A bill banning the use, sale, and importation of e-cigarettes in the country has been filed in the Senate.
Sen. Francis Tolentino filed Senate Bill No. 1183 or the proposed Electronics Smoking Prohibition Act which seeks to penalize the use and trade of e-cigarettes as a “precautionary” measure against its possible threats to public health.
The bill was filed last Tuesday but was only released yesterday, two days after President Duterte ordered the crackdown on e-cigarette use and importation.
In pushing for his proposal, Tolentino said it is high time for the government to take action after Department of Health recently confirmed the first reported case of electronic cigarette or vaping-associated lung injury involving a 16-year-old girl in Central Visayas.
He said that while the risks of e-cigarette have yet to be proven, “some studies have reported that they bring about health problems of their own equal or even greater in risk than regular cigarettes.”
Tolentino also described e-cigarettes as “more dangerous” since they tend to attract young users, including minors, with their “fragrant scents and delicious flavors.” Using them, he noted, was “viewed by impressionable minds as a ‘cool’ activity.”
The government cannot prohibit the importation or use of electronic cigarettes, more known as vapes, without a law declaring it illegal, Senate President Vicente Sotto III said yesterday.
Sotto said he has yet to make sense of Duterte’s verbal order to prohibit vape use or its trade due to its risks to public health. The President ordered the police to arrest those vaping in public places.
“I’m still looking at how it’s possible. In the absence of a law, we cannot just prevent people from using it unless we declare it illegal,” the Senate chief said. Sotto added that “it may need an ordinance to ban it (vapes) in a specific place, or a law for nationwide coverage.”
He doubted that an executive order issued by the President would be enough as basis for the vape ban. “Right now, it is debatable if an executive order will suffice. Except that it’s annoying, a clear public health harm has yet to be proven,” he added. (Vanne Terrazola)
