Reid Mukai
By Reid Mukai
For Northwest Asian Weekly
Cigarette smoking is a public health issue of particular concern to the Asian-Pacific Islander (API) population. According to Oakland-based Asian Pacific Partners for Empowerment, Advocacy and Leadership (APPEAL), tobacco smoking is associated with three of the top killers of Asian Americans nationwide: heart disease, cancer and stroke.
80% of lung cancer deaths are caused by smoking and it is the leading cause of cancer fatalities among Asian Americans. While the American Lung Association reports Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have the lowest smoking rates among adults of all racial/ethnic groups, unfortunately the true rates of smoking among APIs are often not accurately tracked because of common research practices such as dumping data collected from various Asian subgroups into one category or conducting surveys only in English.
A 2006 National Latino and Asian American Study cited by APPEAL indicated roughly one in three Vietnamese and Korean American men smoke. Last year, APPEAL conducted community-based studies in Asian languages which revealed high smoking prevalence rates among men of the following groups: Cambodian (13–58%), Chinese (11–36%), Korean (22–37%), Lao (32%), and Vietnamese (24–41%). A 2001 research paper published in the journal Tobacco Control reviewed internal tobacco industry documents from the 80s and 90s and found a concerted effort to target API communities because of their population growth, high prevalence of smoking in countries of origin, high purchasing power, cultural predisposition to smoking, high proportion of retail businesses under API ownership, and desire to assimilate. The documents also revealed Asian American women were targeted because they might connect smoking with a sign of gender equality and start “smoking more as they believe they should enjoy the same freedom as men.”
Having grown up in Hawaii, the only state with a majority API/multiracial population, I witnessed first-hand a high prevalence of smoking among Asians and Pacific Islanders, especially among working class young adults. My brother used to smoke and was fortunately able to quit (but not until after multiple failed attempts) and I myself smoked for a short period during college.
A few years ago during one of my regular trips to Hawaii to spend time with family, I happened to visit Pearl Ridge Shopping Center and noticed a long line of people waiting to make purchases at a small kiosk in the middle of the mall. It turned out the kiosk sold e-cigarettes and refill cartridges. It was the first time I heard of such devices.
Though I no longer smoked, it stoked my curiosity because it made me wonder what made them so popular, if they were any more addictive than regular cigarettes, and if it was more harmful or less harmful. When I found out my brother quit smoking cigarettes for good with the help of an electronic cigarette two years ago, it motivated me to research it and eventually get into the industry.
The earliest documented electronic cigarette invention is attributed to Herbert Gilbert who patented a smokeless cigarette in 1963. The device allowed users to inhale nicotine steam by heating a nicotine solution but was never commercialized. Fast forward forty years to 2003, when a Chinese pharmacist, Hon Lik, created a device which used an ultrasound element to vaporize a compressed jet of propylene glycol nicotine liquid. In 2006, the cartomizer, a type of cartridge containing an atomizer (an innovation adopted by many major e-cig brands), was developed by British entrepreneurs Umer and Tariq Sheikh.
Nicotine is addictive, and while there needs to be more studies on long-term effects of e-cig use, the most up-to-date studies suggest that they’re a safer habit than tobacco cigarettes. According to a recent issue of the journal Addiction, scientists reported risks to users and passive bystanders from electronic cigarettes are far less than those posed by tobacco cigarette smoke. E-cigs contain fewer toxins than tobacco smoke and at much lower levels, and there’s no current evidence that children move from experimenting with e-cigarettes to regular use, and it also concluded that the products do not encourage young people to go on to conventional smoking habits. Their analysis also suggests switching to e-cigs can help tobacco smokers quit or reduce cigarette consumption.
Another concern I had about e-cigs was how much Big Tobacco was profiting off the vaping trend. While Big Tobacco initially was resistant to electronic cigarettes, they have since embraced it by buying out or creating some of the largest e-cig brands in the market (mostly cheap devices with disposable cartridges and limited selection of flavors). However, unlike with tobacco cigarettes, Big Tobacco has not yet reached a monopolistic hold on the market.
A recent multiethnic study of e-cig users in Hawaii published by the American Journal of Public Health found that smokers who used e-cigs reported higher motivation to quit, higher quitting self-efficacy, and longer recent quit duration than did other smokers. Though I have yet to come across data showing e-cig vaping prevalence rates among the API community, judging from what I’ve seen in Hawaii, Oregon and Seattle, it seems to be catching on faster than in the general population. It wouldn’t be surprising because the Asian-Pacific Islander demographic are often sought after by marketers because they are statistically early adopters of new technologies. E-cig use may not be as healthy as being completely drug-free, but it has proven to be healthier than smoking tobacco cigarettes, and if it can help smokers to quit, or at least switch to a healthier habit (which data from studies have suggested), then it is in fact a societal trend which can greatly reduce the harm of cigarette smoking among groups most affected, including the API community. (end)
Reid Mukai is a Seattle blogger and owner of Cascadia Vape.
There have been a lot of debates and studies conducted about e-cigarette. One thing I can say as a vaper is, smoking e-cigarette seems like a bad idea for non-smokers but it was and still is a great help for a former tobacco smoker who wanted to quit smoking.
Great article on a very real and growing threat to the health of API communities! The FDA is currently in the process of “deeming” e-cigs as regulated products along the lines of traditional tobacco, but proposed rules are not promising. Especially, related to the continuing targeting of communities of color, like the API community, with those products.
Thanks for your interest in this important topic!
A key point the article misses, is that fact that e-cigs may increase smoking among young people and are currently unregulated. Not all of the science is in on the effects of e-cig use and consistency across brands complicates that science. Perhaps, it’s best to move people away from nicotine all together.