Walmart to change vapor and tobacco buying age to 21

Starting in July, people under the age of 21 will no longer be able to buy tobacco products from Walmart or Sam’s Club stores in the United States, according to an article in the New York Times. .

Walmart Inc. announced on Wednesday that it would be raising the minimum age for buying the products on July 1, making it the latest retailer to make changes regarding tobacco sales to minors, according to the article. Walmart’s move comes after a letter from the Food and Drug Administration last month that requested it to submit a plan to end illegal tobacco sales to minors.

Walmart will also no longer sell “fruit- and dessert-flavored electronic nicotine delivery systems” and other devices for vaping, according to the company’s announcement, the article states.

Other retailers have also recently changed their policies around the sale of tobacco products to minors. Walgreens will stop selling them to customers under 21 in September, while Rite Aid announced in April it would remove e-cigarettes from its stores over the next 90 days, according to the article. For its part, CVS stopped selling tobacco products in 2014. Several states have also moved to raise the minimum smoking age.