Corporate giant Walmart announced Friday that it will discontinue all sales of e-cigarettes, also called electronic nicotine delivery systems by the Food and Drug Administration, once its current inventory is sold.
“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 U.S. locations,” the company said in a statement. “We will complete our exit after selling through current inventory.”
Walmart’s announcement comes amid reports of 530 lung injuries in 38 states linked to vaping nicotine or THC, the psychoactive chemical in cannabis. Eight people have died of such injuries, the most recent of which happened in Missouri on Thursday.
While the FDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continue to run tests to single out an ingredient in vaping liquids causing such lung disease, both agencies, as well as state-level health officials, have strongly encouraged people to stop using vaping products immediately.
The outbreak of illnesses has prompted the administration to move to ban flavored e-cigarettes, and big media companies have removed advertisements for vaping products.
[Related: E-cigarette users warn Trump that the real culprit is THC vaping]
