Dems push Walmart to give up cigarette sales

A group of Democrats are urging Walmart to follow CVS Caremark and discontinue selling tobacco products.

The seven Democrats said Walmart, the nation’s biggest retailer, is also the nation’s biggest seller of cigarettes.

{mosads}“We recognize the legality of selling and profiting from tobacco products; however, Walmart’s position as the nation’s largest retailer of any kind puts your company in a unique position to contribute to the health and well-being of all Americans” the Democrats said in a letter to the company.

The letter’s signatories included Sen. Dick Durbin (Ill.), the number two Democrat in the Senate.

The letter stats that three quarters of adult smokers want to quit, and quotes former Walmart CEO Lee Scott as saying a “tremendous number” of Walmart shoppers smoke.

The letter was also signed by Sens. Tom Harkin (Iowa), Barbara Boxer (Calif.), John Rockefeller (W.Va.), Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.), Sherrod Brown (Ohio) and Richard Blumenthal (Conn.).