EDITORIAL — Selling a deadly dependency

The country joined the observance of World No Tobacco Day on May 31 with the Department of Health reporting the death of a 22-year-old Filipino without comorbidities, who died of a heart attack associated with lung injury following two years of daily vaping. The DOH used the case to warn the public about the serious risks posed by electronic cigarettes especially to the young, who are being aggressively targeted by the tobacco and vaping industry.

The DOH said the 22-year-old had no history of substance abuse, cigarette smoking, alcoholism or COVID infection. But he was hospitalized after a week of chest pains, chronic coughing, fever and vomiting following a sporting activity. A medical examination showed a “white out” destruction of his lungs.

He became the first confirmed case in the country of death from EVALI – E-cigarette or Vaping Product Use-Associated Lung Injury. In several other countries, EVALI-related deaths and long-term health impairments are on the rise, with many of the patients young people.

Health experts blame this on aggressive vape marketing campaigns targeting the young. This year, the World Health Organization is highlighting the problem by choosing as the theme for World No Tobacco Day the protection of children from the “manipulative practices” and “interference” of the tobacco industry.

In the Philippines, the powerful tobacco lobby has succeeded in having the minimum age for legal purchase of e-cigarettes lowered to 18 from the previous 21, and transferring regulation of vapes from the DOH to the Department of Trade and Industry, treating e-cigarettes as an ordinary commodity instead of a product that poses risks to public health. Congress rushed the approval of these measures with indecent haste as COVID – a killer disease that attacks the respiratory system – was raging across the country during the Duterte administration. President Marcos allowed the measure to lapse into law.

The pitch is that vaping is supposedly a healthier and safer alternative to cigarette smoking. E-cigarettes, however, can contain not only nicotine but also cannabidiol or CBD, an oil derived mostly from marijuana. Chemical flavors and THC or tetrahydrocannabinol, the main psychoactive ingredient in cannabis, add to the toxic mix. Health experts have warned that regular CBD vaping can lead to “popcorn lung” – an irreversible buildup of scar tissue that blocks airflow to this vital organ – as well as damaged blood vessels, heart disease and weakened immune health.

The WHO has lamented the tobacco industry’s targeting of the youth “to keep making billions of dollars in revenues,” by working among others for “lax regulation to ensure its products are available and affordable.”

“The industry willfully sells a deadly dependency to young people,” the WHO said. This is tragically illustrated by the first EVALI death in the country.