Bob Schieffer on CVS and cigarettes
As a journalist, I
don't endorse political candidates, nor do I contribute to political campaigns.
I wouldn't want to -- and besides, CBS, wisely, doesn't allow it.
Nor are we allowed to endorse products. That's another good rule.
So what follows is neither a paid commercial nor an endorsement.
Rather it is just a simple "thank you" to the drug store chain CVS for announcing it will no longer sell tobacco products -- that's a thank you from a survivor of bladder cancer who still takes daily medication to control two other cancer-related, incurable diseases: ulcerative colitis and diabetes.
I began chewing tobacco at age 16 because I was a ballplayer and that was part of the culture. But the heavy addiction continued long after my arm gave out.
Today, I consider myself lucky to be alive.
It's going to cost CVS $2 billion a year in revenue, but the company decided it could not promote itself as a health care provider if it continued to sell the product that is the number one cause of preventable disease and death, a product directly responsible for 480,000 deaths last year.
There was a lot more back-and-forth last week about Obamacare, but to me the heath news that really mattered came from CVS.
