DOH laments increase in vaping among youth

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) on Saturday led the observance of World No Tobacco Day with a call on the youth to stop smoking and vaping.

At a press conference with the government’s top health executives, Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa said that with more and more young people vaping—11.7 percent of the youth population in 2015 to 24.6 percent in 2019—the government will have to deal with more smoking-related ailments, such as lung and oral cancers, atherosclerosis, and other respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.

The number of young people smoking cigarettes halved during the same period, but appeared most of them just shifted to vaping.

The secretary warned that oils used to give certain flavors to vapes were found to be harmful to the body, leading to various diseases, including a new one called Evali or E-cigarette or Vaping product use-associated Lung Injury.

Herbosa said the DOH will continue to push for legislation, as well as launch an education initiative, to ban vaping throughout the country.

He said surveillance should be intensified and penalties increased for those selling cigarettes and vapes to minors using online platforms.

For tobacco smoking, he said he would recommend that the law be amended to make plain all the packaging of cigarettes and other tobacco products.

The secretary said he would push for the retention of sin taxes as a way to lower the demand for cigarettes.

He said he would also work to expand benefit programs of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. related to smoking cessation, since smoking and vaping are regarded as substance abuse.

Herbosa noted that few nicotine patches are being sold legitimately in the country and many were being smuggled. He called on health companies to invest in smoking cessation to help wean more Filipinos from smoking and vaping.

The Lung Center of the Philippines in Quezon City currently houses the country’s first quitline service, manned by highly trained and skilled quit coaches, to aid smokers in their struggle to quit smoking. The hotline became nationwide in 2021.

False claims

Dr. Jubert Benedicto, Lung Center president, said claims that vaping will help one quit smoking are erroneous since nicotine and other harmful chemicals present in cigarettes are also present in vapes.

Dr. Maria Encarnita Limpin, executive director of Action on Smoking and Health Philippines, reminded us that fragrant and delicious smells inhaled by vapers are harmful to the body as they get burned up.

“Instead of growing old and live a full life, it’s the reverse—all of these will end up with you (smokers and vapers) suffering. You will get sick and eventually die,” she said.

The World Health Organization created World No Tobacco Day in 1987 to draw global attention to the tobacco epidemic and the preventable death and disease it causes. /cb

(2025/06/02-05:42)