Released by:   Ray Dabrowski            
Phone:    +30-955-324 (June 29-July 8, 1995) or +301-680-6300    
               
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 5, 1995

ADVENTIST STATEMENT WARNS THE PUBLIC ABOUT THE
HAZARDS OF TOBACCO SMOKING

Utrecht, The Netherlands... In a statement released at the 56th World
Congress of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the Church warns the
general public about the addictive and health destroying nature of
tobacco smoking and calls for a uniform ban on tobacco advertising
and stricter laws prohibiting smoking in non-residential public places. 
The statement was released by the Office of the President, Robert S.
Folkenberg, after being adopted by the Administrative Committee of
the General Conference.  
     The statement, entitled, "Smoking and Tobacco," reads as
follows:
     "For more than a century, the Seventh-day Adventist Church
has warned its youth and the general public regarding the addictive
and health destroying nature of tobacco smoking.  Cigarette smoking
is the single greatest preventable cause of death in the world. One of
the firm ethical concepts of most, if not all societies, is that prevention
is better than cure. When it comes to smoking, most countries are
faced by an ethical paradox: while many decades of research have
provided incontrovertible evidence of the hazards of cigarette smoking,
the tobacco industry still flourishes, often with either tacit or overt
government support. The ethics of smoking is made even more serious
by alarming revelations about the cancer deaths and other health risks
caused by second-hand smoke.
     "We believe that the ethics of prevention requires in every
country a uniform ban on all tobacco advertising, stricter laws
prohibiting smoking in non-residential public places, more aggressive
and systematic public education, and substantially higher taxes on
cigarettes. These measures would save millions of lives every year."
                         -end-