MANILA — The Philippine education department joined Thursday calls for President Rodrigo Duterte to veto a bill that will lower the age of access to vaporized nicotine (vape) products.

Under the measure, passed by both houses of Congress last Jan. 26, individuals aged 18 and above would be allowed to purchase vaping products. The current age limit is at 21.

"As a government institution championing young Filipinos' well-being, we are taking a stand against the so-called 'anti-health' vape bill, which will weaken existing law and the executive order against... e-cigarettes or vapes," the Department of Education (DepEd) said in a statement.

The department was referring to Republic Act No. 11467 and Executive Order No. 106, which it said already regulate the sale of electronic nicotine and non-nicotine products.

"If there will be any attempt to amend existing laws, it should be to increase the age of access to harmful products, not lower it," it said.

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The agency said the measure "is of great concern for us," citing a Philippine Pediatric Society study which found that 6.7 percent of DepEd learners from Grades 7 to 9 "have tried and are using e-cigarettes."

The DepEd also cited enrollment data from School Year 2020-2021, which showed "at least 870,000 learners in the basic education sector were 18 years old... while close to 1.1 million learners in senior high school were 18 to 20 years old."

"This is the number of learners who will become legally allowed to be marketed the harmful products once the bill becomes law," it said.

The proposed measure also transfers regulatory powers over vaping products from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to the Department of Trade and Industry, which the DepEd opposed.

"We believe that the FDA is in the best position to regulate the harmful products, consistent with evolving medical and scientific studies," the agency said.

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DOH, MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS ALSO CALLS FOR VETO

In a bid to correct all the “fake news” circulating on social media about vape and heated tobacco products, the Department of Health, DepEd, and medical practitioners gathered once again to knock down arguments made by other doctors and personalities who recently expressed their support for the Vape Bill.

“The proliferation of misleading health information undermines confidence in the medical community and scientific studies, and amplifies distrust in policy makers and governments,” Sec. Fransisco Duque III of the health department said.

“It endangers our citizens when they ignore sound scientific advice by medical experts because of their exposure to false and misleading information. We have seen this in COVID 19 and now we are seeing them in tobacco control, particularly with vapes and e-cigarettes,” he added.

Senator Pia Cayetano who voted against the bill, called the changing of regulatory body provision “ridiculous”.

“The passage of this vape bill is really sad.. this (vape ad HTPs) is a harmful product,” she said.

BILL WOULD NOT HELP SMOKERS

Anti- vape medical practitioners deny claims of some pro-vape doctors that HTPs are “less harmful than cigarettes” and mitigates “the negative health outcomes of smoking”.

“Hindi naman lahat ng mga doktor na nagsasabi ay paniniwalaan natin. Siguro may ganun po siyang opinion pero hindi po iyon ang stand ng buong medical community,” Dr. Benito Atienza, the President of the Philippine Medical Association said about one doctor who expressed his support publicly for the bill.

"The Philippine Medical Association is composed of more than 80 thousand members, ang doktor na ito ay isa lang sa ating mga doktor. Marami po ang PMA na experts regarding this po,” he said.

Citing studies, Dr. Ulysses Dorotheo from the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance said instead of helping the smokers quit, vaping or HTP use results to smokers becoming “dual users”.

"They smoke regular and e-cigarettes- even more harmful. It is not effective for cessation and there are studies that show that those who quit e-cigarettes, they end up relapsing much more than those who do not use e-cigarettes.. these are harmful products for the lungs, heart and immune system,” Dr. Ulysses Dorotheo of the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance said.

BILL IS NOT DESIGNED TO PREVENT MINORS FROM USING IT

Instead of discouraging minors to use vape and HTPs, they fear the opposite may happen.

"You are allowing a Pandora’s box to open to trap our children. flavors are meant to be to the gastrointestinal track… you can just imagine the damage it is being done when inhaled synthetic flavoring to a developing child,” Dr. Riz Gonzales of the Philippine Pediatric Society said.

HTPS FOR PROFITS ONLY

Anti- Vape bill proponents shrugs off claims that the tobacco industry is helping to solve the smoking problem by shifting to “products with similar satisfaction but with less harm”.

"Makikita natin sa actions ng tobacco industry na patuloy parin nilang pinapalaganap ang paninigarilyo by advertising it aggressively,” Atty. Sophia San Luis of ImagineLaw said.

“Itong 2021 tumaas ang volume ng cigarette sales ng industry- which is indicative of how much they rely on income they are getting from cigarettes.. wag nating paniwalaan na they are making progress in moving away from harmful products,”she added.

"Kung talagang naniniwala sila na masama ang sigarilyo, bakit ginagawa parin nila? Bakit di nila i-recall ang produktong ito sa merkado?”Dorotheo said.

-with a report from Jasmin Romero, ABS-CBN News

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