From The Trussville Tribune staff reports
NEW YORK — Walmart announced that the minimum age to purchase tobacco products and all e-cigarettes in the United States will be raised to 21.
The announcement was made Wednesday. The new policy will start in July and will be enforced at all U.S. locations of Walmart and Sam’s Clubs, according to Walmart.
U.S. Chief Compliance and Ethics Officer for Walmart John Scudder addressed the issue on his company blog.
“Recently, we received a letter from the Food and Drug Administration about the policies we have in place to prevent the sale of tobacco and electronic nicotine delivery systems to anyone under age,” said Scudder “While we have implemented a robust compliance program, we are not satisfied with falling short of our company-wide goal of 100 percent compliance. Even a single sale to a minor is one too many, and we take seriously our responsibilities in this regard. So today, we sent a letter back to the FDA outlining additional measures we’re taking to keep tobacco out of the hands of minors.”
Walmart also said that it will discontinue the sale of fruit and dessert flavored e-cigarettes.