Third Thursdays

Thursday, April 20, 2006
7:00-9:30pm
Japanese Cultural & Community Center
1840 Sutter Street
San Francisco, CA 94115

In a 2005 article, Time magazine asserted, “Everybody knows that Asia is supposed to be the last great frontier of the tobacco industry, a place where vast numbers continue to expose themselves to the risks of lung cancer, cardiovascular disease, and other smoking-related illnesses.” In a similar vein, an opinion statement published by the South China Morning Post cited “It would not matter if every smoker in North America quit smoking tomorrow, as long as the international companies could capture the Asian market.”

The statistics are little known but shocking. According to studies by the World Health Organization, 50,000 teenagers across Asia take up smoking every day, and an estimated 4.2 million Asians are expected to die each year from smoking by the year 2020.

This month’s Third Thursdays panel will take a look at Big Tobacco’s targeting of Asians here and abroad. Join us for a discussion to shed light on strategies that are being employed by groups on opposite sides of the spectrum: tobacco companies on the one hand and anti-smoking/tobacco control advocates on the other. How have each been successful and what challenges lie ahead?

Panelists include:

• Anita Lee, MPH
  Former Head of Public Affairs, Hong Kong Hospital Authority
  Doctoral Student, UC Berkeley School of Public Health
• Arnab Mukherjea, MPH
  Program Director, Health Career Connection
  Researcher, Tobacco Issues in South Asian Communities
  Doctoral Student, UC Berkeley School of Public Health
• Elisa Tong, MD
  Internist, UCSF Department of Medicine
  Researcher, Tobacco Control Policy and Cessation