Rutgers Health researchers are recruiting participants for a study examining cigarillo perceptions and use in young adults. These products come in brands like Swisher Sweets, Black & Mild, White Owl, and Dutch Masters. The tobacco industry often targets African American and Hispanic communities with flavored tobacco products, according to the study researchers. As a result, data from previous studies show that cigarillo use rates are higher among Black (6.5 percent) and Hispanic (4 percent) youth compared with white youth (2.8 percent).
The Unvarnished Project is comprised of two studies funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institutes of Minority Health and Health Disparities of the National Institutes of Health. One of these studies—The C’RILLOS Project—seeks to level the playing field by increasing the representation of African American and Hispanic young adults and including their perspective in data that will shape tobacco control interventions and policy.
“Compared with whites, African American and Hispanic smokers often bear the greatest burden of tobacco-related illnesses,” said principal investigator Kymberle Landrum Sterling, an associate professor at the Rutgers School of Public Health and associate director for Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at the Rutgers Institute for Nicotine & Tobacco Studies. “However, the lived experiences are not accounted for in scientific studies that can inform tobacco control interventions or policies.” To read the full story.