As a 17-year-old woman, it makes me sad to learn my gender is at a greater risk of dying from lung cancer than ever before ("Women's smoking deaths up," Jan. 24). Why is this happening?
Recently, as I was watching television, I saw a commercial for a pharmacy talking about health and happiness. It made me wonder whether pharmacies truly are looking out for our health? Drugstores pride themselves on the healthy aspects of their stores, which makes sense because a pharmacy is the place you go to buy medicine when you are sick.
But why is it, then, that one of the first things you see entering many of these stores is a wall of tobacco products displayed behind the cash register? Many of the packages are even designed to look like candy.
It is a fact that cigarettes, when used as intended, can ultimately kill you. What kind of message are we sending to our kids by selling tobacco products in health facilities like pharmacies?
ELLA SCIOCCHETTI
Niskayuna