NJ Casino Workers Push for State Smoking Ban [11/15-1]
Excerpts from: A.C. casino workers fuel push for smoking ban in New Jersey
By PETE McALEER Press Atlantic City [11/15/05]
Casino supervisor Vince Rennich compares his workplace to "a modern day coal mine."
Though he said he never smoked a cigarette, Rennich, 47, of Somers Point, suffers from lung cancer. He had surgery in September to remove the top right lobe of his lung, he said.
Rennich was one of two casino workers in Trenton on Monday for the release of a new study, conducted by the New Jersey Group Against Smoking Pollution (GASP) and the American Heart Association, that claims workers in restaurants, casinos and bars are forced to work in polluted environments because of New Jersey's failure to pass a smoking ban.
The study comes as the state Legislature prepares to reconvene for its "lame duck session," in which controversial bills can move with the least fear of political repercussions. A statewide smoking ban is among the items that may be considered during the session. The big question is whether that ban will include casinos.
Acting Gov. Richard J. Codey, who also serves as Senate president, supports the ban but said casinos may need to be exempt from the ban because of "political realities." Assembly leaders want casinos included in the ban.
Gov.-elect Jon S. Corzine supports the ban, but said he wants to examine whether casinos should be exempt for financial reasons. During the campaign, he said he was skeptical about the casino industry's claim that the ban would cause financial hardship.
Opponents of the ban, including the restaurant and casino industries, have said it would result in lost business and lost jobs. Casino Association President Audrey Oswell was not available for comment Monday, according to a spokesman.
The American Heart Association study tested 51 public places and found establishments that allowed smoking were 15 times more polluted than those that did not. It also found workers in 43 smoking locations - from casinos to restaurants to bowling alleys - were exposed to air with pollution that exceeded limits set by the Environmental Protection Agency, while eight locations that prohibit smoking were all below the thresholds.
Rennich said he learned he contracted lung cancer while receiving medical treatment after a car accident. Doctors told him he would have died within a year had it taken longer to diagnose the disease, he said.
"My co-workers were all scared," Rennich said. "I'm healthy. I lift weights and run. They figure if I can get it, they can get it."
A 25-year casino employee, Rennich said he does not think casinos will suffer if the ban includes them.
"People are going to come, no matter what," he said.
Al DeSimone of Galloway Township, who has worked 20 out of the past 24 years as a dealer and a casino supervisor, said he is tired of putting up with secondhand smoke for an entire eight-hour shift. He comes home with his eyes and his nose irritated and his clothes smelling like smoke, he said.
"On a daily basis, dealers are forced to breathe secondhand smoke, which is both unhealthy and disgusting," DeSimone said. "It's literally three to five feet from our noses and we're forced to stay in the same place. If all 40 senators and all 80 assembly members stood in a dealer's shoes for one night, the ban would pass unanimously."
Nine states currently ban indoor smoking, including New York and Delaware
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