Lung injury among youth due to vape trend — experts warn

Experts expressed fears that the Philippines could become a "vaping colony" with the vape industry targeting the Filipino youth.

In a media forum on Thursday, Philippine College of Physicians president and pulmonologist Dr. Maricar Limpin said that the proposition of turning the country into a manufacturing hub for e-cigarettes puts the Philippines at risk of an epidemic e-cigarette or vape-associated lung injury (EVALI).

"According to the latest Global Youth Tobacco Survey, approximately 1 out of every 7 Filipino youths aged 13-15 are now using vapes," Limpin said.

This alarming trend is not a coincidence but a result of the tobacco industry's calculated marketing tactics targeting the youth," she added.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) touted the country as a potential hub for manufacturing heated tobacco before the international community at the International Tobacco Agricultural Summit in August 2023.

"We will not sit idly by and turn a blind eye to the predatory practices of this industry. By allowing the Philippines to position itself as a manufacturing hub, we are essentially paving the way for an EVALI epidemic," Limpin said.

"It was just one case in 2019, but we're beginning to observe more and more cases today, especially among young people," she added.

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 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.

As of February 2020, more nearly 3,000 patients had been admitted to hospitals in the United States due to EVALI, with 68 deaths reported so far.

"You'd expect this smoking behavior from a middle-aged smoker, but we saw it in a 16-year-old. With how accessible vapes are, tobacco is now an issue for children, too, and the growing EVALI cases are proof," Dr. Riz Gonzalez, chair of the Philippine Pediatric Society Tobacco and Nicotine Control Advocacy Group said.

Gonzalez also called on lawmakers to revisit the Vape Law, which transfers regulatory jurisdiction over vapes and other novel tobacco products from the Food and Drug Administration to the DTI.

"The tobacco industry is actively targeting the youth with flavors, colorful packaging, and misleading marketing tactics, and the free rein they get from the Vape Law is to blame," she continued.

"We've seen this playbook before with cigarettes, and we cannot allow an EVALI crisis to happen here in the Philippines," she added.

Meanwhile, the 2019 Global Youth Tobacco Survey showed a growing use of vapes among Filipino teens with a 14.1 percent prevalence of vape use among ages 13 to 15.

In February, the Global Alliance for Tobacco Control awarded the Philippines the notorious "Dirty Ashtray" award. It was the fifth time the country was given such an award.