Vape Law effective model of harm reduction in the Philippines—health expert

The Philippines' Vape Law has provided a crucial legal and ethical framework for tobacco harm reduction, empowering the medical community to recommend novel tobacco products to patients who do not quit smoking combustible cigarettes entirely.

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This shift was highlighted by oral and maxillofacial surgeon Dr. Andy Fernandez during the 8th Summit on Tobacco Harm Reduction 2025, organized by the International Association on Smoking Control and Harm Reduction (SCOHRE).

Tobacco harm reduction involves the use of less harmful alternatives to cigarettes such as vapes, heated tobacco and nicotine pouches. Scientific studies show that these products are far less harmful than combustible cigarettes because they do not involve combustion and do not produce smoke, which contains toxic chemicals.

Fernandez noted that since the Vape Law's passage in 2022, medical professionals in the Philippines, particularly oral and maxillofacial surgeons, feel more confident actively promoting harm reduction as a strategy to stop cigarette use.

"Since 2022 when this law was passed, we have more courage to do our advocacy to various community, and I think the tobacco harm reduction strategy is very effective to us now, since we have this Vape law," he said.

The Nicotine Consumers Union of the Philippines (NCUP) underscored the need to protect the Vape Law to sustain the public health gains made possible by harm reduction in the Philippines.

"We need to protect the Vape Law from renewed attempts to undermine harm reduction in the Philippines," NCUP president Anton Israel said.