The governing board of Johns Hopkins Medicine on March 5
unanimously voted to throw its support behind Maryland
legislators' efforts to ban smoking in all indoor public
spaces in the state.
A resolution passed at a regular meeting of the Johns
Hopkins Medicine board of trustees stated that the board
"confirms and states its commitment to the public health of
the citizens of Maryland and requests that the Maryland
General Assembly swiftly pass legislation banning smoking
in all indoor public spaces in the State of Maryland."
"Saving lives and restoring health is what Johns
Hopkins Medicine is all about," said C. Michael Armstrong,
chairman of the board. "Banning smoking in public places
would accomplish that goal and reduce the number of people
who die as a result of this potentially lethal habit each
year."
"The health hazards of smoking are grounded in solid
scientific evidence and beyond dispute," said Edward D.
Miller, CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine and dean of the
School of Medicine. "As a Baltimore institution with a
world-renowned medical school, school of public health,
hospital and research facilities, Hopkins has an obligation
to speak out on an issue that poses an imminent health
danger not only for smokers but for the innocent bystanders
exposed to this smoke."
Johns Hopkins Medicine — with a total of 26,676
employees, including a medical staff of 4,797 and 4,613
registered nurses — is a collaboration that unites
the faculty physicians and scientists of The Johns Hopkins
University School of Medicine with the organizations,
health professionals and facilities of the Johns Hopkins
Health System. Its board includes trustees of both the
health system and the university.
Currently, smoking in public places is against the law
in Baltimore City and five Maryland counties, 14 states,
250 local jurisdictions outside Maryland and eight
countries. (The Baltimore City Council passed its
no-smoking ban on Feb. 26, and the law is set to take
effect Jan. 1, 2008.)
Two recent studies conducted by researchers at the
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health conclude
that people breathing secondhand smoke indoors face serious
health risks. For details of the research on the dangers
and prevalence of secondhand smoke in Maryland, go to
www.jhsph.edu.