HE WAS not a smoker. He has never tried smoking cigarettes. But when his older brother started bringing home what looked like an attractive device that releases a sweet chocolate smell, Kyle Esposado was amazed. Soon, he started sharing vape with his brother.
“I love the chocolate flavor, and thought it was cool. I also never thought that it was bad for my health because how can something that smells good be toxic?” Kyle, who was a minor when he started using vapes, said. Not long after, he started coughing for no apparent reasons. He also started having difficulty breathing.
“That’s
when I thought I should stop. It was also some sort of a blessing that my
brother lost his job so he cannot buy flavored juices anymore,” he narrated in
a recent media briefing.
Kyle’s
experience clearly shows the need to highly regulate vapes.
In a
study conducted by the Philippine Pediatric Society in partnership with the
Department of Education, Dr. Rizalina Gonzalez of the Philippine Pediatric
Society confirmed that among Filipino youth “flavors” was also one of the top
reasons why they tried vapes.
In
the U.S., the flavored e-cigarettes were blamed for the “epidemic” on youth-use
of vapes as declared by the Food and Drugs Administration. Currently, many U.S. States adapted flavor bans to
arrest the growing number of users of vapes among their youth.
No
less than President Rodrigo Duterte made a strong stand against vape
proliferation in the country in 2019 when he said that these products are
“toxic” and said that the government has the power to issue measures to protect
public health and interest.
As a
result of this statement, two laws were passed strictly regulating e-cigarettes
by raising the age of access to vapes from 18 to 21, restricting vape flavors
to menthol and tobacco, and putting regulatory power over the product under
Food and Drugs Administration.
However,
the Senate Vape Bill (SB 2239) of Senator Ralph Recto attempts to reverse these
restrictions by lowering access to vapes to 18, allowing more flavors, and even
providing a looser policy on use of vapes in public.
Dr.
Gonzalez has strongly opposed the bill, saying that current regulations should
actually need to be strengthened by even increasing the age of access to vapes
and even cigarettes to 25-years-old and ban menthol flavors which were also
proven to attract the youth.
“Even
with the existing regulations, we already found that almost 11% of students
with the age of 10-15 years old have already tried vapes. It will be highly
irresponsible to even lower the age of access, especially with the experience
of other countries” she added. According to Dr. Gonzalez, the youth are easily
influenced by friends who are also using vapes. “Our children who are below 18
usually have friends in their social circle who are 18-years-old and above and
are able to access vapes.”
Senator
Rector justifies the lowering of age to 18 to align it to the existing law on
cigarettes. And Senator Pia Cayetano, on the other hand, filed a bill
increasing the age of access to cigarettes to 21 also to align the almost
20-year old Tobacco Regulation Act to current evidence supporting the need to
increase the age of access to cigarettes.
Toni
Flores, Coordinator of the Child Rights Network, lamented that Senator Recto
would even consider weakening existing policies despite the local and global
evidence showing the danger to a possible youth-use epidemic happening in the
Philippines. She also cited studies that vape-use has been proven to be a
gateway to cigarette-use which is directly opposite to the claim of the vape
groups.
“If the Recto Vape Bill is passed we should expect more young people to be lured into this harmful vice and eventually led to the fatal addiction to cigarettes. This is against the best interest of the child and compromises children’s rights to survival and development. We must not leave anything to chance when it comes to the protection of our children,” she said.
At
least 68% of those living in Metro Manila and 61% in Luzon, 43% in Visayas and
75% in Mindanao, showed support on banning flavors in vapes, and about 66% of
vape users also agree to impose a ban on flavors, according to a recent Pulse
Asia survey conducted nationwide.
Filipinos
also support absolute ban on vape use in public places.
The
survey results reinforced the collective call of former Health Secretaries to
junk the vape bill. In a separate statement, former Health Secretary Paulyn
Ubial said: “If our Senators pass this Vape Bill, it shows that they
are gambling with the lives of our youth and children and would rather
prioritize the interest of the vape and tobacco industry rather than the health
of our people.”
Imelda
Gocotano, of the Davao-based “Parents Against Vapes,” also appealed to Senator
Recto to junk his vape bill. “As parents, we want our children not to be hook
on this new form of harmful addiction, especially now that we are facing a
pandemic that ultimately targets weakened lungs.”
She
has likewise called on the Department of Health and Food and Drugs
Administration to implement existing regulations without further delay to
prevent our children from being addicted to vapes and protect their lungs as we
face the Covid-19 pandemic. “I hope our Senators will realize that vapes are
very much attractive to us young people. We hope you can come up with rules
that will limit our access to vapes and support activities that will inform us
about the harms of vaping,” Kyle stressed.
The
Manila Times also reported that 60 medical groups in the country have urged
Congress to junk the Recto Bill.
The
report also said that Dr. Maria Encarnita Limpin, president of the Philippine
College of Physicians, described Senate Bill 2239, which allows for the
regulation of importation, manufacturing, sale, advertisement, and promotion of
electronic nicotine/non nicotine delivery systems and heated tobacco products,
as “anti-health.”
She also said that the passage of its counterpart House Bill 9007 or the “Non-Combustible Nicotine Delivery Systems Regulation Act” was passed without the recommendations of the health sector and that the Senate version of the bill is being fast-tracked while the medical community is fighting the pandemic. “Ito pong bills na ito ay anti-health at isang regressive bill, dahil parang tayo ay binabalik na naman sa dati na halos hindi ho natin ma-regulate ang mga e-cigarettes at electronic smoking devices na ito,” Limpin said. (Malou Cablinda)
