen" in 1992.

The EPA recommends that every company have a smoking policy that protects nonsmokers from involuntary exposure to cigarette smoke.

Offerman said the 1989 standard dealt with comfort levels, but as it has gone through continuous revisions for nearly a decade, health has become an important concern.

To eliminate the health risks associated with second-hand and sidestream smoke, smoking must be eliminated completely, Offerman said. Where health is concerned, no amount of ventilation or air cleaning can create a totally acceptable level of tobacco smoke, he added.

He added the risk of developing a smoke-related illness is for the most part proportionate to the amount of air or ventilation brought into the casino.

Workers in larger casinos with better ventilation face a lower risk, Offerman said.

OSHA's 1994 proposed rule reports, "for every 1,000 workers exposed to ETS, approximately 1 will most likely develop lung cancer and 7 to 16 will develop heart disease if they are exposed to ETS at their workplace in the course of a 45-year working lifetime."

In comparison, OSHA statistics indicate nonsmokers overall have a lung cancer rate of just 0.121 per thousand.

The OSHA criteria for a significant risk as determined by the Supreme Court is one case per 1,000 workers. One case in 1 million was established as a level that is not significant or of concern to OSHA.

A 1996 study by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) involved a Health Hazard Evaluation of Bally's Park Place in Atlantic City.

The study found "employees working in the gaming areas of a large casino are exposed to ETS at levels greater than those observed in a representative sample of the U.S. population, and that (biological indicators of exposure in) these employees increases during the work shift. Exposure to ETS is similar throughout the gaming area, and it appears that other groups of casino employees not participating in this evaluation are likely exposed to ETS at levels similar to those of the participants."

Dean Rasmussen, a facilities manager at the Bellagio, feels more research needs to be done on environmental tobacco smoke in order to determine appropriate levels. No one has published a clear-cut figure for acceptable levels of ETS, he complained.

Rasmussen pointed out that while many Americans are concerned by tobacco smoke, international guests tend to smoke more. A ban could severely cut into the company's foreign business, he said.

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