Wegmans Sets Example for Food Industry With Decision to Stop Selling Tobacco Products
Statement by Matthew L. Myers, President, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids
Washington, D.C. — The Wegmans supermarket chain has taken an extraordinary step to protect public health by announcing that effective February 10, 2008, it will stop selling cigarettes and other tobacco products in all of its stores. The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids congratulates Wegmans for putting health and lives ahead of profits from selling deadly and addictive tobacco products. Wegmans has set an example for other supermarkets and retailers to follow.
Wegmans has rightly recognized that tobacco products are no ordinary consumer product. Rather, they are the leading preventable cause of death in the United States, killing more than 400,000 people, sickening millions more and costing the nation nearly $100 billion in health care bills each year. It is encouraging that a growing number of businesses, such as Wegmans and hotel chains that have adopted smoke-free policies, are joining the public health community in seeking to reduce tobacco use and its devastating consequences.
Wegmans operates 71 stores in New York State, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia and Maryland.