“Unsmoke your life, unsmoke your world” is a global campaign that says the best choice any smoker can make is to quit cigarettes and nicotine altogether. For millions of Filipino smokers, however, this is a tough ordeal. They need help. A 2021 study by Acorn Marketing & Research Consultants found that 94 percent of Filipino respondents believe that the government should enact policies to encourage smokers to switch to less harmful alternatives.
In December, the Senate approved on third and final reading the much-debated Senate Bill 2239, or the proposed Vaporized Nicotine Products Regulation Act. The bill seeks to regulate the importation, manufacture, sale, packaging, distribution, use and consumption of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products. The House of Representatives ratified in January the bicameral conference committee report on the vape bill. The proposed law is now up for President Duterte’s signature or veto.
In the Philippines, about 24 percent of adults are using tobacco, according to the 2015 Global Adult Tobacco Survey. Filipino smokers consume an average of 11 cigarettes a day, equivalent to P678.40 in monthly expenditures, which could have gone much higher recently given the increase in cigarette taxes. The same survey showed that more than 76 percent of Filipino smokers wanted to quit, but only 4 percent of them succeeded.
Filipino doctors who support the regulation of less harmful alternatives to cigarettes said the vape bill provides the best hope to help millions of Filipino smokers to quit. Dr. Telesforo Gana, past president of the Philippine Urological Association and former chairman of the Philippine Board of Urology, is one of the thousands of smokers who successfully kicked the habit with the help of vaporized nicotine products. “It took me a very long time to stop smoking. Without vapor products, I would not have been able to stop. The reality is many smokers will try to stop smoking, but will never be successful. That is what the World Health Organization data says,” Dr. Gana said. (Read, “Doctors describe Vape Bill as ‘best hope’ to help millions of Filipino smokers quit,” in the BusinessMirror, February 1, 2022).
Dr. Romeo Luna Jr., president of the San Juan City Medical Center Staff Association, said he lost relatives and friends because they could not stop smoking. “The grim reality today is that there are 16 million Filipino smokers and many of them will not stop smoking. As a medical practitioner, it is my duty to give them an alternative to make them stop smoking. That’s why I support the passage of the vape bill because it is our best hope to stop the epidemic of smoking,’’ he said.
Dr. Christian Luna, medical director of the Tulay Lingap Ni Padre Pio Surgicenter, said the medical community should focus on cigarettes as the “real enemy”. Smoking causes premature death from lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart disease and stroke. As less harmful alternatives, vapor products or “unsmoke” can help end the use of cigarettes in the country, Dr. Luna said.
The Philippine College of Physicians, however, urged President Duterte to veto the vape bill, pointing out that failure to do so would mean breaking his 2016 campaign promise to wipe out all forms of narcotics in the country. Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said he supports the medical group’s call.
HealthJustice Philippines, a nongovernment organization, said that vapes and e-cigarettes are not safe. Lawyer Benedict Nisperos, Legal Consultant of HeathJustice said that approved cessation services are the best alternatives, for the goal is to stop smoking and end nicotine dependence and not to shift smokers to new nicotine addiction. (Read, “Doctors’ group asks PRRD to veto vape bill,” in the BusinessMirror, December 20, 2021).
Senate President Vicente Sotto III, who voted in favor of the vape bill, said the vape bill has strong provisions that protect minors.
Proponents said the vape bill works on the principle of harm reduction—a public health strategy that encourages switching to products that pose lesser risks to human health. In the case of tobacco, scientific researches found out that it is the smoke from combustion that contains thousands of toxic chemicals.
Studies by Public Health England, a leading health authority in Europe, show that vaping is 95 percent less harmful than smoking.
If signed into law, the vape bill will put in place a regulatory framework to remove substandard products in the market and give smokers a way to quit smoking. If vetoed, this could pave the way for substandard and smuggled vapes to flood the market, which are more harmful to public health and which will negatively impact government’s income generation efforts.