President Rodrigo Duterte wants a total ban on the use and importation of electronic cigarette or vape following the first reported case of an electronic cigarette or vaping-associated lung injury (EVALI) in the country.
At the same time, the President also said he is also ordering law enforcement agencies to arrest those who will be found vaping in public.
The President said he will be issuing soon an executive order on this matter.
“I will ban it (vape) the use and the importation…You know why? Because it is toxic and government has the power to issue measures to protect public health and public interest,” Duterte said in a late-night media interview on Tuesday.
Duterte, who was a former smoker himself, said vaping is akin to smoking.
“I am now ordering the law enforcement agencies to arrest anybody vaping in public. That is like smoking,” he said.
The President’s statement came after the Department of Health reported that the 16-year-old girl from Visayas was diagnosed with EVALI and was confined in hospital for six days.
The DOH previously said they are in favor of an outright ban on vape.
Image credits: Ilkin Guliyev | Dreamstime.com
1 comment
He should also ban smoking cigarettes since this is exponentially more dangerous than vaping. Just my thoughts.