Two years ago we lauded what was then CVS/Caremark for putting principles before profits and announcing it no longer would carry tobacco products in its 7,600 stores nationwide, a move that was expected to cost the company roughly $2 billion in sales annually.
Today we again praise what is now CVS Health Corp., which announced last week it would resign from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce after learning that the organization was teaming with foreign affiliates to fight antismoking laws, especially in developing countries.
“We were surprised to read recent press reports concerning the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s position on tobacco products outside the United States,” David R. Palombi, a CVS senior vice president, told The New York Times. “CVS Health’s purpose is to help people on their path to better health, and we fundamentally believe tobacco use is in direct conflict with this purpose.”
Chamber officials claimed they do not support smoking, but they added that they do support protecting the intellectual property and trademarks of all legal products and opposed singling out certain industries for discriminatory treatment.
We’re not quite sure how passing laws that ban the use of smoking tobacco in public spaces could be considered discriminatory treatment, especially since tobacco use remains the leading preventable cause of death and disease, according to officials at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Yet the Times reported that the U.S. Chamber has targeted foreign restrictions on smoking in public spaces, bans on menthol and slim cigarettes, advertising restrictions, excise tax increases, plain packaging and graphic warning labels.
The United States has had many similar restrictions in place for years, and for very good reason. According to the American Lung Association, cigarette smoke contains more than 4,800 chemicals, 69 of which are known to cause cancer. Smoking is directly responsible for approximately 90 percent of deaths from lung cancer and approximately 80 percent to 90 percent of deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, such as emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
Fighting foreign laws that attempt to limit smoking or at least limit exposure to secondhand smoke is unconscionable. In essence the Chamber is putting profits for some of its members ahead of the lives of those who live in other countries.
It also, as the Times reported, put the Chamber in direct opposition to the World Health Organization, which has been working to curb tobacco use around the world.
“By lobbying against well-established, widely accepted and evidence-based tobacco control public health policies, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce undermines its own credibility on other issues,” said Dr. Margaret Chan, the director general of the WHO. “So long as tobacco companies continue to be influential members of the Chamber, legitimate businesses will be tarred with the same brush.”
Some of those companies, it should be noted, are in the business of health care.
CVS Health deserves credit for again taking a principled stand on people’s health. Others in the U.S. Chamber should follow suit.
