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Why DIA is NOT Clear for Take-off

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Contributed by: Dana Brandorff on 6/3/2008

Visitors to Denver International Airport (DIA) marvel at the amazing views of the Rocky Mountains, the Denver skyline in the distance, the terrific public art that enlivens the airport property, and their first breath of sparkling Colorado air -- except when that first breath includes a whiff of the secondhand tobacco smoke emanating from DIA's four smoking lounges.

In actuality, the smoking lounges aren't simply lounges at all. They are restaurants and bars like any other in Colorado, except that they are the only restaurants in the state in a public building where cigarette smoking is allowed. Based on Colorado's acceptance of clean indoor air policies, it shouldn't be so.

Well before the U.S. government and the aviation industry banned smoking on all domestic and worldwide flights, former Denver Mayor Federico Peña issued Executive Order 99 of 1990 to make Denver's International Airport smoke-free. Following the issuance of Peña's executive order, a lengthy fight ensued. A Denver City Council member launched a bill that would have allowed smoking at Denver's airport, ostensibly to appease international travelers. Mayor Peña vetoed the bill.

Executive Order 99 was eventually amended by Peña's successor, Mayor Wellington Webb, in 1993. Up to two smoking lounges were allowed at DIA so long as they were funded by the tobacco industry. Ironically, by 2000, the aviation industry progressed as all flights within, to, and from the United States were smoke-free. And by Spring 2008, some 136 U.S. airports were 100 percent smoke-free indoors, including major airports such as Chicago's O'Hare, New York's La Guardia and JFK, Seattle-Tacoma, LAX, San Francisco International, and Dallas/Ft. Worth.

On July 1, 2006, the Colorado Clean Indoor Air Act, -- passed by the Colorado State Legislature during its 2006 session -- went into effect. The state became the 13th in the nation to make restaurants, bars and most other workplaces smoke-free. The Act was intended to protect business establishments' workers and patrons from the deleterious effects of secondhand smoke.

On January 1, 2008, the clean indoor air law was extended to include the over 8,000 employees and patrons of all Colorado casinos, which previously had been exempted.

Today, only two major categories of public buildings still allow smoking -- cigar bars and the four exclusively contracted bars and restaurants at Denver International Airport. A 2005 statewide poll conducted by the American Cancer Society found that 66% of those registered voters polled throughout Colorado believed all bars, restaurants and casinos should be smoke-free. The Colorado General Assembly was moved to make the majority of workplaces smoke-free statewide; bars, restaurants and most other workplaces in 2006, followed by casinos in 2007. Now it's time to share the smoke-free spirit with all bar and restaurant workers, as well as travelers, at Denver International Airport.

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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Dana Brandorff

Littleton , CO

Dana Brandorff has posted 57 stories and 0 comments since joining on 9/14/2005. Dana Brandorff 's average story rating is 5.

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