Handsel Art
PRESS
RELEASE
Date: 25 May 2008
For
Immediate Release
Contact: J.R. Few at
(870) 427-1365 or email
Poor,
Uneducated Targeted by Tobacco
“I speak to you this morning unapologetically as an
African American minister,” said Bishop Douglas Miles, greeting a filled hall
at the Pine Bluff Convention Center May 21st and 22nd for the 5th
annual Clearing the Air in Communities of Color
conference. Hosted by the University of
Arkansas at Pine Bluff’s Minority Initiative Sub-recipient Grant Office, the
two day conference featured speakers such as Kevin Collins from the Centers for
Disease Control’s Office on Smoking and Health , Onjewel Smith from Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights, and
Comedy Central’s “Laughter Advocate”, lung cancer survivor, Rene Hicks.
Tobacco Free Marion County’s media coordinator J.R. Few spoke on the panel leading discussion for the Workshop
titled Tobacco Control from Their Perspective. Says Few, “I’m
honored by the invitation to share at this conference. People of color suffer disproportionately
from tobacco but the industry is well aware that the poor and uneducated of all
ethnicities are more likely to smoke and less likely to quit. Uniting to recognize where the nicotine industry
profits is important to the public health.”
A
2004 study published in the Journal of Public Health concluded that tobacco
control policies should be widened to include socioeconomic circumstances
linked to smoking.
Bishop Douglas Miles from Koinonia
Baptist Church in Baltimore addresses the audience on A Vision of a Smoke Free Society at the 5th annual Clearing the Air in Communities of Color conference.