U.VA. MEDICAL SCHOOL RECEIVES SMOKELESS STATES GRANT 

	CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va, Oct. 9 --The University of Virginia
School of Medicine has received a $750,000 grant from the Robert
Wood Johnson Foundation to address issues faced by tobacco-producing
states at a time when tobacco use in the United States is on the
decline. 
	"Lessons learned in the '94-'96 Virginia Project include the
fact that even in the most optimistic predictions from tobacco
interests, there will be fewer farmers growing tobacco each year,"
said Dr. Michael Morse, professor of family medicine at U.Va. and
principal investigator for the grant. "Global market pressures to
lower prices favor fewer U.S. growers with larger holdings. These
market pressures along with changes in domestic farm policy and
continued pressure from tobacco control advocates lead to
instability in tobacco producing communities, but also provide an
opportunity for change."
	The four-year grant to U.Va. is part of the foundation's
national SmokeLess States initiative, which was established in 1994
to spark state-level efforts to reduce tobacco use, the leading
preventable cause of death in the United States. Robert Wood Johnson
has increased its commitment to
reduce tobacco use among youth with a $20 million grant to the
American Medical Association to expand the SmokeLess States program. 
	"Our award is unique in that U.Va.'s is the only one
specifically set aside to address economic and agricultural issues
relating to a tobacco-producing state," Morse said.
	A coalition of agricultural, health, business, community and
political leaders will be formed to examine economic development
options in the tobacco-producing regions of the Southeast. U.Va.'s
project will build on the lessons learned in similar activities
sponsored by the foundation within Virginia over the past two years,
Morse said. 
	The U.Va. effort will include: convening a regional policy
roundtable with representation from the six top tobacco states for
eight sessions; developing a tobacco adjustment matrix, a
decision-making tool to find local solutions; collaborating and
supporting state-level activities across the six-state area.
	U.Va. medical school will work in partnership with the
University's Institute for Environmental Negotiations and the
Institute for Quality Health, Virginia Tech, and the Committee on
Agriculture and Economic Development of the Southern Legislative
Conference with the help of Del. Mitchell Van Yahres
(D-Charlottesville). Other partners include the Kentucky Coalition
for Health and Agricultural Development, the National American
Cancer Society, as well as the Virginia, North Carolina and South
Carolina Cancer Society divisions. Support of the application was
received from the Bowman Gray School of Medicine, the School of
Medicine at UNC-Chapel Hill, the North Carolina Southern Technology
Council, and the Center for Sustainable Systems.
	When it was launched in 1994, the SmokeLess States Program
was the first major philanthropic endeavor designed to help states
and communities reduce tobacco use. The expanded funding will
continue the program's multi-pronged strategy of raising public
awareness, strengthening statewide coalitions, enhancing tobacco
prevention and treatment capabilities, and developing policy plans
to reduce the use of tobacco.
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October 8, 1996
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