[' ', ' ', 'Hispanic', 'Health', 'Risks', '21', 'of', 'the', 'study', 'period', 'their', 'cancer', 'rate', 'had', 'slightly', 'eclipsed', 'that', 'of', 'White', 'women.', 'Perhaps', 'the', 'biggest', 'concern', 'now', 'is', 'the', 'high', 'rate', 'of', 'smoking', 'among', 'Hispanic', 'youths.', '“The', 'initiation', 'of', 'smoking', 'among', 'young', 'adolescents', 'seems', 'to', 'be', 'much', 'higher', 'among', 'Hispanic', 'kids', 'than', 'either', 'Whites', 'or', 'Blacks,”', 'said', 'Marcus', 'of', 'UCLA.', '“That’s', 'a', 'particularly', 'disturbing', 'problem.”', 'One', 'of', 'the', 'few', 'studies', 'ever', 'conducted', 'of', 'smoking', 'among', 'His-', 'panic', 'youths', 'found', 'consistently', 'higher', '“ever', 'smoked”', 'and', '“currently”', 'smoke', 'rates', 'for', 'Hispanic', 'children', 'than', 'for', 'either', 'Black', 'or', 'White', 'children.', 'The', 'study', 'of', 'fourth-', 'and', 'fifth-grade', 'students,', 'conducted', 'as', 'part', 'of', 'the', 'Los', 'Angeles', '“Know', 'Your', 'Body”', 'program,', 'found', 'that', '13.1', 'percent', 'of', 'the', 'Hispanic', 'boys', 'said', 'they', 'had', 'smoked', 'a', 'cigarette,', 'compared', 'with', '9.3', 'percent', 'of', 'Blacks', 'and', '6.7', 'percent', 'of', 'Whites.', 'Some', '5.3', 'percent', 'of', 'Hispanic', 'boys', 'reported', 'that', 'they', 'currently', 'smoked,', 'compared', 'to', '3.5', 'percent', 'of', 'Blacks', 'and', '0.8', 'percent', 'of', 'Whites.', 'Among', 'girls,', '1.6', 'percent', 'of', 'Hispanics', 'said', 'they', 'currently', 'smoked,', 'compared', 'with', '1.1', 'percent', 'of', 'Blacks', 'and', '0.9', 'percent', 'of', 'Whites.**', 'A', 'study', 'in', 'the', 'early', '1980s', 'of', 'Mexican-American', 'vouths', 'found', 'that', '28.9', 'percent', 'smoked,', 'compared', 'with', '19.1', 'percent', 'of', 'Whites', 'and', '15.2', 'percent', 'of', 'Blacks."', 'A', 'survey', 'in', 'Albuquerque,', 'New', 'Mexico,', 'of', 'children', 'aged', '10', 'to', '15', 'found', 'slightly', 'lower', 'rates', 'of', 'never', 'having', 'smoked', 'among', 'Hispanics', 'than', 'among', 'Whites,', 'as', 'shown', 'in', 'Table', '2.8.', 'The', 'researchers', 'con-', 'cluded:', '“Our', 'survey', 'findings', 'imply', 'that', 'an', 'increasing', 'burden', 'of', 'cigarette-related', 'morbidity', 'and', 'mortality', 'in', 'southwestern', 'Hispanics', 'will', 'manifest', 'itself', 'unless', 'effective', 'interventions', 'are', 'implemented', '...Adolescent', 'smoking', 'strongly', 'predicts', 'smoking', 'in', 'adulthood.”®', 'Table', '2.7', 'Overall', 'Cancer', 'Rates', 'Among', 'Hispanics', 'and', 'Whites', '(age-adjusted', 'rates', 'per', '100,000', 'person-years', 'for', '15', 'different', 'cancers,', 'Denver', 'area)', ' ', '  ', ' ', ' ', '1969-71', '1979-81', '_Hispanics', 'Whites', 'Hispanics', 'Whites', 'Males', '212.7', '335.8', '323.7', '3777', 'Females', '166.7', '266.1', '294.7', '292.6', ' ', 'Source:', 'Savitzs?', ' ', 'OFSODS9DOZ']