The Department of Health (DoH) reiterated its stance against vaping on Saturday amid discussions at the House of Representatives last week on raising excise taxes on tobacco products.

Health Secretary Teodoro “Ted” Herbosa said during a radio broadcast that the department will continue to advise against the use of vapes as an alternative to cigarette smoking, stressing that both pose irreversible health risks to users.

Aside from common respiratory illnesses linked to smoking, Herbosa cited a condition known as e-cigarette or vaping product use-associated lung injury, or EVALI, which he said resulted in the death of a 22-year-old male with no history of smoking in 2025.

“This is a new illness that surfaced when the public started using e-cigarettes and vape products,” Herbosa said.

“It comes in different forms. Some develop popcorn lung, while others develop black lungs similar to chronic smokers over many years. The lung damage is permanent,” he added.

The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recorded 68 deaths and more than 2,800 hospitalizations during an EVALI outbreak between 2019 and 2020.

Herbosa also said the Philippines remains one of only three countries in Southeast Asia that have yet to impose a total ban on vapes.

He attributed this to the country being a tobacco-producing nation, with policymakers attempting to balance public health concerns and economic interests.

However, Herbosa said the imposition of sin taxes on cigarettes and vapes has produced positive results, reducing smoking prevalence and increasing funding for the health sector.

“After the sin taxes, smoking prevalence dropped. It used to be 27.9 percent, and after the sin tax was passed, it went down to as low as 19 percent,” he said.

Herbosa noted that before the implementation of the sin tax, nearly 30 percent of the population smoked cigarettes.