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African American Communities Experience a Health Burden from Commercial Tobacco										Related Pages
										Commercial tobacco* gets in the way of achieving health equity for African American people:
In 2020, 19.4% of non-Hispanic Black adults currently used any tobacco product.1
In 2021, an estimated 8.2% of non-Hispanic Black youth currently used any tobacco product, compared with 11.0% of non-Hispanic White youth.2An estimated 3.1% of non-Hispanic Black youth currently used cigars, compared with 1.4% of non-Hispanic White youth.2
African American people usually start smoking at an older age than White people do but are more likely to die from smoking-related disease.3,4
About the same percent of African American adults and White adults smoke, but African American people smoke fewer cigarettes per day.3,4heartbeat and cigarette
Despite starting to smoke cigarettes later in life, African American people are more likely than other racial and ethnic groups to have related health problems.
African American people are more likely to die from smoking-related diseases (e.g. heart disease, diabetes) than Hispanic people and Non-Hispanic, White people.3,4,5
More details on some of the reasons for these health disparities – and the public health measures that can improve health equity for African American people – are in this website section.
**“Commercial tobacco” means harmful products that are made and sold by tobacco companies. It does not include “traditional tobacco” used by Indigenous groups for religious or ceremonial purposes*.Next Section: Unfair and Unjust Practices Harm African American People and Drive Health Disparities >ReferencesCornelius ME, Loretan CG, Wang TW, Jamal A, Homa DM. Tobacco Product Use Among Adults — United States, 2020. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2022;71:397–405 [accessed 2022 May 25].
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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Tobacco Use Among U.S. Racial/Ethnic Minority Groups—African Americans, American Indians and Alaska Natives, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and Hispanics: A Report of the Surgeon General [PDF - 389KB]. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Office on Smoking and Health, 1998 [accessed 2021 Jan 19].
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U.S. Federal Trade Commission. Federal Trade Commission Cigarette Report for 2017 [PDF - 361KB]. 2019 [accessed 2021 Jan 19].
Lee JG, Henriksen L, Rose SW, Moreland-Russell S, and Ribisl KM. A systematic review of neighborhood disparities in point-of-sale tobacco marketing. Am J Public Health, 2015;105(9): e8-e18 [accessed 2021 Jan 19].
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health. Preventing Tobacco Use Among Youth and Young Adults: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta (GA): Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2012 [accessed 2021 Jan 19].
Ganz O, Rose SW, Cantrell J. Swisher Sweets ‘Artist Project’: Using musical events to promote cigars. Tobacco Control 2018;27: e93-e95 [accessed 2021 Jan 19].
Robertson L, McGee R, Marsh L, and Hoek J. "A systematic review on the impact of point-of-sale tobacco promotion on smoking. Nicotine & Tobacco Research 2015;17(1): 2-17 [accessed 2021 Jan 19].
Ton HT, Smart AE, Aguilar BL, et al. Menthol enhances the desensitization of human alpha3beta4 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. Mol Pharmacol 2015;88(2):256-64 [accessed 2021 Jan 19].
Oliver AJ, Jensen JA, Vogel RI, Anderson AJ, and Hatsukami DK. Flavored and nonflavored smokeless tobacco products: Rate, pattern of use, and effects. Nicotine Tob Res 2013;15(1):88-92 [accessed 2021 Jan 19].
Brown & Williamson. The growth of menthols 330000-770000. Macon, GA: Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation, 1978. [accessed 2021 Jan 19].
Villanti AC, Mowery PD, Delnevo CD, Niaura RS, Abrams DB, Giovino GA. Changes in the prevalence and correlates of menthol cigarette use in the USA, 2004-2014. Tob Control. 2016;25:ii14-ii20. [accessed 2021 Jan 19].
U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Preliminary Scientific Evaluation of the Possible Public Health Effects of Menthol Versus Nonmenthol Cigarettes. Rockville, MD [accessed 2021 Jan 19].
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2019. Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality. [accessed 2021 Jan 19].
National Cancer Institute. The Role of the Media in Promoting and Reducing Tobacco Use. Smoking and Tobacco Control Monograph No. 19, NIH Pub. No. 07-6242, June 2008 [accessed 2021 Jan 19].
Center for Public Health Systems Science. Point-of-Sale Strategies: A Tobacco Control Guide [PDF - 7.8MB]. St. Louis: Center for Public Health Systems Science, George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis and the Tobacco Control Legal Consortium, 2014 [accessed 2021 Jan 19].
Kong AY, Queen TL, Golden SD, Ribisl KM. Neighborhood Disparities in the Availability, Advertising, Promotion, and Youth Appeal of Little Cigars and Cigarillos, United States, 2015. Nicotine Tob Res. 2020 [accessed 2021 Jan 19].
Henriksen L, Schleicher NC, Dauphinee AL, Fortmann SP. Targeted Advertising, Promotion, and Price for Menthol Cigarettes in California High School Neighborhoods. Nicotine Tob Res 2012;14(1): 116-121 [accessed 2021 Jan 19].
Giovino GA, Villanti AC, Mowery PD et al. Differential Trends in Cigarette Smoking in the USA: Is Menthol Slowing Progress? Tobacco Control, 2015;24(1):28-37 [accessed 2021 Jan 19].
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