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Gates, Bloomberg Pool Riches To Fight Smoking Worldwide

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates hope to jumpstart a global movement to curb the use of tobacco among adults and teens in developing countries by pumping a combined $500 million -- including $375 million in new funds --through 2013 to combat what public health officials have deemed a global tobacco epidemic.

With the help of partners such as the World Health Organization, they aim to help government officials and business leaders in low- and middle-income countries create tobacco control programs, raise tobacco taxes, ban advertising, and create smoke-free public spaces.

Phillip Morris USA supports several of the initiatives Bloomberg and Gates are addressing, including efforts to end smoking among teens and smoking-cessation campaigns, says spokesman David Sutton. John Singleton, a spokesman for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, says he does not expect the announcement to have an adverse effect on the company, which does most of its marketing, distribution, and sales in the U.S.

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