VARIOUS groups expressed alarm over the rising number of young vape and e-cigarette users and called on the Senate to junk Senate Bill 2239 or the vape measure.

The proposed Non-Combustible Delivery Systems Act is undergoing interpellation in the Senate. A counterpart measure was approved on third and final reading in the House of Representatives in May this year.

Atty. Sophia San Luis, executive director of ImagineLaw, citing 2019 data from the Department of Health, said that 1 in 4 Filipino students already tried e-cigarettes or vaping products.

“The Vape Bill will relax control measures over these harmful products. The bill also contains provisions that will attract more Filipino youth and children to the vice,” she added.

“Vape and e-cigarette use is a rising epidemic among young people. The passage of the Vape ill will fuel this epidemic,” Dr. Riz Gonzalez of the Philippine Pediatric Society warned.

“It is equally alarming that 1 in 7 Filipino students aged 13 to 15 years are current users of vape and e-cigarettes,” she added.

Meanwhile, Dr. Glynna Ong-Cabrera of the Philippine College of Chest Physicians said that vape is not a helpful cigarette cessation tool.

“The Vape Bill goes against the overwhelming professional opinion of Filipino doctors,” Ong-Cabrera said.

“Vapes and e-cigarettes are neither effective harm reduction tools nor are they helpful to smokers who want to quit,” Ong-Cabrera, who also heads DOH’s smoking cessation program Quitline, added.

Meanwhile, Nicole Picart, national president of the Association of Philippine Medical Colleges – Student Network, along with other student and youth organization leaders, urged senators to instead pass measures that will impose a comprehensive ban on flavorings and online ads of vapes and e-cigarettes.

“We urge our lawmakers to uphold and protect Filipinos’ health by voting against Senate Bill No. 2239,” Picart said.

“The Vape Bill will only put young people’s health at risk as it weakens existing public health regulations, while prioritizing industries that profit from the harms brought by the sale of e-cigarettes and vaping products,” she added.