Featured image of a man blowing a smoke from his cape device. (Credit and thanks to Rafa Barros on Unsplash)
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MANILA — A health advocacy group has urged newly-elected officials in the May 12, 2025, midterm polls to take bold action to create smoke-free and vape-free generation and protect non-smokers of the harm of these health-threatening products.
The Parents Against Vape (PAV) also said that elected national and local officials should address smoking and vaping by advocating policy reforms, actionable strategies in smoking cessation support, alongside any efforts to curb vaping to protect the health and well-being of future generations.
“We believe that our elected officials could reduce vaping uptake among children and youth,” PAV said, noting that smoking and vaping poses a threat to human health, especially to the lungs and the heart.
The group also stressed the importance of public awareness campaigns by highlighting the dangers of vaping and smoking.
“We always say, tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, are harmful. Vaping and smoking are addictive. Both bring potentially dangerous chemicals into the body,” the group added.
Most e-cigarettes, or vapes, contain nicotine, which has known adverse health effects, the PAV asserts.
HB 11360
Meanwhile, PAV and the Sin Tax Coalition is urging Senator Sherwin Gatchalian to reject House Bill (HB) 11360, stating that the bill is not simply a legislative proposal but a Trojan horse, “guised as a regulation, but hiding within it the seeds that will destroy our public health policies.”
“We remind our legislators: sin taxes are not just about revenue. They are a shield that protects the next generation. When we lower these taxes, we lower our defenses. When we compromise, it is our children’s lungs, hearts, and futures that pay the price,” they said.
PAV and Sin Tax Coalition warned, “To yield now would be to betray the public trust, to exchange public health for private gain.”
“Let us not mortgage our children’s future to an industry built on addiction. We urge our lawmakers: stand on the side of health, not harm. Stand with the people, not with profit,” they said.
Alarmed by the rising prevalence of adult tobacco and vape use
The Department of Health (DOH), on the other hand, admitted that nicotine addiction from tobacco products remains a critical public health challenge in the country.
It is also alarmed by the rising prevalence of adult tobacco and vape use, as evidenced by the 2023 National Nutrition Survey which reported an increase from 19 percent in 2021 to 24.4 percent among adults aged 20 to 59.
The DOH emphasizes that tobacco use is a major risk factor for cardiovascular and respiratory diseases.
Globally, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates over 8 million annual deaths attributable to tobacco.
In the Philippines, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) for 2023 and 2024 indicate that the top three causes of death – heart attacks, cancer, and strokes – are all linked to tobacco use, the groups said.
They added that beyond its association with the top three causes of death, cigarette smoking is also linked to a range of other serious health conditions.
These include lung diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, and harmful reproductive health effects. Additionally, smoking contributes to other diseases, including certain eye disorders and immune system problems like rheumatoid arthritis, the groups pointed out, citing the DOH.
Furthermore, the DOH emphasizes the dangers of secondhand smoke exposure, which is known to cause coronary heart disease, stroke, and lung cancer in adults, and increases the risk of respiratory and ear infections, asthma attacks, and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) in children.
EVALI
“Vapes and vapor products pose significant health risks including e-cigarette or vapor product associated lung injury (EVALI), nicotine addiction, and respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, among others,” the DOH said.
The DOH reiterated that the country has already recorded and published its first case of E-cigarette or Vaping Use-associated Lung Injury (EVALI)-related death in a 22-year old athletic male who had no history of smoking or other vices, but started vaping at an early age.
The DOH added, “Beyond its policy achievements with the Sin Tax and Graphic Health Warnings, the DOH also urges users of tobacco and vape products to make use of its “quitline” (1558) and other smoking cessation services.” (/)
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Source: PAV