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All messages are published
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The general topic of this message is Health:
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Subject:
Tobacco Products Sold in D.C.
To:
Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton
September 26, 2009
Dear Madam\Sir,
I would like to express my appreciation for the District's smoking ban (January 2007). As a former smoker who experienced a lung surgery ("Spontaneous Pneumothorax", April 2008) I support this decision wholeheartedly.
Nevertheless, I wish to express my opinion on a related topic as follows. In drug stores (such as "CVS" or "7-Eleven") and grocery stores (such as "Safeway" or "Giant") in D.C. and around the U.S., tobacco products are often presented in a well publicly exposed part of the store - usually on shelves behind the cashiers. Placing tobacco products in such a strategic location in the store is not a coincidence; the reason behind it is the high effectiveness of exposing more customers (both smokers and non-smokers) in order to boost the sales of such products.
As it is well known that tobacco is both life threatening and a factor for higher health-care costs in the U.S., it would be appropriate if tobacco products would only be allowed (by law) to presented to customers in less public\designated areas of the store. This way, customers of such businesses and especially children teenagers and former smokers, would not be exposed to such a direct marketing source for tobacco products.
Exposing to tobacco products while shopping at such businesses mentioned above, reminds me the sound of suffering of sick people dying at nearby beds and rooms at the time I spent at the hospital (10 days in total). Most of them were smokers.
I wish you all the best.
Washington , DC
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