The Department of Health (DoH) has launched an aggressive campaign targeting what it calls a youth “vapedemic,” shifting its policy from product regulation to a demand for a total nationwide ban on all e-cigarettes and alternative nicotine products.

Data from the DoH show that 14 percent of Filipino adolescents aged 13 to 15 — approximately 1 in 7 students — actively use e-cigarettes. The agency cited that vaping has outpaced traditional cigarette use among youth and is serving as a gateway to lifelong nicotine addiction.

During recent Senate health committee hearings, the DoH formally proposed a total ban on all vapes, heated tobacco products, and novel nicotine items, such as nicotine pouches.

Health Secretary Ted Herbosa is also lobbying lawmakers to raise the minimum legal purchasing age for nicotine from 18 to 25 and to exponentially increase sin taxes to make the products financially inaccessible to minors.

The agency has heavily criticized manufacturers for using colorful, cartoon-themed packaging and sweet flavors to deliberately entice teenagers.

To counter the misconception that vaping is a safe alternative to smoking, health officials have highlighted severe medical outcomes, including the country’s first recorded death from e-cigarette or vaping use-associated lung injury, known as EVALI.

The victim was an athletic 22-year-old Filipino who had a history of early vape use.

At the local level, the DoH and the Department of Education have enforced an absolute ban on vaping devices inside school premises and are monitoring vendors operating near school zones.

The agency recently partnered with student-led groups, including the Anti-Vape and Anti-Tobacco Student Council at Eusebio High School in Pasig, to drive peer-to-peer prevention.

DoH has also tapped the Philippine National Police to crack down on retail stores and online merchants selling to minors.

Working alongside the Department of Trade and Industry, authorities have seized and destroyed thousands of noncompliant, illicit vape products.