Reporting by Praveen Paramasivam WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Smokers may have a difficult time buying cigarettes in the near future. Walmart Inc is stopping sales of tobacco products in some of its more than 5,000 stores across the United States, the world’s largest retailer said on Monday. The company did not disclose how many stores would be affected by the move, but said it would not be exiting the category entirely. The markets in which cigarettes are being removed from stores include California, Florida and New Mexico, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the news. Walmart has rolled out a design with more self-checkout registers and other items such as grab-and-go food or candy near the front of the stores in place of Marlboro, Newport and other tobacco products, the Journal reported.
CVS in 2014 became the first U.S. drugstore chain to take cigarettes off the shelves, while Walmart halted sales of e-cigarettes and electronic nicotine delivery products at its U.S. stores a few years later due to growing regulatory complexity and uncertainty. Several Democratic U.S. senators have urged Walmart and several other retailers to stop selling all tobacco products. There are four Walmart Supercenters in the Sioux Falls area.
According to the CDC, Smoking causes cancer, heart disease, stroke, lung diseases, diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Smoking also increases risk for tuberculosis, certain eye diseases, and problems of the immune system, including rheumatoid arthritis. They also note that for every person who dies because of smoking, at least 30 people live with a serious smoking-related illness.
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