BBC News, 5
February 2014
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| CVS CEO Larry Merlo said the sale of tobacco products conflicted with the company's healthcare mission |
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CVS
Caremark, one of the largest pharmacy chains in the US, will stop selling
cigarettes and other tobacco products, its chief executive has said.
The
announcement drew swift praise from President Barack Obama, who said the move
would save lives.
The 7,600
CVS shops in the US will have tobacco products off the shelves by 1 October,
CEO Larry Merlo said.
The move
will cost the company about $2bn (£1.22bn) in annual revenue but is "the
right thing to do", he said.
"Tobacco
products have no place in a setting where healthcare is delivered," Mr
Merlo said in a videotaped statement posted on the publicly traded company's
website.
"When
we asked ourselves where we expect to be in the future as a healthcare company,
it became clear that removing tobacco products from our stores is the right
thing to do."
'Powerful
example'
Mr Merlo
said CVS Caremark, which employs 26,000 pharmacists and nurse practitioners,
would be the first national pharmacy chain to take this action.
He said the
company's employees worked every day to help patients manage chronic conditions
such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes, which he said were
aggravated by tobacco use.
And he said
the company would launch a smoking cessation programme in the spring, aimed at
those who want to quit tobacco.
CVS
Caremark, which trades on the New York Stock Exchange, made $125bn in sales
last year.
In a
statement released by the White House, Mr Obama, who has himself struggled with
a cigarette habit since he was young, applauded the decision.
"As
one of the largest retailers and pharmacies in America, CVS Caremark sets a
powerful example, and today's decision will help advance my Administration's
efforts to reduce tobacco-related deaths, cancer, and heart disease, as well as
bring down healthcare costs - ultimately saving lives and protecting untold
numbers of families from pain and heartbreak for years to come," Mr Obama
said.
Tobacco use
is the single largest preventable cause of death in the US, according to the
federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Cigarette
smoking kills more than 480,000 Americans aged 35 years and older every year,
according to a report this year by the US surgeon general.
Years of
tightening restrictions on where smokers are allowed to light up, as well as
effective public anti-tobacco campaigns and prohibitively high tobacco taxes
have dramatically reduced the percentage of Americans who smoke.
About 18%
of Americans are current cigarette smokers today, down from more than half of
men and nearly a third of women in 1964, according to the surgeon general's
report.
Related Article:
"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)
“… The Shift in Human Nature
You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.
In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?
Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.
What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. …”
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