San Francisco (AFP)
Apple has removed from its App Store all applications related to vaping because of the dangers that the practice could present for health, against a backdrop of a true epidemic in the United States that has already killed 42 and nearly 2,200 sufferers this year .
"Recently, experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC in the United States) to the American Heart Association have linked e-cigarettes and vaping to a variety of lung diseases and deaths, even of health crisis and epidemic among the youth ", explains Apple to AFP, confirming an information of Axios.
"We agree and have reviewed our App Store rules to indicate that apps that encourage or facilitate the use of these products are not allowed," says the group, which tightly controls apps for its products. mobile, in the first place the some 900 million iPhones in the world.
In total, Apple has removed 181 applications worldwide but people who downloaded them before the ban will continue to use them.
Last week, the US health authorities had announced that they most probably broke the mystery of the epidemic: a vitamin E oil apparently added in cannabis refills sold on the black market.
Shortly before, Donald Trump had said he wanted to raise the minimum age to buy electronic cigarettes in the United States from 18 to 21 years. He was also scheduled this week to present a broader plan to reduce youth vaping, while raising concerns about the impact that too heavy restrictions could have on the future of this nascent industry.
Big cities or federated states have already taken their own more or less severe ban on electronic cigarettes and nicotine cartridges.
© 2019 AFP