Glendale News Press
LATimes.com
Sept 14 2004
Sending out smoke signals
County officials warn of secondhand smoke dangers, focusing on
Armenian community.
By Jackson Bell, News-Press
DOWNTOWN GLENDALE – Since Armenian immigrants are believed to use
tobacco products “well above” the county’s average of 15.6%, community
leaders and officials are promoting a campaign to extinguish smoking.
Before a small gathering Tuesday morning at Brand Boulevard and Harvard
Street, Linda Aragon of the Los Angeles County Department of Health
Services introduced the first initiative to educate the community on
the dangers of secondhand smoke.
“Although we don’t yet have specifics, we know anecdotally that the
Armenian community’s tobacco use is well above the county average,”
said Aragon, who is acting director of the department’s Tobacco Control
and Prevention branch. “What we’re trying to do is make people aware
that smoking is an issue … and it’s a lot of work because there is
still denial that secondhand smoke kills.”
Aragon said secondhand smoking is the third-leading cause of
preventable death in the United States. She added that for every eight
people who die from smoking, they take one secondhand smoker with them.
The city’s six-month, nearly $200,000 campaign is part of a larger
$1.1-million effort throughout the county to curb smoking among such
minority groups as blacks, Koreans and Latinos. It also targets the
lesbian and gay community.
“The U.S. has had a big head start in educating against smoking and
secondhand smoking,” said Greg Krikorian, whose Krikorian Marketing
Group is helping to run the health department campaign. “In foreign
countries, [tobacco education] is not a common practice.”
Krikorian, who serves as president of the Glendale Unified School
Board, added that smoking is such a tradition in the Armenian community
that cigarettes are commonly offered as hors d’oeuvres when welcoming
guests to homes.
The campaign, which began in May, features billboards throughout
the city along with print and television ads. One of the billboards
on Brand Boulevard – which was about 200 feet south of the news
conference – asks, “Who is your secondhand smoking harming?” in
Armenian and depicts a family frowning at a father who is smoking.
Also showing their support at the event were Glendale Adventist
Medical Center’s chief executive officer Scott Reiner and Los Angeles
County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich. American Cancer Society
representatives passed out pamphlets about the ill effects of smoking.
“Secondhand smoke impacts children’s respiratory systems and their
overall health,” Antonovich said. “It’s an effort to make the public
more cognizant of the dangers of secondhand smoke.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress