DAVAO CITY—For merely wanting to align the vape law on existing cigarettes law, Sen. Ralph Recto is opening a wider door to minors to access e-cigarettes, a pediatrics association said.
Dr. Rizalina Gonzalez of the Philippine Pediatric Society branded as “irresponsible” Recto’s Senate Vape Bill 2239, which she said, “Attempts to reverse restrictions by lowering access to vapes to 18, allowing more flavors, and even providing looser policy on use of vapes in public.”
“Even with existing regulations, we already found that almost 11 percent of students at the age of 10-15 years old have already tried vapes. It will be highly irresponsible to even lower the age of access specially with the experience of other countries,” she said.
A study conducted by the Philippine Pediatric Society in partnership with the Department of Education, confirmed that among Filipino youths, the e-cigarette flavors was also one of the top reasons why they tried vapes, the advocacy group, Philippine Legislators’ Committee on Population and Development (PLCPD), said in a news statement.
In the US, PLCPD added, flavored e-cigarettes were blamed for the epidemic on youth’s use of vapes as declared by the US Food and Drug Administration. Currently, some US States have banned flavored vapes amid the growing number of users among their youth.
The PLCPD said the “strong stand” of President Duterte against vape use led to two laws “strictly regulating e-cigarettes by raising the age of access to vapes from 18 to 21, restricting vape flavors to menthol and tobacco, and putting regulatory power over the product under the Food and Drug Administration.”
However, Recto’s bill lowering access to 18 years old to align it to existing cigarettes law may trigger wider proliferation of its use among minors.
Gonzalez said the youths are easily influenced by friends who were also using vapes. “Our children who are below 18 usually have friends in their social circle who are 18 years old and above and are able to access vapes,” she added.
She said current regulations “should actually need to be strengthened by even increasing the age of access to vapes and even cigarettes to 25 years old and ban menthol flavors which were also proven to attract the youth.”
The PLCPD said Sen. Pia Cayetano, “on the other hand, filed a bill increasing the age of access to cigarettes to 21 also to align the almost 20-year old Tobacco Regulation Act to current evidence supporting the need to increase the age of access to cigarettes.”
Toni Flores, coordinator of the Child Rights Network (CRN) said it was “lamentable” that Recto “would even consider weakening existing policies despite the local and global evidence showing the danger to a possible youth-use epidemic happening in the Philippines.”
“If the Recto Vape Bill is passed, we should expect more young people to be lured into this harmful vice and eventually lead to the fatal addiction to cigarettes. This is against the best interest of the child and compromises children’s rights to survival and development. We must not leave anything to chance when it comes to the protection of our children,” she added.
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