Johns Hopkins, Smith-Kline Beecham Team Up (fwd)

[Robert Weissman <rob@essential.org>]

Friday May 29, 12:26 pm Eastern Time

Company Press Release

Johns Hopkins University Announces the Formation of the First Institute
for Global Tobacco Control In Honor of World 'No Tobacco Day' on May 31,
Physicians and Policy Makers Come Together for a Healthier Planet

BALTIMORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 29, 1998--In conjunction with World ``No
Tobacco Day,'' the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health today launched
the Johns Hopkins Institute for Global Tobacco Control.

The Institute will offer information to physicians and health officials
around the world about tobacco's harmful health effects and how to control
them, and will also help countries to identify the magnitude of their
smoking problem and then develop effective policies for reducing rates of
tobacco-related disease and death.

SmithKline Beecham Consumer Healthcare, the world's leading marketer of
smoking cessation products and programs, is joining with the Hopkins
School of Public Health to establish the Institute. 

``Johns Hopkins and SmithKline Beecham share a common goal: to prevent
disease and premature death from smoking around the world,'' said Jonathan
Samet, MD, chair, Department of Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins School
of Public Health. 

A key researcher into the harmful effects of smoking for more than 20
years, Samet, in conjunction with SmithKline Beecham, collaborated in
carrying out China's Third National Survey on Smoking, presented at the
10th World Conference on Smoking and Health in Beijing, August 1997.

Bill Slivka, vice president of the SmithKline Beecham management team
responsible for the global distribution of smoking cessation products,
said, ``The partnership with Hopkins enables us to build relationships
with leaders in countries where smoking is epidemic.

``We can work with the Hopkins School of Public Health to encourage
development of effective tobacco and smoking control strategies in the
United States and abroad.''

In addition to the Institute for Global Tobacco Control, SmithKline
Beecham and Johns Hopkins are sponsoring ongoing research studies that are
yielding a detailed characterization of smoking in China. This initiative
will be expanded to other countries starting this year.

In partnership, SmithKline Beecham and the Johns Hopkins School of Public
Health plan to strengthen tobacco control efforts around the world by
developing information resources, research data, and policy approaches,
and by offering training in tobacco control. Over the next three years,
the Institute will use seminars and research studies to inform policy
makers about approaches to tobacco control.

``These countries can't just legislate tobacco out of existence,'' said
Samet. ``They must first collect and present the hard data that will
explain to their people the need for such aggressive policies as
advertising bans, smoking prohibitions in public places, and high tobacco
taxes.''

Contact: 

     Johns Hopkins University
     Susan Gibowicz, 212/601-8300
     sgibowicz@porternovelli.com