Health experts said the enactment of the vape law is the right step toward reducing the serious diseases and deaths caused by smoking in the Philippines where there are more than 16 million smokers.
“Simply put, smoking kills and I think no one will dispute that our government should do everything it can to stop this—including the passage of this landmark anti-smoking vape law,” said Dr. Arleen Reyes, past president of the Philippine Dental Association and chairman of the Scientific Committee for the Asia Pacific Dental Federation.
Dr. Reyes is referring to Republic Act No. 11900, or the Vaporized Nicotine and Non-Nicotine Products Regulation Act, which became a law on July 25, 2022. It regulates the importation, manufacture, sale, packaging, distribution, use and communication of vaping products such as e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products.
“The passage of this law is a step in the right direction because we are adding another public health tool to drastically cut down smoking rates in the country. In fact, many public health regulators around the world have already said that vaping is significantly less harmful than smoking as supported by available scientific evidence,” said Dr. Rafael Castillo, past president of the Philippine Heart Association and the only Filipino doctor who sits in the board of trustee of the UK-based International Society of Hypertension.
“I have said it before and I will say it again, this anti-smoking vape law will save the lives of many Filipino smokers or at the very least reduce their health risk of getting serious smoking-related diseases,” said Castillo.
Dr. Assunta Mendoza, past chairman of the Anesthesiology Department of Manila Medical Center, welcomed the provisions in the new law that are designed to protect minors and non-smokers.
“I fully support the restrictive provisions of the Vape Law that prohibits minors from accessing these products. No one will dispute that we should protect our minors from getting access to these products. Thus, I laud our lawmakers for incorporating many provisions designed to deter access by minors, prohibit the use of flavor descriptors and penalize those who will violate said provisions,” said Mendoza.
Data from the World Health Organization and the Department of Health show that there are more than 16 million Filipino smokers, resulting in more than 100,000 smoking-related deaths annually. The Philippines also has a very low smoking quit rate of 4 percent, which means that not even 1 out of 10 smokers will quit every year.