Will CVS anti-tobacco move make a difference? Your Say

CVS stopped selling tobacco products at its stores Wednesday, saying those sales conflicted with its health care mission. Letter to the editor:

Kudos to CVS on its decision to stop selling tobacco products ("CVS stops selling tobacco, offers quit-smoking programs"). More than 480,000 Americans die each yearfrom cigarette smoking, including nearly 42,000 who die from secondhand smoke, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For those of us who have lost loved ones due to tobacco-related diseases, this is a tragedy of incomprehensible scope, made more devastating because it is preventable.

CVS' commendable display of corporate responsibility, rejecting tobacco blood money as incompatible with its mission of serving public health, stands in stark contrast to the behavior of the tobacco industry. Tobacco companies spend about $10 billion annually marketing cigarettes. They continue to lure children despite knowing that smokers who use cigarettes as intended often die prematurely. Their actions are tantamount to murder on an industrial scale.

Stephen A. Silver; San Francisco

Comments from Facebook are edited for clarity and grammar:

This was a tough decision because it negatively affects the bottom line, but it positively affects the health of the company's customers. CVS is making a clear statement that cigarettes are bad medicine.

— Stan Goldfarb

I went in to buy a pack the other day, and there was not a box of Marlboro golds to be found.

Actually, even though I'm a smoker, I support this!

—Shawn Key

And CVS should do away with beer, wine, candy, salty junk food and nasty magazines.

This move is hypocritical to the largest degree. I never will set foot in a CVS again. I will buy my prescriptions elsewhere.

— Mike Postlethwait

There is no question how dangerous tobacco is to health, and I applaud CVS for making this bold decision. While the company is giving up short-term dollars, it decided to be a brand that stands for health.

Since I quit smoking, I feel better, was able to get off of my blood pressure medicine and my family is not annoyed by my smoking. Also I spend $12 less a day on smoking. If you smoke, please stop. Even big corporations are taking a stand against tobacco.

— Alina Zhibek

As a smoker whose husband quit smoking and tried to make me quit, I will just go somewhere else and buy my cigarettes.

— Melissa Yachinich