Acknowledging that: - Use of tobacco in any form has been shown by exhaustive studies to be hazardous to health and the American Heart Association estimates that tobacco use is directly responsible for 440,000 deaths per year. - The mission of Georgetown University is to promote cura personalis. Embodied in this goal is a desire to promote health in all of our patients. The health of our patients is negatively affected by the use of tobacco products and our goal as clinicians and as a hospital should be to promote tobacco cessation. - The actions of an organization speak volumes in regards to its sincerity. The image of uniformed employees using tobacco products on hospital property undermine efforts directed at smoking cessation by allowing the perception of hypocrisy. - The use of tobacco products on hospital property by patients is detrimental to healing. - Other hospital systems in the region, notably the INOVA Health system and Providence Hospital, have successfully banned the use of tobacco products by all persons on hospital grounds. We, the undersigned, strongly encourage Georgetown University and MedSTAR hospitals across the Mid-Atlantic region to follow the example of INOVA Health System and Providence Hospital in banning the use of tobacco products by visitors, patients and employees across the entirety of their hospital campuses starting as soon as possible but not later than November 20th, 2008 - National Smoke Out Day.

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