Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, will end sales of e-cigarettes at its locations in the United States, reports The New York Times
The announcement was made on Friday in response to rising concerns about sicknesses and deaths seemingly linked to vaping.
“Given the growing federal, state and local regulatory complexity and uncertainty regarding e-cigarettes, we plan to discontinue the sale of electronic nicotine-delivery products,” Walmart said in a statement.
The company will continue selling the devices until its current inventory of e-cigarettes is exhausted.
Earlier this year, Walmart raised the minimum age to purchase tobacco products from 18 to 21. In May, it announced that it would no longer sell fruit-flavored and dessert-flavored electronic nicotine-delivery systems.