Anti-Tobacco Campaigns in the African-American Community
African American women are fighting to
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Charyn Sutton of The Onyx Group, a consulting firm specializing in tobacco prevention for African Americans, believes that "the entire community is addicted to tobacco through target marketing of tobacco products and financial support of black organizations." Cigarette sponsorship of community events, large amounts of advertising in black-owned magazines, and significant contributions to civil rights organizations can create a conflict of interest for African Americans concerned with the health and livelihood of their community.
Dr. Sherry Mills of Abt Associates is concerned about physical effects specific to African Americans. She informs us, "there is data that suggests that the metabolism of nicotine might be different in African Americans." Nicotine may in fact stay in the system of an African American woman longer than it would in a white woman. This could explain why African Americans have the highest lung cancer incidence rate of any ethnic group in the US. Another reason may be menthol. Eighty percent of black smokers are addicted to mentholated cigarettes, while only one-quarter of whites that smoke buy menthol brands. The effect of combining menthol and tobacco has not been thoroughly examined, but several studies indicate that it significantly increases exposure to cancer causing agents.
What we know for sure is that tobacco use is a major contributor to the three leading causes of death among African Americans: heart disease, stroke, and cancer. In women, smoking also causes cervical cancer, osteoporosis, and low birth weight babies. Black women are significantly more likely to quit smoking during pregnancy than their white counterparts. Unfortunately, African American babies born to mothers still smoking during pregnancy have poorer outcomes than babies born to white mothers with similar smoking habits.
Seventy percent of African American smokers
say they want to quit,
but they are less likely to successfully
kick the habit than the general population.
However, a promising study
from the Centers for Disease Control
indicates that when cigarette prices are
raised, African American smokers are twice
as likely as whites to reduce or quit smoking.
African American women including Brenda
Bell Caffee, Charyn Sutton, and Dr. Sherry
Mills are organizing, and using this and
other information to free their communities
from tobacco addiction.
Kicking the Habit: African Americans and
Tobacco Control is part of a series of shows
profiling tobacco control programs in minority
communities. To the Contrary outreach and
public awareness campaign on tobacco control
is made possible by the American
Legacy Foundation.
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