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replied, "It's important that people understand the consequences in terms of morbidity and mortality, and it needs to become a higher priority. Asian Americans have an 11 percent overall rate (of tobacco use), the lowest of all ethnic populations. But what is hidden in there is that certain ethnic groups like the Koreans or the Mung have a higher prevalence rate than others. We have a hard time getting funding for those communities because there aren't a lot of statistics."

Regarding the role tobacco companies play, Ms. Hamasaka said that most of the present day marketing conducted by the tobacco companies is through magazine advertisements, adding "I think the tobacco companies continue to create campaigns designed for specific ethnic populations." Ms. Hamasaka pointed to the 2004 "Kauai Kolada" campaign for flavored Camel cigarettes. The "Kauai Kolada" advertisements featured a beautiful woman who appeared to be Hawaiian, complete with a grass skirt - leisurely posing with a coconut drink in one hand and a lit cigarette in the other. This angered Governor Linda Lingle, Kauai Mayor Bryan Baptiste, and state tourism officials so much that Governor Lingle fired off a letter of protest to the President/CEO of R.J. Reynolds, asking him to halt the "Kauai Kolada" cigarette marketing campaign immediately.

A detailed study released in December 2004 by the American Journal of Public Health supports Ms. Hamasaka's position, finding that "the tobacco industry has a complex understanding of Asian and Hispanic immigrant markets, has been aware of the propensity of some immigrant groups to smoke less than the general population, and has been trying to reverse such patterns since the 1970s." During the course of this study, public documents from the major tobacco companies were searched for the words "Asian" and "marketing" and over 700 documents with significant use of these combined terms were found. Duplicate documents, documents without substantive content, handwritten materials, press releases and scientific articles were excluded in this study.

The study concluded that "In both markets (Hispanic and Asian Americans), the tobacco industry has used geographic targeting, segmentation according to assimilation status, and coordinated targeting of immigrants and their countries of origin." The tobacco companies are focusing on Asian American communities in their marketing through targeted advertising, supporting domestic violence shelters in communities of color, as well

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