In spring of 2006 the Arkansas Legislature passed a very weak clean indoor air law protecting many from the hazards of secondhand smoke (SHS). Notable exemptions to the health and safety standards mandated by the legislature were given to the gaming floors of any franchisee of the Arkansas Gaming Commission at Oaklawn and Southland Parks. SHS was then, and still is, the third leading cause of preventable death in Arkansas. By autumn of 2006 the California EPA had classified SHS as a Toxic Air Contaminant and a federal court had convicted the tobacco industry of racketeering and fraud for, among several things, 5 decades of deceit and manipulation of public opinion about the hazards of smoking and SHS.
The Journal of the Arkansas Medical Society (JAMS) published in November a paper documenting research I did on the air quality at Oaklawn and Southland during spring of 2014. Sampling of fine particulates in interior areas at both venues greatly exceeded the Environmental Protection Agency’s standard for daily exposure for outside air. Workers and visitors to Southland endure up to 800% of the EPA’s safe daily standard. Levels at Oaklawn were up to 400% of the threshold for safety. Oaklawn is the only business in the state that exposes children to SHS. A video documenting this research is linked here. The JAMS article is linked here.
Special thanks are due to the Arkansas Cancer Coalition, the Arkansas Department of Health Tobacco Prevention and Education Branch, and a litany of sophisticated and knowledgable co-authors.
Primary to rectifying the many flaws in the 2006 law is addressing the failure to protect all individuals from SHS. We do not lose the right to breathe at 21. The data from this pilot study should be disseminated widely. It is well time for policy makers to recognize their responsibility to the public health. The risk of death from cancer or heart disease should never be a condition of employment or patronage.
