Walmart has announced that it will stop selling e-cigarettes in the US amidst surging calls for a complete ban on the products.
According to Walmart, its decision to halt the sale of e-cigarettes was due to the uncertainty surrounding the rules governing the products, which have been linked to over 500 cases of lung disease by US health workers.
Last week, US President Donald Trump said that the country will prohibit selling of all flavored e-cigarettes. New York and Michigan are the states that have already banned e-cigarettes entirely.
On Friday, a bipartisan group of US senators urged the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to remove all pod and cartridge-based e-cigarettes from the market until product safety is proven. Senators Dick Durbin, Lisa Murkowski, Jeff Merkley and Richard Blumenthal wrote a letter to the FDA to ask a ban on e-cigarettes, citing recent reports of 530 cases of vaping-related lung disease, as well as eight deaths.
The letter stated "Unfortunately, many cartridge-based systems are easily able to be opened and modified, exposing adolescents to the additional dangers associated with refillable, and modifiable, e-liquids."
Walmart released a statement saying "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 at all Walmart and Sam's Club US locations. We will complete our exit after selling through current inventory."
The crackdown on e-cigarettes have also started in other countries, with India planning to initiate a ban on the products.
The use of e-cigarettes was considered initially as a safer alternative to smoking traditional tobacco cigarettes. Some doctors, public health experts and cancer charities in the UK pointed out that e-cigarettes carry a fraction of the risk of cigarettes based on current data. However, the increase in teen vaping in the US has resulted in a backlash against the products.
