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Apple has begun removing vaping-related apps from its App Store entirely, in response to a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In June of this year, Apple stopped adding new vaping apps to the App Store. Now, all previously available applications are to be completely removed from the App Store. The reason for this measure is health concerns, based on a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a US federal agency of the American Department of Health.
Apple's primary aim is to protect young people from e-cigarette marketing in the future. According to the plan, over 180 such applications will be completely removed from the App Store in the next few hours and days. In a statement to Axios, Apple announced that the company shares the opinion of experts that vaping is a “Public health crisis” and one “Youth epidemic” represents.
"We take great care to make the App Store a trusted place for customers, especially teens, to download apps. We continually evaluate apps and consult the latest evidence to determine risks to users' health and well-being. Recently, experts from the CDC to the American Heart Association have attributed numerous lung injuries and deaths to e-cigarette and vaping products, even calling the proliferation of these devices a public health crisis and a youth epidemic." – explains the company.
"We agree and have updated our App Store Review Guidelines to reflect that apps that promote or facilitate the use of these products are not permitted. As of today, these apps are no longer available for download." – says Apple.
Anyone who has already downloaded one of these applications on their device can of course continue to use the app. However, it will no longer be possible to download it again. Do you think Apple's decision is a good one? See our survey - thank you for taking part. (Photo by Licsiren / Bigstockphoto)
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