After 15 Months of Testimony, Workers’ Rights and Public Health Advocates Slam DTW for Prioritizing Cigar Bar Over Worker Safety and Racial Equity
Detroit, MI—In the months following the release of a request for proposals for a cigar lounge in the main terminal of Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW), public health and workers’ rights advocates have been submitting hundreds of comments and testimony to keep the airport smokefree—but the Wayne County Airport Authority (WCAA) has not listened. On Wednesday, January 21st, the WCAA held a meeting to listen to community members’ concerns about the health risks of allowing secondhand smoke into DTW. While the WCAA publicly states it is open to hearing the community’s concerns and has public good in mind, it has still not rescinded its request for proposals.
“If we haven’t been clear before, let me be clear now: secondhand smoke from cigars is dangerous and toxic, and it doesn’t matter if you put a high price tag on or put it in a fancy wrapper, sit in a fancy chair and drink a fancy drink—secondhand smoke from cigars and even third hand smoke off-gassing WILL cause harm to your employees,” said Onjewel Smith, Strategist, for Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights (ANR) in testimony presented at the meeting. “No worker should be put in harm’s way. No worker should have to sign a waiver, forfeit their rights, or agree to be harmed by a known toxic chemical in order to earn a living and to provide for their families.
“So, I’d be remiss if I didn’t ask, why would you re-introduce smoking into an environment that for so long has been a pillar of health and safety standards, not just in Detroit or Michigan but throughout the nation. Knowing what you know about first, second, and thirdhand smoke, why would you even take a chance on risking the lives, the health, and the livelihood of workers in that environment?”
For the 15th consecutive month, around a dozen concerned citizens and public health advocates testified in opposition to the proposed cigar bar at yesterday’s WCAA meeting. Just two days after Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the meeting’s irony was not lost on attendees. Dr. Gregory Bolden, program manager of community initiatives for the Center of Black Health, quoted Dr. King during yesterday’s meeting: “Of all the forms of inequity, injustice in health is the most shocking and inhumane.” By hosting a meeting in which testimony of public health concerns and demands for workplace protections fall on deaf ears, the WCAA dishonors the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. and shows the Detroit community that to the airport authority, their lives are expendable.
Allowing any type of smoking in DTW would negatively impact the health of its more than 18,000 workers and more than 31 million passengers. Even in nonsmoking areas, studies in airports with smoking lounges consistently show elevated levels of particulate matter (PM2.5), endangering the health of both travelers and employees. Every year in Michigan, over 1,740 nonsmokers die because of exposure to secondhand smoke—it is up to the WCAA to eliminate all plans to open a cigar lounge in DTW and save lives in the process.
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Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights (ANR) is a member-supported, non-profit advocacy group that has been working for 50 years to protect everyone’s right to breathe nontoxic air in workplaces and public places, from offices and airplanes to restaurants, bars, and casinos. ANR has continuously shined a light on the tobacco industry’s interference with sound and life-saving public health measures and successfully protected 61% of the population with local or statewide smokefree workplace, restaurant, and bar laws. ANR aims to close gaps in smokefree protections for workers in all workplaces, including bars, music venues, casinos, and hotels. For more information, please visit https://nonsmokersrights.org and https://smokefreecasinos.org.
Contact:
press@no-smoke.org
