Walmart announced Wednesday it is raising the minimum age to buy tobacco products in its stores to 21.
In a letter to the FDA, the company said it will implement the new policy across all of its U.S. Walmart and Sam's Club stores on July 1. It also said it's working on taking "fruit- and dessert-flavored electronic nicotine delivery systems" off its shelves and "strengthening the disciplinary action" for employees who fail secret-shopper checks.
Walmart's new tobacco policy follows similar initiatives recently taken by Walgreens and Rite-Aid. Multiple states and municipalities have already increased the tobacco sale age to 21, and Sen. Mitch McConnell said last month he plans to introduce legislation to enforce the age limit nationwide.
