The Food and Drug Administration is calling on the hospitals under the Health department to report any cases of illness or injury related to the use of electronic cigarettes and vaping amid the rising number of such cases in other countries.
“The FDA requests all DOH-retained hospitals to immediately communicate relevant case reports of injuries and illnesses documented arising from the use of these devices,” the FDA said.
The agency said this was in the interest of evidence-based policy development and in line with the emerging report of electronic cigarette-related injuries and illnesses from Europe and North America.
And amid the rising death toll in the United States related to vaping, Filipino medical experts have an raised alarm on this concern and urged Congress to raise the taxes on e-cigarettes.
Action on Smoking and Health Executive Director Maricar Limpin called on lawmakers in the Philippines to pursue a significant increase in the tax on heated tobacco products and aerosol products.
“Taxation is proven to be effective in discouraging the consumption of sin products such as alcohol and tobacco, particularly among the youth,” Limpin said.
In the Senate, Senator Manny Pacquiao has filed Senate Bill 987 proposing to tax HTPs and vape in the same rate as traditional cigarettes effective next year at P45.
The FDA said the use of electronic nicotine and non-nicotine delivery systems are under the purview of the agency based on Republic Act 9711.
“In compliance with the Data Privacy Act of 2012, it is expected that the information provided will be anonymized in as much as they are thorough and extensive,” the agency said.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in August issued an advisory, cautioning the public against the purchase and use of vaping ingredients from the street and to stop modifying either nicotine or cannabis e-cigarette in an effort to curb the reportedly rising cases of vaping-related sicknesses in 25 US states.
As of Aug. 27, US health authorities have monitored 215 possible cases of pulmonary illnesses, and all patients have reported using e-cigarette products.
According to the USCDC, e-cigarettes can contain harmful or potentially harmful substances including nicotine, heavy metals such as lead, volatile organic compounds and cancer-causing chemicals.
Additionally, some e-cigarette products are used to deliver illicit substances that may be acquired from unknown or unauthorized sources.
“Based on reports from several states, patients have experienced respiratory symptoms (cough, shortness of breath, or chest pain) and some have also experienced gastrointestinal symptoms (nausea, vomiting or diarrhea) or non-specific constitutional symptoms (fatigue, fever, or weight loss). Symptoms typically develop over a period of days but sometimes can manifest over several weeks,” the advisory said.
The USCDC have recommended some steps for clinicians, including the reporting of cases of severe pulmonary disease of unclear etiology and history of e-cigarette use within the past 90 days, to help determine the cause of these sicknesses.
The World Health Organization earlier said the use of e-cigarettes should be regulated as there is no evidence proving they were a safer alternative to cigarettes, warning that it normalizes smoking and hooks young people.
