Apple goes into the fight against e-cigarettes. Forty-two people have already died because of them in the USA

Apple has pulled all applications related to popular vaping from its App Store. The company decided to take this step after reports of deaths linked to the use of e-cigarettes emerged. A message released by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), according to which e-cigarettes are already responsible for 42 deaths in the United States. In addition to these most serious cases, the CDC records more than two thousand other cases of serious lung diseases in people who used nicotine or cannabis-based products through e-cigarettes.

There were more than one hundred and eighty vaping-related applications in the App Store. Although none of them were used for the direct sale of refills for electronic cigarettes, some of them allowed smokers to control the temperature or lighting of their e-cigarettes, while others served to display news related to vaping, or offered games or elements of social networks.

The decision to remove all these apps from the App Store was certainly not sudden. Apple has been moving towards this fundamental step since this June, when it stopped accepting applications promoting the use of electronic cigarettes. Applications that were approved by Apple in the past, however, continued to remain in the App Store and could be downloaded to new devices. In its official statement, Apple said it wants its App Store to be a trusted place for customers — especially younger ones — to download apps, adding that it constantly evaluates apps and assesses their potential risk to users' health or comfort.

When the CDC, together with the American Heart Association, confirmed the link between smoking e-cigarettes and lung diseases, and linked the spread of these devices to a public health crisis, the Cupertino company decided, in its own words, to change App Store Rules and disable the relevant applications for good. In accordance with the new rules, applications promoting the consumption of tobacco and vaping products, illegal drugs or excessive amounts of alcohol will no longer be approved in the App Store.

Apple's radical move was duly praised by the American Heart Association, whose director, Nancy Brown, said she hoped others would follow suit and join in spreading the message about the nicotine addiction that e-cigarettes can cause.

Source: 9to5Mac, Photos: Blacknote