Vaping alarms health experts

THE ONSET of lung injury among the Filipino youth is cause for alarm, health experts said, as vape and e-cigarettes become more freely available in the market.

The Philippines is at risk of developing a lung injury epidemic in the near future due to the increase of young Filipinos starting to develop a vaping habit, Maricar B. Limpin, a pulmonologist and tobacco cessation expert, said Thursday.

“Approximately one out of every seven Filipino youths aged 13 to 15 are now using vapes,” she said in a statement.

The vape industry is aggressively targeting Filipino youth, enticing them to use tobacco and e-cigarette products at a young age.

“This alarming trend is not a coincidence but a result of the tobacco industry’s calculated marketing tactics targeting the youth,” Ms. Limpin said. 

A 16-year-old was the Philippines’ first recorded medical case of e-cigarette or vape-associated lung injury (EVALI), a medical condition caused by the inhalation of vape products, she said in a roundtable forum discussing the effects of vaping in the country.

“With how accessible vapes are, tobacco is now an issue for children… and the growing EVALI cases are proof,” Riz Gonzales, Tobacco Control Advocacy Group of the Philippine Pediatric Society chairperson, said in a statement.

The country has recorded seven Filipinos sick with EVALI so far, with young Filipinos consisting most of the cases, she added.

“The primary problem with EVALI is that it causes people to have difficulty breathing, chronic coughs, and be easily exhausted,” Ms. Limpin said.

Repeated use of e-cigarettes and vaping products could lead to irreversible lung damage, Ms. Gonzales said.

“When you heat the e-liquid, they don’t produce just gas, rather they produce a compound of aerosol containing dangerous byproducts,” she said.

She added that vaping is not safer than smoking, contrary to how the vape products are being marketed. “Vaping is equally harmful as smoking,” she said. — Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio