A group of health care professionals and professors in the Philippines have asked President Ferdinand Marcos to sign the controversial e-cigarette bill into law because they believe it will help reduce health risks associated with smoking.
The Act regulates the import, manufacture, sale, packaging, distribution, use and dissemination of vaping products and novel tobacco products. It will also transfer oversight of the product from the Food and Drug Administration to the Department of Trade and Industry.
"We believe it can help mitigate serious health risks and potentially save the lives of more than 16 million Filipino current smokers who are at very high risk of illness and death from smoking-related complications." Signatories on July 8 A letter to the President through Executive Secretary Vic Rodriguez.
They added: "We believe the passage of the vaping bill will be a historic milestone and will be part of your government's administration.
Both the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education oppose the bill, arguing that it would undermine existing national laws, policies and standards on the regulation, distribution and use of vaping products and heated tobacco products.
The DOH also warned that passing such legislation would put Filipino youth at undue risk of harmful and addictive substances associated with e-cigarette use, such as alcohol, marijuana and potentially other illicit drugs.
However, this group of doctors and professors said e-cigarettes could be a viable alternative to smoking.
“While there is no arguing that e-cigarettes are not completely safe and still contain harmful chemicals, there is no arguing that they are far less harmful than continuous smoking – as has been concluded by numerous public scientific data and studies around the world "Compared to cigarettes, vaping products also contain far fewer harmful chemicals," the group said.
They also said the vaping bill provided adequate safeguards to protect minors.
“We fully support the provisions of the Electronic Cigarette Act that prohibit minors from using these products and prohibit flavor descriptions that are appealing to minors. There is no dispute that these products should not be sold to minors or non-smokers. ' said the letter.
"We therefore welcome the addition of a criminal provision to the vaping bill to add more force to its proper enforcement."
Signatories include Dr. Jose Dante Dator, former Executive Director, National Kidney and Transplantation Institute; Dr. Rafael Castillo, Past President, Philippine Heart Association; Dr. Arleen Reyes, Past President, Philippine Dental Association; Dr. Telesforo Gana, Past President, Philippine Urological Association; Dr. Fernando Fernandez, Past President of the Philippine Academy of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery; Dr. Howard Enriquez, Past President of the Philippine Academy of Otolaryngology; and Dr. Alvin Laxamana, Past President of the Philippine Dental Association.
The call was also supported by Joy Carayo, president of the Philippine Biosafety and Biosecurity Association; Florencia Ledesma and Leonardo Guevarra Jr., respectively, from the Department of Mathematics, Physics, and Biochemistry, University of Santo Thomas.
