Press Release - October 29th, 2025

Detroit, MI — Despite testimony and nearly a hundred comments from public health and workers’ rights advocates urging the Wayne County Airport Authority (WCAA) to keep the Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW) smokefree, WCAA released a Request for Proposals for a cigar lounge in the airport’s main terminal. Now, Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights is calling on the WCAA to rescind its RFP and side with the 77% of Michiganders who do not support a cigar lounge inside of DTW.

“Opening a cigar lounge in one of the busiest airports in the country will put airport employees and travelers in direct contact with secondhand smoke, risking their health, safety, and satisfaction,” said Cynthia Hallett, president and CEO of Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights (ANR). “Airport workers should not be forced to choose between their wellbeing and a paycheck, and passengers should not have to endure toxic secondhand smoke during the already stressful and difficult experience of air travel. Instead of a cigar lounge, the WCAA should think about using the space for something that travelers actually need — such as seating areas, spaces to charge devices, and more food options — rather than a service that only appeals to a small minority of people while polluting the air for all.”

Allowing any type of smoking in DTW would negatively impact the health of its more than 18,000 workers and more than 31 million passengers. Ventilation is not enough to contain the cigar smoke to an enclosed lounge. Even in nonsmoking areas, studies in airports with smoking lounges consistently show elevated levels of particulate matter (PM2.5), endangering the health of both travelers and employees. Furthermore, cigar smoke has even higher levels of tar and cancer-causing substances than cigarettes. When lit, cigars release fine particles that can cause heart and lung disease. They also take longer to smoke, resulting in higher exposure to toxins to both the user and those around them. Every year in Michigan, over 1,740 nonsmokers die because of exposure to secondhand smoke.

Background

Tobacco use and secondhand smoke exposure kills nearly 500,000 Americans every year. Secondhand smoke puts adults who don’t smoke at risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, and lung cancer. According to the CDC, “There is no risk-free level of secondhand smoke. Even brief exposure can cause immediate harm.”

Studies have consistently shown that exposure to secondhand smoke increases the risk of heart disease, lung cancer, and respiratory illnesses. Recent research by the CDC has affirmed that prohibiting smoking throughout the entirety of an establishment is the only effective way to protect workers from these harms.

Health and engineering experts overwhelmingly agree that there is no safe level of indoor smoking. Even the engineers who design ventilation systems have said, “At present, the only means of effectively eliminating health risks associated with indoor exposure is to ban smoking activity… No other engineering approaches, including current and advanced dilution ventilation or air cleaning technologies, have demonstrated or should be relied upon to control health risks from ETS [environmental tobacco smoke] exposure in spaces where smoking occurs…”

The decision to open a cigar lounge in DTW goes against public opinion and recent trends. In a recent survey of 600 people around Michigan, 77% of respondents said they would not support a cigar lounge inside DTW. In 2023, DTW was ranked number one in customer satisfaction among mega airports by J.D. Power — by introducing a cigar lounge, WCAA risks tarnishing its reputation and alienating travelers, especially as airports nationwide are eliminating smoking lounges and moving toward overall modernization to enhance the passenger experience. The DTW proposals would also go against recent decisions by airport authorities to eliminate smoking lounges from nearly all airports across the country. Only 4 airports still allow some form of the practice.

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Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights (ANR) is a member-supported, non-profit advocacy group that has been working for nearly 50 years, since 1976, to protect everyone’s right to breathe nontoxic air in workplaces and public places, from offices and airplanes to restaurants, bars, and casinos. ANR has continuously shined a light on the tobacco industry’s interference with sound and life-saving public health measures and successfully protected 61% of the population with local or statewide smokefree workplace, restaurant, and bar laws. ANR aims to close gaps in smokefree protections for workers in all workplaces, including bars, music venues, casinos, and hotels. For more information, please visit https://nonsmokersrights.org and https://smokefreecasinos.org.