American Bio Medica Sponsors Conference Series On School Athletic Drug Testing.

HUDSON, N.Y.--(BW HealthWire)--Jan. 19, 1999--

-- Provides Schools the Opportunity to Meet with

Local ABMC Distributors --

American Bio Medica Corporation (NASDAQ:ABMC) today announced that it is sponsoring a series of conferences to help high schools and junior high schools develop and implement drug testing policies to effectively deter substance abuse among student athletes.

"We're not trying to identify drug use, we're helping kids who might experiment, and later get hooked, use sports as a tool to say no to peer pressure - and for those who make a mistake, we suggest counseling and intervention to help them stay off," explained ABMC Education Conference Director Ron Slinger, former athletic director of Dixon High School.

The purpose of the seminars is to educate athletic directors, principals, school board members, and administrators regarding the components necessary to develop and effectively implement a drug testing policy. The seminars cover topics such as how to develop a drug testing program, community support and education, parental and student reaction, media response, legal issues supporting such policies, results in other schools, and a forum for discussion of the latest drug and alcohol testing products.

"I think it's been a great preventative," said Jim Ingham, superintendent of Lake Local Schools in Ohio. "There's a lot of support in the community for it, and one big thing is that it gives the kid a reason to say no. I think this kind of thing will become more standard practice in the future. As districts have more and more (drug-use) problems, they're going to look to programs like this to help solve them."

ABMC Vice President of Sales and Marketing Jay Bendis noted that the educational market has been evolving fairly gradually due to the fact that, although schools are encouraged by the positive outcome of similar programs across the country, the administrators are hesitant to proceed without assistance.

"By sponsoring these seminars, we enable schools to meet their local ABMC distributor who can help them initiate a successful drug testing program," Bendis said. "The cost and ease of use advantages of our Rapid Drug Screen are key factors which facilitate the schools' efforts to implement such policies."

The ABMC Rapid Drug Screen(tm) is the most secure and flexible total on-site drugs of abuse testing system on the market. Unrivaled for ease of use, the ABMC test generates results in five minutes and is proven to correlate 100% with the standard laboratory screening test.

According to Kyle Prueter, president of Great Lakes Biomedical, an ABMC distributor, "With the Rapid Drug Screen, we can test 100 students in an hour - and, in that time, we're also able to generate results. I've used other products in the past, you have to do the tipping thing and it's a real mess. ABMC's test is easy, you just put the card through. It's great for the kids too - they're in and out in no time."

American Bio Medica Corporation develops, manufactures, and markets inexpensive, accurate, on-site drugs of abuse diagnostic kits and support services worldwide. The Company's global distributors target the workplace, clinical, rehabilitation, physicians, corrections, and educational markets. ABMC's Rapid Drug Screen is proven to correlate 100% with the standard laboratory screening test.

Forward-looking statements in this release are made pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Investors are cautioned that such forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainties, including without limitation, continued acceptance of the Company's products, increased levels of competition for the Company, new products and technological changes, the Company's dependence on third-party suppliers, intellectual property rights, and other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.