STUDY: CDC Profiles Smokers Based on Race and Ethnicity, Touts Discriminatory 'Strategies'

Nick Kangadis | August 4, 2016

So much for the federal government wanting everyone to be colorblind.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published a study in Thursday’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). The study compares the disparity in cigarette smoking between racial and ethnic groups.

Want to see what government agencies really think about race and ethnicity all the while telling us to be politically correct?

Here is what the CDC found:

Among Whites, current cigarette smoking prevalence was 27.7 percent in 2002-2005 and 24.9 percent in 2010-2013.

Among Blacks, current cigarette smoking prevalence was 27.6 percent in 2002-2005 and 24.9 percent in 2010-2013.

Among American Indians/Alaska Natives, current cigarette smoking prevalence was 37.1 percent in 2002-2005 and 38.9 percent in 2010-2013.

Among Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islanders, current cigarette smoking prevalence was 31.4 percent in 2002-2005 and 22.8 percent in 2010-2013.

Among Asians, the current cigarette smoking prevalence was 14.5 percent in 2002-2005 and 10.9 percent in 2010-2013. Within that group were Chinese (7.6 percent in 2010-2013), Asian Indian (7.6 percent in 2010-2013), Japanese (10.2 percent in 2010-2013), Filipino (12.6 percent in 2010-2013), Vietnamese (16.3 percent in 2010-2013), and Korean (20.0 percent in 2010-2013).

Among Hispanics, current cigarette smoking prevalence was 23.9 percent in 2002-2005 and 19.9 percent in 2010-2013. Within that group were Central or South American (15.6 percent in 2010-2013), Mexican (19.1 percent in 2010-2013), Cuban (19.8 percent in 2010-2013), and Puerto Rican (28.5 percent in 2010-2013).

I don’t know about you, but I saw eight different races represented in the study, and I’m not even counting the further breakdown of Asians and Hispanics.

Had the CDC not informed all of us, we would have had no idea that there were only one type of white people, one type of black people, and one type of American Indian or Pacific Islanders.

“Even though the overall cigarette-smoking rate is declining, disparities remain among racial and ethnic groups and within subgroups,” said Bridgette Garrett, Ph.D., associate director for health equity in the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health. “Looking beyond broad racial and ethnic population categories can help better focus the strategies that we know work to reduce tobacco use among sub-groups with higher rates of use.”

How would Dr. Garrett know which strategies to use? If we are all the same, and color or ethnicity doesn’t matter, wouldn’t it be racist and prejudiced to have specific strategies for specific races and ethnicities?

If you’re the federal government and the CDC, I guess not.