Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said he's putting pharmacy chain Walgreens "on notice" for allegedly selling tobacco product to minors.
"I will be writing the corporate management of Walgreens and requesting a meeting with them to discuss whether there is a corporate-wide issue related to their stores' non-compliance and put them on notice that the FDA is considering additional enforcement avenues to address their record of violative tobacco sales to youth," Gottlieb said in a statement.
Walgreens is currently the top violator among pharmacies that sell tobacco products, the FDA said, with 22 percent of the stores the FDA has inspected being found illegally selling tobacco products to minors.
The FDA is banning one Walgreens store in Miami, Florida and a Circle K store in Charleston, South Carolina, from selling tobacco products for 30 days because they have been caught illegally selling tobacco products to minors at least five times.
Gottlieb said he's "deeply disturbed that a single pharmacy chain racked up almost 1,800 violations for selling tobacco products to minors across the country."
"I have particular concerns about whether the pharmacy setting is influencing consumer and retailer perceptions around tobacco products in a way that's contributing to these troubling findings," he said.
Walgreens did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment.
from Top News & Analysis https://cnb.cx/2Dg76dr
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