Before the Joint Committee on Public Health
The Massachusetts Medical Society is in strong support of House Bill 1966, “An Act Restricting the Sale of Tobacco Products at Health Care Institutions.”
Tobacco use is the single most preventable cause of premature death in the United States today. With an estimated more than 400,000 deaths annually, smoking kills more Americans than auto accidents, AIDS, alcohol and illegal drugs, and, murders and suicides combined. About 24 Massachusetts citizens die prematurely every day as a result of tobacco use. Many more become seriously ill, suffering from cancer, cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases.
The Massachusetts Medical Society believes that the sale of tobacco by health care institutions or by retail establishments that operate or have a health care institution within it should be banned. Licensed health care professionals should not be permitted by their very presence to legitimize the sale of tobacco products.
The Massachusetts Medical Society has steadfastly held that the health professions have a special obligation to promote the public health whenever possible. We can remember when smoking and the sale of tobacco products in hospitals was the norm. Today, our hospitals, clinics, pharmacies and physicians’ offices, and their grounds, are smoke-free. Unfortunately, there is still work to be done because tobacco products continue to be sold by pharmacies or by retailers that also house pharmacies or other health care institutions!
This legislation – banning the sale of tobacco products by health care institutions and barring licensed health professionals from working in a professional capacity in locations where tobacco products are sold – would not end the sale of tobacco products, but it would send an important health message to our patients and be another step in saving lives and in reducing illness and the cost of health care in the Commonwealth.
For the reasons outlined above, the MMS would also like to be recorded in support of the following bills, also intended to reduce access to tobacco products:
- H.2074, “An Act Banning the Sale of Cigars in Packages of Less than Five”
- S.1046, “An Act Providing for the Disclosure of Certain Information Relating to Tobacco Products Sold in the Commonwealth”
- S.1055, “An Act Relative to Other Tobacco Products”
We urge the Committee to report these bills out favorably.
