Several Retailers Raise Minimum Age to Buy Tobacco to 21

The Washington Post (5/8, Bhattarai) reports Walmart has announced that it will stop selling cigarettes and tobacco products to shoppers under 21, and it will phase out “the sale of fruit- and dessert-flavored e-cigarettes,” effective July 1. John Scudder, Walmart’s chief ethics and compliance officer, wrote a letter to the FDA on Wednesday, saying, “Even a single sale of a tobacco product to a minor is one too many.” 

        Bloomberg (5/8, Boyle, Edney) reports Walmart joins other chains that have “already announced plans to lift the age to 21, including Walgreens,” and “Rite Aid Corp. says it will stop selling vaping products altogether.”