A CVS pharmacy is seen in New York City, in this file photo taken July 28, 2010. 
 
 CVS Health Corp said it was withdrawing its membership from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce after media reports that the trade group was lobbying globally against anti-smoking laws. 
 
 The No. 2 U.S. drugstore chain said it was "surprised" to read recent reports on the chamber's position on tobacco products outside the United States. 
 
 The New York Times reported last week that the chamber and its foreign affiliates were lobbying against anti-smoking laws such as restrictions on smoking in public places and bans on menthol and slim cigarettes, mainly in developing countries. (nyti.ms/1Kr68sG) 
 
 "CVS's purpose is to help people on their path to better health, and we fundamentally believe tobacco use is in direct conflict with this purpose," CVS spokesman David Palombi said in an emailed statement on Tuesday. 
 
 The chamber, however, said that it did not support smoking and it called the report "a concerted misinformation campaign." 
 
 "... we support protecting the intellectual property and trademarks of all legal products in all industries and oppose singling out certain industries for discriminatory treatment," the trade group said in an email. 
 
 CVS was the first major U.S. drugstore chain to stop selling tobacco products last year. 
 
 (Reporting by Yashaswini Swamynathan in Bengaluru; Editing by Kirti Pandey) ||||| While the chamber has local outposts across the United States, it also has more than 100 affiliates around the world. Foreign branches pay dues and typically hew to the U.S. Chamber’s strategy, often advancing it on the ground. Members include both American and foreign businesses, a symbiotic relationship that magnifies the chamber’s clout. 
 
 For foreign companies, membership comes with “access to the U.S. Embassy” according to the Cambodian branch, and entree to “the U.S. government,” according to the Azerbaijan branch. Members in Hanoi get an invitation to an annual trip to “lobby Congress and the administration” in Washington. 
 
 Since Mr. Donohue took over in 1997, he has steered the chamber into positions that have alienated some members. In 2009, the chamber threatened to sue if the Environmental Protection Agency regulated greenhouse gas emissions, disputing its authority to act on climate change. That led Nike to step down from the chamber’s board, and to Apple’s departure from the group. In 2013, the American arm of the Swedish construction giant Skanska resigned, protesting the chamber’s support for what Skanska called a “chemical industry-led initiative” to lobby against green building codes. 
 
 The chamber’s tobacco lobbying has led to confusion for many countries, Dr. da Costa e Silva said, adding “there is a misconception that the American chamber of commerce represents the government of the U.S.” In some places like Estonia, the lines are blurred. The United States ambassador there, Jeffrey Levine, serves as honorary president of the chamber’s local affiliate; the affiliate quoted Philip Morris in a publication outlining its priorities. 
 
 The tobacco industry has increasingly turned to international courts to challenge antismoking laws that countries have enacted after the passage of the W.H.O. treaty. Early this year, Michael R. Bloomberg and Bill Gates set up an international fund to fight such suits. Matthew L. Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, an advocacy group that administers the fund, called the chamber “the tobacco industry’s most formidable front group,” adding, “it pops up everywhere.” 
 
 In Ukraine, the chamber’s involvement was no surprise to Hanna Hopko, the lawmaker who led the hearing in Parliament. She said the chamber there had fought against antismoking laws for years. 
 
 “They were against the tobacco tax increase, they were against placing warning labels on cigarettes,” she said. “This is just business as usual for them.”
– CVS kicked tobacco out of its stores last fall, and America's second-largest pharmacy chain is showing no signs of easing up on its anti-tobacco stance: It has stubbed out its relationship with the US Chamber of Commerce after a New York Times investigation found that the business group has been fighting anti-smoking measures around the world, reports Reuters. "CVS Health's purpose is to help people on their path to better health, and we fundamentally believe tobacco use is in direct conflict with this purpose," the company said in a statement. In a statement, the chamber labeled the Times report a "concerted misinformation campaign" and said it does not support smoking, though it does "support protecting the intellectual property and trademarks of all legal products in all industries and oppose singling out certain industries for discriminatory treatment." The chamber's other critics include WHO chief Margaret Chan, who said, "By lobbying against well-established, widely accepted, and evidence-based tobacco control public health policies, the US Chamber of Commerce undermines its own credibility on other issues" in a statement yesterday, per the Times. (Apple quit the chamber in 2009 over its stance on climate change.)