Today, CVS Caremark announced that it will stop selling tobacco products in all CVS/pharmacy stores in the United States by October 1, 2014. This is a commendable stance for a major health-related corporation to take, and I applaud them for doing so. I believe that as a health provider, health promotion should be of utmost importance, even if it means financial losses for said corporation. The year 2014 might be the year to revitalize the nation's attack on tobacco and the adverse health outcomes that are associated with it.
January 11th, 2014 was the 50th anniversary of the first Surgeon General's Report on Smoking and Health. Prior to the 1964 report, no other federal government reports had associated smoking with adverse health consequences. Statistical data supported the report's association of tobacco use with coronary heart disease, lung cancer, bronchitis, and emphysema (to name a few). Between the years 1935 and 2010, heart disease, cancer, and stroke remained leading causes of death.
Each year, tobacco use is attributable to approximately 443,000 deaths in the United States; making it one of the most preventable causes of death and disease. The use of tobacco use costs the United States $193 billion annually in medical expenses and loss of productivity. For most of the population, this isn't anything new or revolutionary. I would assume that a large proportion of tobacco users are aware of the health risks associated to this health behavior, so what else can be done to help reduce tobacco use? We have made progress in the 50 years since the Surgeon General's Report was released, but is this progress sufficient when we still have tobacco use associated with some of the leading causes of preventable death? I believe, that what CVS Caremark has announced today could be a major turning point in tobacco prevention, if it is combined with appropriate support for resources for those with tobacco addictions.
Health People 2020, outlines goals for our nation by the year 2020; it's target for tobacco use is to lower the percentage of adults aged 18 years and older from 20.6% to 12%. The goal for adolescents in grades 9 through 12 who have smoked a cigarette in the past 30 days is to lower from 19.5% to 16%. New strategies need to be implemented to help prevent tobacco use, as well as help enable those who want to quit, be able to do so.
Unfortunately, I think tobacco use is not focused on as much as it has been in the past and I think there needs to be a revival in our efforts to fight against it. Will CVS's move to stop selling tobacco at all CVS/pharmacy locations help us work towards these goals? I definitely believe this is an excellent start and I hope that CVS's announcement will encourage other companies to initiate similar changes.
It will be interesting to see if other companies follow suit!
ReplyDelete