In Op-Ed, Minou Jones and Dr. A’Lynne Boles Dukes Describe Public Health Victory After 18 Months of Protesting

Detroit, MI —​ After years of intense pushback from a broad coalition of health organizations, workers’ rights advocates, and local residents, the Wayne County Airport Authority (WCAA) decided last month to rescind its proposal to open an indoor cigar lounge at the Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW). In an op-ed for The Detroit News, coalition members Minou Jones, founder and CEO of the Making It Count Community Development Corporation, and Dr. A’Lynne Boles Dukes, co-chair of the Keep MI Kids Tobacco Free Alliance, write that their successful attempt to stop the proposal marks a major victory for airport workers and the millions of travelers who pass through the facility each year.

KEY POINT: “This is a victory for public health, for Detroiters, and for everyone who passes through or works at Michigan’s largest airport…The decision also reinforces Michigan’s longstanding commitment to smokefree environments. For more than a decade, Michigan has recognized that workers and the public deserve protection from secondhand smoke. Airports should reflect those same values. This outcome is about more than one airport. It demonstrates that communities can influence important decisions when they stay engaged, organize thoughtfully and continue advocating respectfully, even when success feels uncertain.”

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Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights (ANR), sister organization to the ANR Foundation, 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 has successfully protected 62.8% of the population with local or statewide smokefree workplace, restaurant, and bar laws. ANR aims to create healthy communities by closing remaining gaps in smokefree protections for workers in all workplaces, including bars, music venues, casinos, and hotels. For more information, please visit nonsmokersrights.org and smokefreecasinos.org.