{"id":3385,"date":"2015-07-13T04:26:37","date_gmt":"2015-07-13T04:26:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3385"},"modified":"2015-07-13T04:26:37","modified_gmt":"2015-07-13T04:26:37","slug":"cvs-quits-u-s-chamber-of-commerce-over-cocs-campaign-against-anti-smoking-laws","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3385","title":{"rendered":"CVS quits U.S. Chamber of Commerce over CoC’s campaign against anti-smoking laws"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"U.S.<\/a><\/p>\n

Great story, I loved this.<\/p>\n

CVS Health, which gained notoriety \u00a0in recent months for removing all tobacco products from its chain of drug stores, has now left the U.S. Chamber of Commerce because that organization is embroiled in a lobbying campaign worldwide against anti-smoking laws.<\/p>\n

This is a growing issue in the battle against the spread of tobacco worldwide. Something that I didn’t pay that much attention to until John Oliver<\/a> did an epic 18-minute rant about it on his show earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Big Tobacco has in many ways given up fighting anti-smoking laws in the U.S. and much of the West. However, it is taking the fight to the Third World, where smaller countries don’t have the financial resources to hold their own against Big Tobacco. The tobacco is fighting laws against tobacco marketing and packaging in countries ranging from Australia to Uruguay. While Australia kicked Big Tobacco’s <\/a>butt (pun intended) over the issue of plain packaging of tobacco products, little countries like Uruguay and Togo which are trying to restrict tobacco marketing in their countries simply can’t go up against the tobacco industry’s wealth.<\/p>\n

\"CVS<\/a><\/p>\n

Enter the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has become an increasingly right-wing entity over the past several years. The Chamber and its president Thomas\u00a0Donohue are also fighting these small countries on behalf of Big Tobacco. Here is a list <\/a>of some of the letters they have written supporting the tobacco industry to countries such as Ireland, Uruguay and\u00a0New Zealand.<\/p>\n

From a\u00a0New York Times article<\/a>:<\/p>\n

We were surprised to read recent press reports concerning the U.S. Chamber of Commerce<\/a>\u2019s position on tobacco products outside the United States,\u201d David R. Palombi, a senior vice president at the company, said in a statement. \u201cCVS Health\u2019s purpose is to help people on their path to better health, and we fundamentally believe tobacco use<\/a> is in direct conflict with this purpose.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In its defence, the Chamber responded:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cIt\u2019s unfortunate that a concerted misinformation campaign about the U.S. Chamber\u2019s position on smoking has resulted in a company leaving our organization.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be clear, the chamber does not support smoking and wants people to quit.\u00a0At the same time, we support protecting the intellectual property and trademarks of all legal products in all industries and oppose singling out certain industries for discriminatory treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

However, if the Chamber is just trying to protect trademarks of tobacco companies, then why is it fighting smoking bans? That’s got nothing<\/em> to do with trademarks.<\/p>\n

According to the New York Times:<\/p>\n

\n

The chamber has not said why it has opposed public health steps like restricting smoking in public places, which it called an \u201cextreme\u201d measure when it was proposed in Moldova.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

CVS is not the only entity taking the Chamber to task. Others include Sens. Al Franken and Elizabeth Warren, billionaire Richard Branson and the World Health Organization.<\/p>\n

From the Times:<\/p>\n

\n

Last week, seven Senate Democrats, including Richard Blumenthal, Al Franken and Elizabeth Warren, called the chamber\u2019s tobacco lobbying \u201ccraven and unconscionable<\/a>,\u201d adding that \u201cmember companies should be concerned that their good name is sullied in efforts to strike down public health protections worldwide.\u201d<\/p>\n

Richard Branson, the billionaire British entrepreneur, said on Twitter <\/a>that the chamber was on \u201cthe wrong side of history.\u201d And on Tuesday, the head of the W.H.O. weighed in, assailing the chamber over its lobbying practices.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy 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,\u201d Dr. Margaret Chan, the director general of the W.H.O., said in a statement on Tuesday. \u201cSo long as tobacco companies continue to be influential members of the chamber, legitimate businesses will be tarred with the same brush.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Good on you, CVS, for highlighting what the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is doing and putting the spotlight on its sleazy lobbying on behalf of the tobacco industry.<\/p>\n

