dr. winder, thank you for joining us. when we come back after a quick break we'll continue our conversation about cvs's decision about tobacco and try to understand the public health, branding and business consideration that goes into stopping sales of a lethal but product. i'm here to make the connections to your money real. al jazeera america. we open up your world. >> here on america tonight, an opportunity for all of america to be heard. >> our shows explore the issues that shape our lives. >> new questions are raised about the american intervention. >> from unexpected viewpoints to live changing innovations, dollars and cents to powerful storytelling. >> we are at a tipping point in america's history! >> al jazeera america. there's more to it. >> welcome back to inside story. i'm ray suarez. cvs, the nation's second largest drugstore chain just announced it will phase out the sale of tobacco products. the decision will cost the company $2 billion in annual revenue, so why do it? we're going to take a closer look at t

dr. winder, is that it will cause some people who thought about quitting to quit now, and the fact that you're not going to see as many advertisements in the cvs stores, may stop young people from starting smoking. >> you've done actual research on this and written a paper on it. and what did you find? was there an effect from geographical proximity to whether or not you pick up a pack of buds or not? >> . >> we found in 1976, was that pharmacists really chafe from selling healthcare products and selling cigarettes. we found that independent stores mainly did not, and the chain pharmacies d since that time, the independence started vanishing, and almost all pharmacies are run by chains, and this is critical. research shows that the denser the concentration of places selling cigarettes, the more likely people are to be smokers. >> we have heard a couple of times about that conflict of missions between a company that wants to physician itself as a healthcare provider while selling these other products. but around the country, local laws vary, but other places like cvss and others in particular,