All U.S. retailers urged to quit tobacco

Twenty-six of the U.S.’s leading public health and medical organizations have issued an open letter calling on all retailers to follow the example of CVS Caremark and end the sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products, according to a PRNewswire story.

CVS announced earlier in February that by Oct. 1 it would stop selling tobacco products at its more than 7,600 stores throughout the U.S.

“CVS Caremark is absolutely right: The sale of tobacco products—the number one cause of preventable death and disease—is fundamentally inconsistent with a commitment to improving health,” said the open letter addressed to U.S. retailers, “especially those with pharmacies.”