Should vaping be allowed?

The world is getting smaller and smaller for traditional cigarettes as more and more countries are regulating, if not imposing an outright ban, on smoking of tobacco products.

In the Philippines, Executive Order 26 issued by President Duterte last year, provides for the establishment of smoke-free environments in public and enclosed places.

The same EO defines tobacco products as those entirely or partly made of tobacco leaves as raw material which are manufactured to be used for smoking, sucking, chewing, or snuffing. Meanwhile, smoking according to the order means being in possession or control of a lit tobacco product regardless of whether the smoke is actually being inhaled or exhaled.

Take note that Duterte’s issuance does not impose an outright ban on smoking. It only prohibits smoking within enclosed public places and public conveyances and directs the creation of designated smoking areas. Even Republic Act no. 9211 or the Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003 only regulates smoking in public places.

Clearly, the EO, as well as previous Philippine tobacco use regulation laws, do not cover vaping or the use of electronic or e-cigarettes because they are not tobacco products, nor do they produce smoke that is harmful to the environment or to non-smokers.

So why do many private establishments and even local government units include in their prohibition vaping? In fact, on several occasions, I have seen signages that say “No Smoking Including Vaping as Per EO 26.” This, of course, is due to ignorance and the confusion that has resulted from the issuance of EO 26 and the refusal to acknowledge the fact that vaping has become a better alternative to smoking traditional cigarettes.

At a recent conference in Warsaw, Poland, healthcare professionals and academicians called on countries to allow and regulate vaping or the use of electronic cigarettes in the face of growing evidence that these smoke-free nicotine products are the most effective harm reduction tool to end smoking.

According to David Sweanor, a law professor at the University of Ottawa, tobacco harm reduction is at par with the elimination of smallpox in terms of public health impact, but it all boils down to whether or not politicians will seize the opportunity.

During the 5th Global Forum on Nicotine from June 14 to 16, around 500 medical experts, clinical researchers, academicians, consumers, vaping advocates, and tobacco executives from 60 countries attended the conference in Warsaw to push for the regulation of electronic cigarettes, heat-not-burn devices, and other low-risk non-combustible smokeless tobacco products which they believe can save millions of smokers from premature death globally.

Gerry Stimson, a public health social scientist and honorary professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said around 35 countries currently ban e-cigarettes, and 55 countries have some sort of regulation.

As reported by The STAR earlier, the Philippines is the 11th worst country for vapers, according to a survey by the International Network of Nicotine Consumer Organizations. The United Kingdom topped the survey, followed by Germany and France.

Dr. Konstantinos Farsalinos, a researcher at Onassis Cardiac Surgery Centre in Athens, earlier identified the Philippines and Malaysia as two Southeast Asian countries with large populations of e-cigarette users.

Hon Lik, a Chinese pharmacist, is credited as the inventor of the modern e-cigarette, a battery-operated device which vaporizes water, nicotine, propylene glycol, glycerol and flavorings in 2001. The lineup of smoke-free tobacco products has expanded since then, after studies found that it is the tar from the burned cigarette, and not the nicotine, that is harmful to the body. E-cigarettes are only heated and, thus, do not produce tar which contains thousands of chemicals.

Dr. Catilin Notley, a senior lecturer on mental health at the Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia in the UK, said that clearly, tobacco use is extremely dangerous to health, and there should be support and intervention available to help people switch to lower-risk ways of using nicotine.

Meanwhile, Dr. Colin Mendelsohn of the University of New South Wales in Australia said the addiction to vaping is not as strong as it is to smoking and more importantly, what it achieves is it removes the harm from smoking.

He pointed out that what kills people is the smoke and that while people get addicted to nicotine, it is relatively harmless and has relatively minor health effects.

For his part, Dr. Paul Newhouse, who holds the Jim Turner Chair in Cognitive Disorders at Vanderbilt University’s School of Medicine, unveiled results of studies showing that nicotine stimulation improved memory and cognitive functioning and helped alleviate depression among select study participants.

The Public Health England reported in 2015 that e-cigarettes are 95-percent less harmful than smoking, as the harmful chemicals present in cigarette smoke are either not in EC vapor or only found at much lower levels.

An independent study completed in June 2018 by researchers at KU Leuven compared the effectiveness of iQOS (the heat-not-burn product of Philip Morris) and vaping with smoking. The study found that carbon monoxide levels among participants increased by four parts per million when they smoked cigarettes. With iQOS the increase was much lower at 0.3 parts per million and with vaping, there was no increase in carbon monoxide.

Christelle Haziza, clinical research and development manager at Philip Morris International, said a clinical study showed improvement in eight measures of the health of people who had used IQOS for six months. She said the results implied that switching to IQOS is a better option than continue to smoke.

From the readers

“Why can’t the Department of Foreign Affairs renew passports by mail? United States citizens routinely renew their passports by mail whether abroad or in the USA. In the Philippines, US citizens just download the passport renewal form, fill it up, pay at designated banks, enclose the receipt of payment, with the old passport and pictures, call a special number at LBC and arrange for pick up and delivery to the US Embassy. After processing the passport is delivered by LBC. The above makes sense as it will get rid of the “fixers” and makes it easy for all as it is very simple to verify if the expiring passport is real or fake. Perhaps you may be able to get the message across to the concerned.

“On another note, on the annual registration of vehicles, why is it required to “stencil” the engine and chassis numbers of vehicles? Who checks this and where is this filed? Would it not make sense to require this only for vehicles being sold? More power to you and your column.” – Name withheld

For comments, e-mail at mareyes@philstarmedia