Experts have expressed fears that the Philippines could become a “vaping colony” with the industry targeting the Filipino youth.
Philippine College of Physicians president and pulmonologist Dr. Maricar Limpin on Thursday 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 one out of every seven 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 in a media conference.
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 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.