OLONGAPO CITY, Zambales — There are currently more youth using vape products than adults, according to a pulmonologist.

On the second day of the Engaging Media for Health Literacy conference on Friday, Dr. Maricar Limpin, former Philippine College of Physicians president, said that promoting vaping as a healthier alternative to smoking “definitely increases the harm,” especially among the youth.

Speaking in both English and Filipino, Limpin said, “If you look at the global data, we can see that from 2011 there was a rapid rise in the use of electronic smoking devices, particularly e-cigarettes.”

“If you look at the population that is using these products, we see that majority of them are the young ones, the teens,” she added.

Citing 2019 data from the Global Youth Tobacco Survey, 14.1 percent of youth today, or one out of seven, use e-cigs. At least 24.6 percent had tried vape products.

In the Global Adult Tobacco Survey, on the other hand, it was found that 2.1 percent only used vape.

“This is basically the reason why we, in the medical profession, are very worried. The data is showing us that more and more of our young ones are being lured into using these electronic smoking devices at a very young age,” she said.

Alarmingly, the physician said, 44 percent of vape users are non-smokers.

“This means that at an earlier time, they were being induced to use vape products. So what they say that it is being used as an alternative to smoking is actually not true,” Limpin said.

More youth prone to lung, heart problems

Because of the harmful chemicals in vape products that are known to cause cancer, more young people are now prone to lung and heart problems.

Limpin cited the case of a 22-year-old Filipino male who died from a severe lung injury attributed to his daily vape use.

At such a young age, Limpin said, the patient “was not expected to develop lung and heart problems.”

She also cited the case of one of her patients, a 16-year-old, who developed acute lung injury from e-cigarette juice.

“Can we expect that more young people will have many problems? Yes. We are already seeing it,” the physician said.