Duterte signs EO banning public vaping

MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte has issued an executive order prohibiting the manufacture, distribution, marketing and sale of unregistered vaping products and electronic cigarettes all over the country.

Under Executive Order 106, the President also expanded the coverage of his earlier executive order that bans smoking in public places to now include the public use of vaping products and e-cigarettes.

He ordered the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ensure the regulation of the use, sale, manufacture of Electronic Nicotine/Non-Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS/ENNDS), heated tobacco products (HTPs) and other novel tobacco products.

The President also directed the Department of Trade and Industry to impose product standards on all devices forming components of these new tobacco products and devices.

Duterte directed persons-in-charge of schools, public playgrounds, youth hostels and recreational facilities to educate the people, particularly minors, about the ill-effects of smoking/vaping.

He ordered that posting of materials that would indicate “selling, advertising and promoting of cigarettes, electronic nicotine/non-nicotine delivery systems, heated tobacco products or other tobaccos products” is not allowed within 100 meters from any point in the perimeter of schools/playground or facility for minors.

Sen. Christopher Go, who chairs the committee on health, expressed his full support for the new EO, saying a stricter regulation is needed to protect the health of every Filipino.

Go explained that smoking, in all forms and manner, is a public health issue that adversely affects everyone around a smoker.

He said that this poses serious health risks and anyone admitted for smoking-related illnesses, particularly those with limited financial capacity, also puts pressure on government resources related to healthcare.

Duterte cited in his order the report of the World Health Organization outlining the ill effects of the use of adulterated and even unadulterated ENDS/ENNDS.

Long-term use of ENDS/ENNDS reportedly causes harm by increasing the risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer, possible cardiovascular disease and other diseases associated with smoking.

“There is a need to regulate access to and use of ENDS/ENNDS, HTPs and other novel tobacco products, to address the serious and irreversible threat to public health,” Duterte said in his EO, signed on Feb. 26.

The restriction contained in the EO would also “prevent the initiation of non-smokers and the youth, and minimize health risks to both users and other parties exposed to emissions,” the Chief Executive said.

In the EO, the President said the “use of ENDS/ENNDS, HTPs and other novel tobacco products as a shift from conventional lighted tobacco products, has proliferated in the country.”

The President also said that “adding tetrahyrdocannabinol (THC) or cannabinoid compounds in liquid used in ENDS/ENNDS and HTPs” is prohibited and punishable under the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

The order takes effect 15 days after publication in a newspaper of general circulation.