Surgeon General Releases New Report Highlighting Risk of Secondhand Smoke in Casinos
Atlantic City, NJ – This week, the U.S. Surgeon General released a new report that highlights inequities in exposure to secondhand smoke and its deadly health consequences. While the United States has made progress in reducing smoking overall, exposure to secondhand smoke still results in more than 19,000 deaths in the United States per year— and casino workers are on the front lines, being forced to breathe toxic air every day on the job.
Casino Employees Against Smoking Effects (CEASE) is calling on legislators across the United States to follow Surgeon General Murthy’s lead and push for smokefree laws to include casinos.
“While we applaud the Surgeon General for his leadership in addressing the harmful effects of smoking and secondhand smoke, his report discusses what casino workers have always unfortunately known,” said Pete Naccarelli, co-founder of CEASE. “Casino workers have waited far too long to be afforded the same protections as other workers. We have countless colleagues who are now subjected to inhalers and oxygen tanks or have been diagnosed with cancer after working in smoke-filled casinos. These are not workable conditions. It’s past time for legislators to lead on behalf of all their constituents. The simple solution? Pass indoor smokefree casino legislation that protects all workers.”
The report highlights the disproportionate effect of secondhand smoke on casino workers and makes a strong case for comprehensive smokefree legislation that includes casinos:
“The evidence is well documented that people who spend extended amounts of time in environments where smoking occurs, such as casino employees, are at an increased health risk because of the high concentrations and cumulative effects of exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke… Failure to protect employees in these settings risks exacerbating health disparities among casino and hospitality workers relative to workers who are protected by workplace smokefree policies. State, territorial, local, and tribal smokefree laws that apply to casinos would protect these employees as well as visitors from the health effects of secondhand tobacco smoke.”
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Casino Employees Against Smoking (Harmful) Effects (CEASE) is a group of thousands of casino dealers and other frontline gaming workers that formed after indoor smoking returned on July 4, 2021 in Atlantic City, NJ and has expanded to states around the country. CEASE is fighting to permanently remove smoking from our workplaces. For more information, visit ceasesmoking.org.
SGR Tobacco Related Health Disparities Fact Sheet
Read more about smokefree casinos.
See the Real Deal Videos about CEASE.
