Past time to end airport smoking

I recently saw that McCarran International Airport had closed its smoking rooms due to the coronavirus. Unfortunately, airport representatives indicated that this was only a temporary policy and that they intend to return to smoking rooms as soon as possible.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the historic efforts spearheaded by airline industry employees to make all commercial airplane flights smoke-free. Isn’t it past time to make all airline terminals smoke-free? Atlanta Hartsfield went 100% smoke-free indoors in January, successfully closing its smoking rooms. The only remaining U.S. airports with indoor smoking are Washington Dulles, Nashville, Memphis, Biloxi, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky, and McCarran.

Please encourage the management at McCarran International to seriously consider making this a permanent policy. That would be a clear indication of the industry’s further commitment to safe airport travel for its staff, passengers and vendors.

The writer is president and CEO of Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights.