NO ONE, except the chain smokers, would argue with me about the bad effects of smoking cigarettes. In my previous column, it was cited that according to data site ourworldindata.org, smoking remains to be one of the major causes for early death with an estimated 8 million people who died from smoking in 2017. In the Philippines, the Philippine Statistics Authority and the Department of Health reported last year that there 15.9 million Filipino or at least 14.7% of our population have continued smoking despite the government’s persistent campaign against tobacco products.
Smoking does not only affect the smoker himself/herself but it also puts those around them at risk for what is known as secondhand smoking. Non-smokers are also affected through passive smoking defined as the smoke exhaled by the smoker combined with the smoke created by a lit cigarette. Secondhand smoke is dangerous to anyone who breathes it in since it is full of toxins that are considered carcinogens. This is also known as ETS or environmental tobacco smoke, and it gives higher risks to children whose bodies are still developing physically.
In 2003, electronic cigarettes or popularly known as vapes were believed to be invented by a Chinese pharmacist. Vape stores and companies claim that vaping is a healthy substitute for cigarettes but this is not true. According to kidshealth.org, vaping puts nicotine into the body which is highly addictive and can "slow brain development in teens and affect memory, concentration, learning, self-control, attention, and mood." It also increases the risk of other types of addiction later in life. Further, e-cigarettes also "irritate the lungs, and cause serious lung damage and even death." Vaping does not successfully replace smoking and most of the people I know still resort to occasional smoking even smoke cigarettes and other tobacco products.
Last week, the public hearing on the provisions of the Vaporized Products Regulation Act was conducted and it explored regulations on age restriction, online trade, product flavors, among others. Currently, vapor products and heated tobacco products (HTPs) are already regulated under Republic Act 11467 (RA 11467), signed by President Rodrigo Roa Duterte in January 2020. Under RA 11467, selling vapor products and HTPs to persons below 21 years old is prohibited. However, the pending bills in the Senate, similar to the substitute bill at the House of Representatives (HoR), intend to reduce the minimum age of restriction to 18.
Education Secretary Leonor Briones expressed her concerns about these new provisions saying that “before the pandemic, the Philippine Pediatric Society (PPS) has coordinated with [the DepEd] to explore the determinants of e-cigarette use among [Grades 7 to 9] learners [and results showed] that 6.7 percent [of 11,500 learners surveyed] have tried and are using e-cigarettes.”
Based on the PPS survey results, the top reasons for using vape among DepEd learners are online accessibility (32 percent), varied flavors (22 percent), and the belief that e-cigarettes are safer than tobacco (17 percent). Banking on these results, Sec. Briones joined the calls of “fellow health champions” for discussions on tobacco product regulations to be led by the Senate Committee on Health.
Briones added that “on matters related to substance use prevention, education alone is not enough. In their classes, we teach our learners how to reject harmful substances. Outside these classes, we need policies and structures that will help reinforce our learners’ health-promoting choices, complementing what we teach them in school.”