Time for smoke-free casino bill

It's difficult to get Democrats and Republicans to agree on most anything these days, but getting smoke out of Iowa's casinos is more important than party politics.

During our time in the Iowa Legislature, going smoke-free was a contentious issue. Fears about lost business and business owners' rights were pervasive. But more persuasive was proof of serious health ramifications from continuing to allow smoking indoors: increased risk of lung cancer, heart disease, stroke and respiratory illness.

No one should face those kinds of health risks simply by going to work each day.

That basic right - smoke-free air at work - was what ultimately motivated us to assist in getting a bill through the legislature with strong bipartisan support.

Since then, research has shown the benefits of going smoke free; most notably a 24 percent reduction in hospital admissions for cardiovascular disease. That decrease means thousands have been spared scary and costly trips with chest pain and secondhand smoke-related heart attacks.

Yet this lifesaving and popular public health law has one serious flaw; it exempts casinos.

The casino industry pushed hard against the law. They pushed hard to be treated different even though their employees faced and continue to face even higher risks for secondhand smoke related illness than other workers. Dealers are exposed to known cancer-causing chemicals like benzene and formaldehyde. Along with their winnings, patrons take home significantly elevated levels of tobacco-specific lung carcinogens.

Casino interests claim their facilities are safe because of 'state-of-the-art” ventilation systems. Yet the position paper of the ventilation industry's trade group, ASHRAE, states, 'At present the only means of effectively eliminating health risk associated with indoor exposure [to secondhand smoke] is to ban smoking activity.” It goes on to say, 'The public now expects smoke-free air which cannot be accomplished with any engineering or other approaches.”

Those are pretty strong words from an industry that would otherwise benefit from a rush in ventilation system sales.

What's more, the public's expectation of smoke-free air is reflected in a 2011 survey which found 63 percent of Iowa voters supported extending the smoke-free air law to casinos.

It would seem strong science, clear evidence and steadfast public support would spur legislative action to close the casino exemption, but instead it seems too many lawmakers are comfortable with the status quo.

As former lawmakers who have served in various leadership capacities, we understand the pressures and issues lawmakers must weigh. But we also understand when something is simply good public policy and it needs to get done.

Closing this casino loophole needs to get done.

Cancer doesn't care if you're a Democrat or a Republican, a bartender or a black jack dealer, but voters should care if their lawmakers will vote to make casinos smoke-free. Now is the time to ask your newly elected lawmakers if they will close this loophole during their next session.

' Ro Foege is a former Democratic lawmaker and Walt Tomenga is a former Republican lawmaker. Comments: rofoege@mac.com or wjtomenga@msn.com