A new analysis by Bruce Leistikow, associate professor of public health sciences, links tobacco smoke to 63 percent of cancer deaths among African American men in the United States. The smoke-related cancer death burden for African American men is highest in the South at 67 percent, with the lowest burden — 43 percent — in the Northeast. The percentage is 60 in the West and 63 in the Midwest. The study appeared in the August 2005 issue of Preventive Medicine.

"There is a lot of confusion about what causes the worst cancers — those that destroy families by ending lives prematurely. This study clarifies that the best explanation for most premature cancer deaths for African American males is tobacco smoke exposure, whether from secondhand or active smoking," Leistikow said. still looking for man smoking.