Medical Society Urges Restrictions on Tobacco Sales

BOSTON — The Mass. Medical Society recently testified before the Joint Committee on Public Health in strong support of House Bill 2054 and Senate Bill 813, identical legislation that would ban the sale of tobacco products at locations where health professionals are employed.

Dr. Bruce Auerbach, immediate past president of the Mass. Medical Society and vice president of Emergency and Ambulatory Services at Sturdy Memorial Hospital in Attleboro, presented oral testimony on behalf of the physicians group, which also submitted written testimony.

Reiterating its long-standing belief that tobacco use is the single most preventable cause of premature death in the U.S. today and that noting that smoking kills more Americans than auto accidents, AIDS, alcohol, illegal drugs, murders, and suicides combined, the MMS said that “the health professions have a special obligation to promote the public health whenever possible and that all health care professionals and institutions should affirmatively promote the public health.

“Licensed health care professionals should not be permitted by their very presence to legitimize the sale of tobacco products,” the society testified. The physicians group believes that the sale of tobacco by health care institutions or by retail establishments that operate or have a health care institution within them should be banned.

The MMS said it recognizes that this legislation would not end the sale of tobacco products, but that 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.”

The society also testified in support of three other bills related to tobacco:

• House Bill 2162, “An Act Relative to Smoking Near Public Buildings and Workplaces,” would protect both the citizenry visiting public buildings and the employees working in those facilities from the harm of secondhand smoke.

• Senate Bill 802, “An Act to Direct Tobacco Tax Revenues to Reduce Tobacco Use and Harms,” would require that a minimum of 3{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5} of the funds received by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts from tobacco taxes and as a result of the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) be spent by the Department of Public Health solely for the purposes of preventing and reducing tobacco use.

• Senate Bill 839, “An Act Providing for Disclosure of Certain Information Relating to Tobacco Products Sold in the Commonwealth,” would require cigarette manufacturers to report the identity and amount of the components of cigarette smoke. These measures are aimed at overcoming the legal objections raised by cigarette manufacturers to the implementation of the Massachusetts Tobacco Disclosure Law.