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Walmart Inc. is ending cigarette sales in some U.S. stores after years of debate within the retail company’s leadership ranks about the sale of tobacco products, according to people familiar with the matter. Cigarettes are being removed in various markets, including some stores in California, Florida, Arkansas and New Mexico, according to the people and store visits. In some of these stores, Walmart has rolled out a design with more self-checkout registers, as well as other items such as grab-and-go food or candy sold near the front of stores in place of Marlboro, Newport and other tobacco products. (Nassauer and Maloney, 3/28)

Walmart is not the first national retail chain to cut off cigarette sales even on a trial basis, but it is the largest. Target ended cigarette sales in 1996 and the drugstore chain CVS Health did the same in 2014. CVS Health sales in areas outside the pharmacy fell for a few quarters after it pulled tobacco products, and the company had predicted that missing tobacco products would hurt annual earnings by 7 to 8 cents per share. (D'Innocenzio, 3/28)

Walmart’s decision to stop selling cigarettes in some U.S. stores won’t hurt tobacco manufacturers, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analyst Bonnie Herzog. The Bentonville, Arkansas-based company represents less than 5% of cigarette industry volume, she estimated. “Smokers will still purchase cigarettes, and they will simply go to other retailers such as convenience stores, dollar stores and tobacco shops,” she said in a note to clients. (Mulier and Case, 3/28)

High-intensity exercise may help patients with anxiety quit smoking, new research shows. Results from a randomized study of 150 participants reporting symptoms of anxiety showed that among daily smokers who received a personalized, high-intensity aerobic intervention, rates of smoking abstinence were nearly twice as great as for those who received a lower-intensity exercise intervention. (Melville, 3/28)

Health Canada gave the green light to domestic use of Medicago’s plant-based Covifenz vaccine last month. But its use around the world is in jeopardy: The World Health Organization is balking at the vaccine because of the manufacturer’s ties to tobacco giant Philip Morris International, which owns a roughly one-third equity stake in Medicago. (Coletta, 3/25)

E-cigarettes and vaping have been a welcomed invention for many adult smokers who wish to curb their tobacco use or take a step toward harm reduction or quitting. But since their introduction around 2007, they’ve been an utter disaster when it comes to our efforts to curb teen nicotine use and addiction. Now, a new study shows that e-cigarettes don’t just make smoking easier and more enticing for teens — they also make it harder for them to quit. (Aswell, 3/28)

People who vape may be setting themselves up for developing diabetes, even if they don't smoke traditional cigarettes, a new study suggests. Among more than 600,000 U.S. adults, researchers found that those who used electronic cigarettes were more likely to have prediabetes than people who'd never vaped or smoked. The link was seen even among e-cigarette users who said they had never smoked traditional cigarettes. (3/7)