An executive order is being eyed to regulate the manufacturing, distribution, sale and use of all kinds of e-cigarettes after the Health department announced the first confirmed case of vaping-related lung injury in the country.
The Health department confirmed Friday that a 16-year-old girl is the first reported case of electronic cigarette or vaping-associated lung injury (EVALI) in the country. The teen had been using e-cigarettes for six months alongside regular cigarettes for six months before being admitted last October 21 due to a sudden-onset severe shortness of breath. She required additional oxygen and had to be admitted to the intensive care unit. Additional confirmatory tests are being done on the teen to rule out that her illness was not caused by bacterial or viral infections.
Longtime presidential aide-turned-Senator Christopher “Bong” Go said that Saturday he will recommend to President Rodrigo Duterte the issuance of an executive order to regulate e-cigarettes pending a new law that would impose government controls over these devices.
The Health department had already sought to regulate e-cigarettes through an administrative order issued in June, mandating all establishments engaged in the manufacture, distribution, importation, exportation, sale and transfer of e-cigarettes and other electronic nicotine delivery systems to secure a license to operate from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Deputy Majority Leader Rep. Bernadette Herrera said she will file next week a bill in the House of Representatives that would seek to finally regulate the sale of vapes, which will ban the sale of vapes to minors, as well as all vape flavors except tobacco and menthol.
"The fruity and other flavors are there to deceive buyers, especially the young, into liking vaping because of the flavors,” she said Saturday in a statement.
The Health department had said it would rather have an outright ban on vaping, stressing that its advertised safety and efficacy as a nicotine substitute to cigarettes have not yet been scientifically proven.
But these facts have not deterred vape users from stopping. 19-year-old vape user Kyle Frias said. “I stopped smoking cigarettes and I started saving money because of vaping. I used to smoke packs of cigarettes in a week, I mean how much do cigarettes cost now. But now I get to save up and I avoid using cigarettes.”
A law signed by President Rodrigo Duterte in July had placed a ₱10 tax for every 10 milliliters of vaping liquids. A proposed law which Duterte certified as urgent, also seeks to hike this tax further.
Source: CNN Philippines
CNN Philippines’ Joyce Ilas, Xianne Arcangel and Crissy Dimatulac contributed to this report.
