Tobacco use down, but vaping up among youth —DOH

BANGKOK — Although the use of tobacco has declined in the Philippines in the last ten years, electric cigarette and vape usage has increased, particularly among the youth aged 13-15 years old, the Department of Health said Tuesday. 

In a forum, DOH - Health Promotion Bureau representative Armund Arguellas said the prevalence of using electronic cigarettes is increasing, especially among Filipino youth, with a 110% increase in just four years, from 11.7% in 2015 to 24.6% in 2019.  

This is due to the new forms of smoking that have emerged, such as the use of Electronic Nicotine/Non-Nicotine Delivery Systems (also known as electronic cigarettes or vapor products) and Heated Tobacco Products. 

Based on the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS), 14% or 1 in every seven students aged 13-15 years old is already using e-cigarettes daily— an age group younger than what is allowed by existing laws.

One major factor of the increase is easy access, whereas 77.1% of youth users bought such products from stores, stops, street vendors, or kiosks. 

Currently, vape products can even be easily bought and promoted online.

Meanwhile, the Global Adult Tobacco Survey reported a 44% "relative decline" in tobacco use among the youth from 2007 to 2019.  For adults, a 33% relative decline was observed.

According to health experts, vape products are made to entice youth and smokers, posing as an alternative to smoking and claiming that it is healthier and safer. 

Most are even marketed in the form of toys, school supplies, and confectionery with a variety of fruity flavors. 

Health professionals have been actively stressing that using electric cigarettes or vape products is not a safer alternative to smoking for it may put the country at risk of an epidemic or e-cigarette or vape-associated lung injury (EVALI).

EVALI is a medical condition causing lung damage from substances contained in vaping products. 

While there is no available data on the number of cases of EVALI and related injuries and deaths in the Philippines, the Department of Health (DOH) recorded the first case in the country in November 2019: a 16-year-old girl from the Visayas who was using both vape and cigarettes.  

To address these challenges and the risk of the tobacco epidemic, Arguellas presented the Philippine National Tobacco Strategy for Prevention and Control (NTPCS) 2030, which outlines the directions for preventing and controlling tobacco- and vape-related diseases in the country in the next eight years. 

The document covers the background of tobacco and vape use in the country, the Philippine policies on them, the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, a review and analysis of the National Tobacco Control Strategy 2017 to 2022, and the National Tobacco Prevention and Control Strategy (NTPCS) 2030.

Among the objectives are: 

1. To decrease the prevalence of tobacco use among adults to less than 16.7% and youth to 11.2%; To reduce the prevalence of current vape users among adults to less than 0.56% and youth to less than 11%;

2. To decrease the median percentage of exposure to secondhand smoke among adults to less than 14.5% and the youth to less than 40.1%; and

3. To increase the percentage of adults and adolescents provided with smoking cessation services in public health facilities to 100%.

With this, the health department, partner agencies, and non-government health organizations aim to mitigate the demand and supply of such products and strengthen their regulations by increasing vape taxes to equalize the rate of traditionally manufactured tobacco. 

Also, DOH is looking into raising the legal age of vape consumption from 18 to 21 by amending the Vape Law and enacting the Tobacco Illicit Trade Bill compliant with FCTC standards.

To protect schools, workplaces, and communities from smoke and emission exposure, DOH aims to strengthen the ban on tobacco advertising, promotion, and sponsorship (TAPS) and impose stricter sales bans on tobacco products near school premises.

The NTPCS also aims to ensure smoking and vaping cessation services are accessible at all care levels and safeguard public health from industry interference. 

On Tuesday, May 14, over 70 government officials, youth representatives, and public health advocates from ASEAN countries gathered in Bangkok, Thailand, for a two-day event to discuss concrete actions to protect children from tobacco industry interference.

The forum was organized by Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance — a multi-sectoral non-government alliance promoting health and saving lives by assisting ASEAN countries in implementing tobacco control measures contained in the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. —LDF, GMA Integrated News