Poisoning Filipinos

Back in December 2021, at least 43 medical organizations including the Philippine Medical Association had urged then president Rodrigo Duterte to veto a bill liberalizing the vaporized nicotine industry.

The bill also lowered the age limit for vaping from 21 to 18 years old and transferred regulatory authority over e-cigarettes from the Food and Drug Administration to the Department of Trade and Industry.

But Duterte, who had banned smoking in public places nationwide, gave in to the tobacco lobby and signed the bill, which both chambers of Congress had passed with impressive speed, at the height of the COVID pandemic that attacked the pulmonary system. The law was enacted despite the presence of tetrahydrocannabinol in many vapes. THC is the prime psychoactive element in the cannabis plant; it produces the high when using marijuana.

The Philippines has gone against the health trend in other member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, most of which have banned vapes: Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Vietnam. Myanmar recently became the eighth in ASEAN to ban vapes.

Last year, the Department of Health called for a nationwide total vape ban, citing the link of e-cigarettes to cancer, cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases. DOH Secretary Ted Herbosa recently renewed the call as he pointed out that vape “is poison” including second-hand smoke from e-cigarettes.

“Why will I give poison to Filipinos and the youth?” he said as he warned of life-threatening EVALI or e-cigarette or vaping-associated lung injury.

In 2024, the country recorded its first death linked to EVALI: a 22-year-old male with no history of cigarette smoking, but who had regularly used vapes for two years.

Health experts and doctors’ groups have long warned that e-cigarettes are falsely marketed as harm-reduction tools and a safer alternative to regular cigarettes. The use of sweet, candy-like flavors such as bubblegum and strawberry also target young users.

“In reality, e-cigarette liquids and aerosols are toxic,” said Dr. Ulysses Dorotheo of the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance. “Propylene glycol, vegetable glycerin and flavorings, when inhaled, irritate the airways and damage lung tissue, causing chronic respiratory diseases.”

In pushing for a vape ban, public health advocate Dr. Anthony Leachon has denounced “deceptive marketing and regulatory loopholes” and warned of “normalizing nicotine addiction among the next generation.”

The government spends substantial amounts for the treatment of chronic and potentially deadly respiratory diseases and tobacco-related afflictions such as cancer. After two years of promoting nicotine addiction, it’s time for the government to listen to the health experts and ban vapes.