NO VAPING IN PUBLIC President Duterte has ordered the authorities to arrest anyone who uses e-cigarettes in public places and to ban the importation of vaping products. E-cigarette proponents say vaping is better than smoking tobacco, but health officials say there is no study yet on the long-term effects of vaping. 鈥擱ICHARD A. REYES
President Duterte on Wednesday warned judges around the country not to block his order just a day earlier banning the importation and the use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) in public places.
鈥淚鈥檓 asking the judiciary, any judge, I鈥檓 here having a hard time controlling crime and all sorts of toxic materials being imbibed by the young and there are some importations now,鈥� he said in a speech marking the 80th anniversary of the Department of National Defense at Camp Aguinaldo.
鈥淛udges, I warn you,鈥� the President said. 鈥淒o not issue restraining orders to Customs, to Coast Guard. I will not obey your order because of the peculiar situation.鈥�
As legal backing for his order, 聽聽Duterte cited a law, which he did not name, that said 鈥測ou cannot distribute toxic materials in public places.鈥�
Smoke-free environment
The Philippine National Police on Wednesday said it would implement the President鈥檚 directive issued late on Tuesday based on Executive Order No. 26, which was issued in 2017 and specifically provided for a smoke-free environment in public and enclosed spaces.
Lt. General Archie Gamboa, the acting PNP chief, warned all policemen that they were also covered by the order and violators would 鈥渞isk disciplinary sanctions.鈥�
Gamboa directed the police to coordinate with local governments and agencies as well as vape store owners 鈥渢o enhance the enforcement of the ban,鈥� according to聽 Brig. General Bernard Banac, the PNP spokesperson.
In his hastily called news conference on Tuesday night, the President ordered the ban on e-cigarettes and vaping products, saying they were 鈥渘ot good鈥� and 鈥渃ontrary to public safety.鈥�
鈥淵ou know why? Because it is toxic, and the government has the power to issue measures to protect public health and public interest.鈥�
鈥淚 am now ordering the law enforcement agencies to arrest anybody vaping in public. That is like smoking. You cannot do it inside a room 鈥� You contaminate people who are not yet due to die,鈥� 聽聽Duterte said.
The President made his announcement just days after the Department of Health (DOH) reported the country鈥檚 first e-cigarette, or vaping, product use associated lung injury (Evali) case鈥攁 16-year-old girl who was hospitalized last month with a severe breathing problem after vaping daily since March.
The Philippine E-Cigarette Industry Association said the ban on e-cigarettes in public was 鈥渦nderstandable and just.鈥�
The group, however, declined further comment, saying it would rather 鈥渨ait for more information鈥� on the President鈥檚 order.
Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, the chair of the dangerous drugs committee of the House of Representatives, chided health authorities for their 鈥渒nee-jerk鈥� reaction to e-cigarettes with no scientific basis to back their recommendation to the President to ban them.
Far less harmful
鈥淚t is very much like convicting a person of an offense with a single circumstantial evidence against him,鈥� Barbers said.
He said there were studies in the United Kingdom and other advanced countries that showed that the effects of vaping were 鈥渇ar less harmful鈥� compared to tobacco products.
Duterte, however, said he had long considered the ban.
鈥淚t was not really a knee-jerk reaction or a fast solution to what is ailing the country today,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 was asked this vital question of allowing vaping in this country. And I said I really planned it earlier.鈥�
E-cigarettes were 鈥渂eing used by the youth of this country with gusto, not realizing the dangers,鈥� he added.
He said he ordered the police and the military to arrest people who vape in public after he heard that e-cigarettes were 鈥渂eing used and sold everywhere.鈥�
The DOH on Wednesday said it hoped that Duterte鈥檚 new executive order covering the import ban and restricted use of e-cigarettes, which Malaca帽ang鈥檚 legal department was finalizing, would be comprehensive to ensure that minors would not have access to e-cigarettes.
Health Undersecretary Eric Domingo said the order should also regulate the product鈥檚 contents and make them available only to those age 18 and above.
Harm to children
Both are key features in the DOH鈥檚 administrative order in July on the use and sale of e-cigarettes, which was stayed by regional trial courts in Manila and Pasig last month.
Domingo said e-cigarettes contain nicotine, which is addictive, and could delay or harm a child鈥檚 brain development.
鈥淲e also don鈥檛 want advertising geared toward children. We want to restrict the flavors, like bubble gum, 鈥榤agic unicorn,鈥� strawberry cheesecake which children may think are harmless. It may be fragrant but actually it is addicting,鈥� he added.
According to Domingo, the President鈥檚 EO may effectively halt the sale of e-cigarettes in the country as 鈥渕ajority of the vaping products [sold here] are imported.鈥�
Dr. Anthony Leachon, Sin Tax Coalition coconvener, said it was good for the President to make the move now while the marketing and development of e-cigarettes in the country were still in the development stages.
Barbers said the Philippines could learn from countries that had dealt with e-cigarette products for years and were led to realize that banning was not the proper response.
鈥淩egulation is the key,鈥� Barbers said. 鈥淏anning will only make them proliferate in the underground market and may thus do more harm to the people.鈥�
鈥淚f it is less harmful than tobacco, why ban it? he asked.
Still unknown
Domingo said the long-term effects of e-cigarettes were still unknown.
鈥淚t鈥檚 like the cigarettes, which 50 years ago were only described as something that may be harmful to your health. Now, it is indicated that this can kill because after 40 years we became certain that it can cause deaths,鈥� he said.
鈥淲e can鈥檛 just wait for another 40 years before we control vapes. By then, a lot would have already died,鈥� Domingo added.
As of Nov. 13, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recorded 2,172 Evali cases and 42 deaths.
Domingo said Brazil, Singapore, the Seychelles, Uruguay and India have banned e-cigarettes.
P1.4-B potential loss
Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, House ways and means committee chair, said the government could lose about P1.4 billion in potential revenue from e-cigarettes because of the President鈥檚 ban.
He said Congress would be compelled to modify the contents of a bill raising the excise on liquor, e-cigarettes and vapor products to generate additional revenue to fund the Universal Health Care Act.
The DOH compared the lost potential yearly tax earnings from e-cigarettes to around P200 billion spent annually to treat smoking-related illnesses, like lung cancer, hypertension and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder.鈥擱EPORTS FROM JEANNETTE I. ANDRADE, JULIE M. AURELIO, JOVIC YEE, MELVIN GASCON AND LEILA B. SALAVERRIA