‘New paths of addiction’

Despite the strong lobby of e-cigarette and heated tobacco product (HTP) makers, Sen. Pia Cayetano was able to cut through the myriad of disinformation that tried to distance e-cigarettes and HTPs as “reduced risk products” from cigarettes and other similar tobacco.

Industry players, such as Juul and Philip Morris (maker of iQos), were arguing for lower tax rates on the basis that these are less harmful products, and are a way of encouraging smokers to switch and ultimately address the problems associated with cigarette smoking.

As chairperson of the Senate Committee on Health, Cayetano delivered her sponsorship speech for Senate Bill No. 1074 which would increase excise taxes on e-cigarettes and HTPs, as well as on alcohol, to address inequities in the current excise tax system and raise more funds for the government’s Universal Health Care program.

Currently, e-cigarettes and HTPs are subjected to low taxation – P10 for a pack of HTPs and P10 per 10 ml or less of vaping products – under RA 11346 passed last June. Devices for HTPs and vapes are not taxed.

With the opening of the 18th Congress in July this year, the Department of Finance (DOF) and the Department of Health (DOH) sought for an adjustment in taxes of e-cigarettes and vapor products next year to P45, at parity with regular cigarettes, and P5 per pack every succeeding year, also just like regular cigarettes.

The House of Representatives, through HB 1206, had earlier adopted the DOF-DOH proposal, which was also adopted by the Senate Committee on Ways and Means in its committee report released last week.

Combined, the incremental revenues seen from the higher taxes on e-cigarette and vapor products would be P3.2 billion next year, and would increase gradually year after year to add up to P19.5 billion by the end-2024. Under RA 11346, the projected combined revenue from e-cigarettes and vape products was only P3 billion by end-2024.

Not risk-free

E-cigarettes or HTPs and vapes have been pictured by their manufacturers as viable alternatives to regular tobacco cigarette smoking, but less harmful. Medical experts debunk this argument by stating that a safer product does not necessarily mean it is safe or risk-free.

This is especially true for vape products, which in recent months, has been linked to hundreds of lung failure incidents in the United States that ultimately resulted in a score of fatalities.

Vaping continues to be extensively scrutinized by the World Health Organization, and no conclusive statements have been issued as to its health benefit or hazard – even with the multiple deaths that happened in the US.

Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is being dragged into the vaping controversy after investigations revealed that some vape users used this substance, one of at least 113 cannabinoids identified in cannabis. THC is the principal psychoactive constituent of cannabis.

The US Center for Disease Control (CDC) has already issued warnings to vape users to refrain from buying cartridges from street sources since these may contain THC or even harmful flavor materials.

Vaping-associated lung injury (VAPI) has been seen largely among young patients, and while legitimate vape cartridge manufacturers that sell only nicotine point their fingers at those who use a mix of nicotine and other substances, or totally without nicotine as the culprit for the lung failures, nothing conclusive has been established.

Targeting teens

The US government is now studying stricter enforcement of vape product manufacture, while several states have already issued bans or tightened on selling channels. Primary targets in the sanctions are teenage groups that participate in a growing buy-and-sell network of vape cartridges.

Cayetano had quoted a biobehavioral scientist who said that e-cigarettes are products that teens would love. “These devices are technology on a stick, a perfect fit for the smartphone generation,” said Suchitra Krishnan-Sarin.

The scientist concluded that, “Teens are impulsive and they love to try new things. They are also craving independence, and they love to make things their own. E-cigarettes meet these needs perfectly by allowing them the chance to both innovate and personalize their vape experience.”

Importance of regulation

As more countries realize that e-cigarettes and vaping that use nicotine cartridges are still substances that utilize tobacco, and therefore pose health hazards to their users, stricter regulations are being imposed.

In Canada, for example, sales of vaping products, even those that do not use nicotine, are forbidden for those 18 years old and younger. Promotions of vape products on all media are also tightly regulated, with more measures being adopted to tighten enforcement.

All these tells us that the best sane recourse of action on e-cigarettes and vaping in the Philippines would also be better regulation, including taxing these products at parity with cigarettes and other tobacco products.

The DOF further defends this posit, citing that under RA 9211, cigarettes are defined as any roll or tubular construction that contain tobacco or its derivatives, and intended to be burned or heated under ordinary conditions of use.

Since HTPs are of roll or tubular construction that contain tobacco materials and several filter sections wrapped in paper intended to be heated, these products should be classified as cigarettes subject to the same excise tax rate, the DOF added.

We should listen to the warnings by the Philippine medical community, as well as concerned civil society groups that e-cigarettes and vape products are harmful products that should not be made available to our youth. As Cayetano said, “Vaping is not cool when it leads our kids to the path of new addictions.”

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