Tobacco research analyzes ethnic disparities

by Krystal Paco

Guam - Chamorro and Micronesian youth consume tobacco products more than any other ethnic groups on Guam. The John Hopkins Institute for Global Health and the University of Guam Research Center looked further into the disparity to try and find out why.

Public Health technical consultant Annette David told KUAM News, "What we did was really a long-term process where we were consulting the community about why it is that smoking and other tobacco users are so much higher amongst Chamorro and other Micronesian youth as compared to other ethnic groups in the island."

David says the two-month community based participatory project took place during the summer. Researchers were trained to collect data using GPS devices as well as analyze their findings. Researchers found that those areas where there was a higher percentage of Micronesians or Chuukese and those areas with lower incomes had a higher density of point-of-sale advertising. "They were able to find out that a lot of candy products are sold and packaged like tobacco products," she continued.

"There's a beef jerky product that looks like smokeless tobacco, they found that there is advertising all over the island at every point of sale, and they also found out that tobacco advertising in about 60% of the stores were within one foot of candy 1602 and other products attractive to children."