Walmart shows vaping devices the door.
Walmart said Friday that it would end sales of e-cigarettes at its locations in the United States, as medical concerns about the effects of vaping rise along with sicknesses and deaths seemingly linked to the habit.
“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,” the nation’s largest retailer said in a statement Friday.
The company will continue to sell the devices until its current inventory of e-cigarettes is exhausted.
Walmart’s decision came a day after medical authorities said that the number of vapingrelated lung illnesses had risen to 530 probable cases, and a Missouri man became the eighth to die from the mysterious ailments.
Investigations are underway at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration and state health departments.
On Sunday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced emergency regulations to quickly ban the sale of flavored e-cigarettes, and state health officials approved the ban Tuesday. Michigan announced this month that it also would prohibit such products.
Last week, the Trump administration said it would move to ban the sale of most flavored e-cigarettes.
Walmart had raised the minimum age for tobacco products to 21 earlier this year, and in May said it also no longer would sell “fruit- and dessertflavored electronic nicotine delivery systems.”
Juul, the most popular e-cigarette company in the country, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The move by Walmart is the most recent example of the retailer responding to widespread concerns about its products. In the wake of the shooting at one of its own stores in El Paso in August, Walmart said it would stop selling ammunition that could be used in military-style assault rifles.