ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Tuesday, August 27, 1996               TAG: 9608270105
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C-3  EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MIKE HUDSON STAFF WRITER 

BOTH SIDES OF TOBACCO `COIN' HOLD SUMMIT

Health activists who are fighting the dangers of cigarettes are often seen as enemies in communities that depend on tobacco for their economic life - all the more so amid the news of President Clinton's latest attack on teen and pre-teen smoking.

But a six-state summit that will be held Sept. 24-26 in Roanoke aims to bridge the chasm between health advocates and people from tobacco growing communities.

"Sometimes people act as if there are only two extreme positions, and that keeps them apart when you're trying to talk about issues," said Rebecca Reeve of the Virginia Tobacco Communities Project, which is helping organize the conference.

Tobacco growers are frequently right, she said, when they complain that health advocates don't understand the economics of the tobacco-producing communities. "So the question is: How do we get educated about what the real issues are and what the possibilities might be?"

The summit at the Hotel Roanoke - ``Tobacco and Health Symposium: Both Sides of the Coin'' - is the outgrowth of a two-year effort by the Tobacco Communities Project at the University of Virginia's Institute of Quality Health. Other sponsors include the American Cancer Society.

The Tobacco Communities Project has held meetings across Southside and Southwest Virginia to give residents a voice in pushing for economic development that will help make their hometowns less dependent on tobacco.

These areas often have been left behind in spending on roads and education programs, making it harder for them to diversify, Reeve said.

And beyond the prospects of increased government controls on cigarettes, she said, these communities are facing what may be even greater economic changes: Competition from growers in China and other countries and a domestic industry squeeze-out that favors big growers over smaller family farms.

For more information, contact Carter Steger, conference coordinator for Virginia, at (804)527-3744, or Rebecca Reeve at (804)979-9355.

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