Apple Responds To Vaping Health Crisis By Removing 181 Apps

After the newest update from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had revealed that there have been 2,172 cases of serious lung injury related to vaping and 42 deaths, Apple Inc. AAPL decided to remove all 181 vaping-related apps from its mobile App Store, Axios reported Friday. 

Cupertino stopped accepting new apps that advertise vaping back in June.

Apple has never accepted apps that sell vape cartridges, but it did offer apps that enable people to regulate the lighting and the temperature of their vape pens and apps with vaping-related news and content. 

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Those who already have one of the 181 apps removed from the App Store can continue to use it, but they won't be able to update it, Axios said. 

“We take great care to curate the App Store as a trusted place for customers, particularly youth, to download apps. We’re constantly evaluating apps, and consulting the latest evidence, to determine risks to users’ health and well-being. Recently, experts ranging from the CDC to the American Heart Association have attributed a variety of lung injuries and fatalities to e-cigarette and vaping products, going so far as to call the spread of these devices a public health crisis and a youth epidemic,” Apple told Axios.

"We agree, and we’ve updated our App Store Review Guidelines to reflect that apps encouraging or facilitating the use of these products are not permitted. As of today, these apps are no longer available to download."

Apple shares were down 0.19% at $265.23 at the time of publication. 

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