Smoke-Filled Casinos

If the extra $1 billion surplus announced by the state Senate weren't a big enough hurdle to Eliot Spitzer's plan to reduce health care spending, how about this letter from the American Cancer Society and other groups who concerned over a loophole that'll allow smoking in the casinos built in the Catskills.

"We believe the compact's failure to meaningfully address smoking is backsliding and a bad deal for the health of New Yorkers."

The letter goes on to say:

"Your strong record as Attorney General in combating tobacco's threat makes this situation even more disappointing and uncomfortable for us."

The full letter is after the jump.

-- Azi Paybarah

American Cancer Society American Heart Association American Lung Association of New York State, Inc. Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids League of Women Voters - New York State New York Public Interest Research Group

By Hand

February 23, 2007

Honorable Eliot Spitzer Governor State of New York Executive Chamber State Capitol Albany, NY 12224

Re: Gaming compact with the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe

Dear Governor Spitzer:

We write to express our deep disappointment with the terms of the gaming compact negotiated with the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe.

Secondhand tobacco smoke kills more than 50,000 Americans every year. New York's groundbreaking Clean Indoor Air Law, by prohibiting smoking in worksites and public places, has reduced the threat of heart disease, respiratory symptoms and cancer to nonsmoking workers and customers.

We believe persons working in or patronizing a gaming facility are entitled to the same protection from deadly secondhand smoke that is available to them everywhere else in New York. Regrettably, this agreement does nothing to protect 3,000 workers or hundreds of thousands of casino patrons from secondhand smoke.

While New York does not apply its laws and regulations on Native American lands, your office could have insisted that the St. Regis Mohawks agree in the compact to abide by the smoking restrictions delineated in section 1399-o of the Public Health Law. This would have meant, in effect, that smoking would have been prohibited in all public areas and workspaces within the facility. Indeed, the compact mandates that the Tribe's regulations "governing building, sanitary, health standards and fire safety ...shall be no less rigorous than current standards imposed by" the State, with one glaring exception.With regard to smoking regulations, this agreement states only that the Mohawks will maintain smoke-free environments "within portions" of the facility. The agreement does not specify the number, location, size and configuration of these "portions," nor does it define "smoke-free." Apparently, the Tribe will be able to comply with this requirement by simply declaring some of the hotel guest rooms, or a section of a restaurant, to be non-smoking. In any case, it is clear that how much or how little workers and patrons are protected from secondhand smoke will be entirely up to the Tribe and facility management.

In 2003, New York recognized that such an arrangement protects no one and enacted the Clean Indoor Air Act. In 2006, confirming the wisdom of New York's landmark law, the U.S. Surgeon General in a comprehensive report concluded that secondhand smoke causes cancer and heart disease in exposed nonsmokers and that "there is no risk-free level of exposure."

All gaming facilities in Delaware are smoke-free. New Jersey state law already prohibits smoking everywhere in casinos except on the gaming floor, and the state legislature is now considering a bill to make casinos 100 percent smoke free. That measure will override a recently enacted Atlantic City ordinance confining smoking to a separately enclosed and ventilated area no more than 25 percent of the gaming floor. Pennsylvania similarly is considering legislation that will make all workplaces, including gaming facilities, smoke-free.

We believe the compact's failure to meaningfully address smoking is backsliding and a bad deal for the health of New Yorkers. At a time when smoke free environments are becoming the norm all over the world, and New York is recognized as a leader in this death and disease-preventing movement, this agreement freezes in place the bad old days of smoke-filled rooms, subjecting the nonsmoking majority to the pollution generated by the small minority that still uses tobacco.

Accordingly, unless you can renegotiate this portion of the agreement to assure a smoke-free facility, we will urge the Legislature to refuse to carve this loophole into the law it overwhelmingly enacted four years ago, and we will continue to oppose any gaming compact that fails to protect New Yorkers from this serious health threat.

Your strong record as Attorney General in combating tobacco's threat makes this situation even more disappointing and uncomfortable for us. We have vigorously supported your past efforts to protect public health from tobacco and expect to do so in the future. We hope that under your leadership New York will continue to be a leader on this issue, including in promoting safe, smoke free gaming environments.

Sincerely,

Russell Sciandra American Cancer Society

Mr. Rifkin Dr. Daines Speaker Silver Senator Bruno