Poisoning Filipinos

Back in December 2021, at least 43 medical organizations including the Philippine Medical Association had urged then president Rodrigo Duterte to veto a bill liberalizing the vaporized nicotine industry.

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The bill also lowered the age limit for vaping from 21 to 18 years old and transferred regulatory authority over e-cigarettes from the Food and Drug Administration to the Department of Trade and Industry.

But Duterte, who had banned smoking in public places nationwide, gave in to the tobacco lobby and signed the bill, which both chambers of Congress had passed with impressive speed, at the height of the COVID pandemic that attacked the pulmonary system. The law was enacted despite the presence of tetrahydrocannabinol in many vapes. THC is the prime psychoactive element in the cannabis plant; it produces the high when using marijuana.