\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Great story, I loved this. CVS Health, which gained notoriety \u00a0in recent months for removing all tobacco products from its chain of drug stores, has now left the U.S. Chamber of Commerce because that organization is embroiled in a lobbying campaign worldwide against anti-smoking laws. This is a growing issue in the battle against the … Continue reading CVS quits U.S. Chamber of Commerce over CoC’s campaign against anti-smoking laws<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3387,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8,223,453,556,1,336,447],"tags":[236,557],"class_list":["post-3385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australia","category-cvs-pharmacy","category-plain-packaging","category-u-s-chamber-of-commerce","category-uncategorized","category-world-health-organization","category-world-tobacco-use","tag-cvs","tag-u-s-chamber-of-commerce"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/U.S.-chamber-graphic.jpg?fit=374%2C441&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4hpEa-SB","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3395,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3395","url_meta":{"origin":3385,"position":0},"title":"New Jersey Star-Ledger editorial: U.S. Chamber, stop promoting tobacco worldwide","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"July 21, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The New Jersey Star-Ledger, a major daily newspaper in Newark, N.J., came out this week with a strong editorial bashing the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for promoting U.S. tobacco companies abroad. The Star-Ledger accuses the U.S. Chamber of being a \"shill\" for Big Tobacco around the world. The Chamber, which\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Australia"","block_context":{"text":"Australia","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=8"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/chamber-smoking.gif?fit=630%2C354&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/chamber-smoking.gif?fit=630%2C354&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/chamber-smoking.gif?fit=630%2C354&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3531,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3531","url_meta":{"origin":3385,"position":1},"title":"Philadelphia proposes banning tobacco sales in drug stores","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"October 17, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The mayor of\u00a0Philadelphia last week proposed banning tobacco sales in pharmacies and drug stores. This story jogged my memory that I think San Francisco did the same thing. Sure enough, San Francisco did ban tobacco sales in pharmacies, in fact some time ago -- 2008 -- longer ago than I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "CVS Pharmacy"","block_context":{"text":"CVS Pharmacy","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=223"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Philadelphia.jpg?fit=780%2C438&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Philadelphia.jpg?fit=780%2C438&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Philadelphia.jpg?fit=780%2C438&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Philadelphia.jpg?fit=780%2C438&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3518,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3518","url_meta":{"origin":3385,"position":2},"title":"New York Times story: U.S. Chamber has become a “front group” for Big Tobacco","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"October 11, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Another big New York Times article on how the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is shilling around the world on behalf of Big Tobacco. In the past several years, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which used to be a fairly nonpolitical organization, but it has been transformed, mostly by its executive\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Philip Morris"","block_context":{"text":"Philip Morris","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=49"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/chamber_commerce_cartoon-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/chamber_commerce_cartoon-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/chamber_commerce_cartoon-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/chamber_commerce_cartoon-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/chamber_commerce_cartoon-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3513,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3513","url_meta":{"origin":3385,"position":3},"title":"A look back at the World Health Organization’s groundbreaking tobacco control treaty","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"September 27, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"A very interesting article from Foreign Affairs on something I knew very little about, honestly -- the World Health Organization's groundbreaking Framework Convention for Tobacco Control, a treaty signed by most of the nations on Earth. The FCTC was the first-ever WHO worldwide treaty. The agency had gone 50 years\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Framework Convention for Tobacco Control"","block_context":{"text":"Framework Convention for Tobacco Control","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=717"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/wipfli_thankyoufornotsmoking_berlincigarettewarnings.jpg?fit=800%2C532&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/wipfli_thankyoufornotsmoking_berlincigarettewarnings.jpg?fit=800%2C532&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/wipfli_thankyoufornotsmoking_berlincigarettewarnings.jpg?fit=800%2C532&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/wipfli_thankyoufornotsmoking_berlincigarettewarnings.jpg?fit=800%2C532&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1949,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=1949","url_meta":{"origin":3385,"position":4},"title":"U.S. Senators urge drug store chains, WalMart to join CVS in banning tobacco products","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"February 23, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"In response to CVS' recent decision to halt tobacco sales, eight U.S. Senators --Tom Harkin (D-IOWA), Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), Jack Reed (D-RI), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) -- wrote two other major chains asking them to follow CVS' lead.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "CVS Pharmacy"","block_context":{"text":"CVS Pharmacy","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=223"},"img":{"alt_text":"walgreens","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/walgreens.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3717,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3717","url_meta":{"origin":3385,"position":5},"title":"U.S. Department of Justice urged to investigate bribery case against British-American Tobacco","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"February 9, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Several U.S. Senators and Congresspeople have signed a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice\u00a0urging the agency to begin an investigation into bribery accusations against British-American Tobacco. I wrote about some of these accusations a few weeks ago here.\u00a0However, according to the letter from Congresspeople, the accusations go beyond those\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "British-American Tobacco"","block_context":{"text":"British-American Tobacco","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=451"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/BAT_2148576b.jpg?fit=620%2C388&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/BAT_2148576b.jpg?fit=620%2C388&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/BAT_2148576b.jpg?fit=620%2C388&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3385"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3385\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3390,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3385\/revisions\/3390"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}