PRESIDENT Duterte has a chance to dramatically reduce the smoking problem in the Philippines by making the vape bill his legacy, according to four prominent doctors.
The vape bill, once signed into law, will provide millions of Filipino smokers a less harmful option to move away from cigarettes, regulate the smoke-free products, and keep them out of youth access.
Dr. Rafael Castillo, former president of the Philippine Heart Association-Philippine College of Cardiology and the Philippine Society of Hypertension, said the Vaporized Nicotine Products (VNP) bill, when signed into law, “will be a historic legislation that will become part of the legacy of the Duterte administration.”
Former National Kidney and Transplant Institute Chief Executive Officer Dr. Dante Dator, one of the country’s leading urologists, said the approval of the VNP bill by Congress is a historic win for public health as this will substantially diminish the impact of smoking on society.
Manila Medical Center’s past chairman of the Department of Anesthesiology Dr. Assunta Mendoza said she has seen countless of lives lost due to smoking.
“Every smoker deserves a chance to be given an alternative to be able to stop smoking. I support the government’s move to put an end to the smoking pandemic once and for all through the passage of the Vape Bill,” she said.
Quit for Good President Dr. Lorenzo Mata said the VNP bill, which recognizes tobacco harm reduction (THR) as a pragmatic public health approach, “will inform millions of adult Filipino smokers about less harmful alternatives that are available and should be available to them, while the youth and non-smokers are protected.”
The VNP bill seeks to regulate the manufacture, sale and use of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products (HTPs) which, according to overwhelming scientific studies, are less harmful alternatives to combustible cigarettes.
The Senate approved Senate Bill No. 2239 on third and final reading on December 16, 2021, while the House of Representatives approved House Bill No. 9007 on third and final reading on May 25, 2021.
“SB 2239 is a big win for public health because we give the 16 million Filipino smokers a chance to stop cigarette smoking, while protecting our minors from using these products as it provides regulation banning the sale to minors and banning the use of flavor descriptors that attract minors,” Dator said.
“It will be the country’s first comprehensive law that will regulate vapor products and provide strict rules on its use to protect minors. It also provides for detailed regulation so that the 17 million Filipino smokers can access these less harmful alternatives,” said Castillo, a top cardiologist at the Manila Doctors Hospital and the only Filipino sitting as trustee at the International Society of Hypertension. He is also past president of the Asian Pacific Society of Hypertension.
“Public health regulators around the world are almost in agreement that vapor product alternatives are less harmful compared to cigarettes and can save the lives of many. This was also affirmed by a scientific study by public health experts in the US led by Dr. David Abrams of New York University that vaping saves lives,” she said.
Mata, an occupational medicine specialist for over 35 years, said the VNP bill is in line with the THR approach that acknowledges the role of less harmful products in lessening the impact of tobacco on public health.
“This bill offers the Philippines an opportunity to drastically reduce smoking rate which still affects more than a quarter of our adult population. This is why the VNP bill will be a landmark legislation and an important legacy that the current administration can leave for the current and future generation,” Mata said.
Department of Health data showed that more than 16 million Filipinos adults use tobacco, with the proportion of smokers who successfully quit at only 4 percent. Globally, smoking kills 8 million people a year, according to the World Health Organization.
The vape bill has stringent measures to protect minors from accessing and consuming the vaporized nicotine products. It prohibits use by minors, and the sale to minors, advertising, and promotion of vape products within 100 meters of school perimeter and playground. It forbids use of flavor descriptors that appeal to minors in vape products and the display of vape products immediately next to products of particular interest to minors.
