EDITORIAL - Vaping minors

Law enforcement agencies are expressing alarm over the increasing use of vapes by minors, and the rise in the illegal importation of prohibited substances used in e-cigarettes. The problem should not come as a surprise, however, since the government practically asked for it.

As COVID started spreading worldwide in February 2020, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had already warned that it had recorded a total of 2,807 hospitalizations or deaths associated with EVALI – e-cigarette or vaping use-associated lung injury.

Even before the lockdowns for COVID, a killer disease that attacks the respiratory system, doctors were already opposing proposals to make vapes widely available in the Philippines. In answer to the concerns, in the shadow of the lingering COVID threat, Congress passed with remarkable speed the Vaporized Nicotine and Non-Nicotine Products Regulation Act.

President Marcos allowed the bill to lapse into law on July 25, 2022. Among other things, Republic Act 11900 lowered the minimum age for buying e-cigarettes from 21 to 18 and allowed more flavors to be offered, including those appealing to the youth. To get the hands of pesky doctors off the issue, RA 11900 also transferred “regulatory jurisdiction” over vapes from the Food and Drug Administration to the Department of Trade and Industry. The DTI merely has to “consult” the FDA on vape product safety, consistency and quality.

In passing the law, Congress set aside opposition not only from the FDA and the Department of Health, but also from the Department of Education, which pointed out that it would make vapes legally available even to high school students, many of whom are 18 years old. Instead Congress bought the main argument of the vape industry – disputed by medical experts – that e-cigarettes help people quit smoking and provide a safer alternative to tobacco.

Many types of e-cigarettes in fact contain not only nicotine but also cannabidiol, an active ingredient in marijuana. CBD, a painkiller, is allowed for compassionate medical use under the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, but it requires a special permit from the FDA after a thorough evaluation of the medical condition.

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency has warned that except under such special circumstances, CBD oil is prohibited in the country. Vapes with CBD oil are being confiscated by the PDEA, which is also urging the public to report the sale of illegal e-cigarettes, or vape shops selling to minors.

Among the arguments for the passage of the vape law was revenue generation. The revenue can then go to costly public health care for those afflicted with EVALI, along with the lifetime health problems that minors are bound to suffer in adulthood from vaping at a tender age.