 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Lev L. Mandel, MSc, Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, UCSF, 530 Parnassus Ave. Suite 366, San Francisco, CA 94143, 415 514 9341, lev@itsa.ucsf.edu and Stanton A Glantz, PhD, Institute for Health Policy Studies, University of California, San Francisco, 3333 California Street, Suite 265, San Francisco, CA 94118.
Objective: To describe and understand the relationship between the tobacco and gaming industries in their collaborative efforts to avoid workplace smoking regulations in casinos.
Methods: We analyzed publicly available tobacco industry documents from 1994 to 2002.
Results: The tobacco industry has been successful in convincing the gaming industry to play a proactive role in the fight against workplace smoking regulations in casinos. Through third-party allies and consultants- often shared with the tobacco industry- the gaming industry has actively participated at ASHRAE and OSHA hearings and have succeeded in keeping casinos exempt from workplace smoking regulations in most places. The tobacco and the gaming industries have worked together to create a market for expensive ventilation strategies to reduce odors in casinos rather than protecting workers and customers against second-hand smoke. With the goal of legitimizing ventilation, the tobacco industry secretly created the Hospitality Coalition on Indoor Air Quality (HCIAQ) in order to mobilize an alliance that allows third-party allies, to be effective in serving as the industries surrogate in the fight against workplace smoking regulations in casinos.
Conclusion: The tobacco industry has been successful in preventing smoke-free workplaces in casinos and other gaming facilities through the mobilization of a coalition of gaming, hospitality, labor, construction and ventilation interests. Additionally, expensive tobacco and gaming industry sponsored ventilation strategies have been effective at diverting attention away from workplace smoking regulations in gaming facilities. While the tobacco industry’s ventilation solution has not been successful in influencing the hospitality industry as a whole, it has been successful in alliance with the gaming industry.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Tobacco Industry, Tobacco Control
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.