Vaping and the youth: Experts raise alarm on health risks  

MANILA, Philippines — A group specializing on children’s health has warned of the possible illnesses the country’s teens may develop due to vaping.

Dr. Rizalina Gonzalez of the Philippine Pediatric Society (PPS) said teenagers or even those younger are now easily lured into vaping and this would make them susceptible to different kinds of diseases.

Mod or tank based vapes started to become popular among teens in 2017, she said.

“It can produce clouds and tricks but upon checking on these children engaged in vaping, we observed that most suffer from tonsillar abscess,” said Gonzalez, chairperson of the PPS Tobacco and Nicotine Control Advocacy Group.

Tonsillar abscess is caused by bacteria (usually streptococci and staphylococci) that infect one’s tonsils. Sometimes the bacteria invade the tissue behind the tonsils, and if the infection isn’t treated, an abscess may form.

Apart from tonsillar abscess, Gonzalez said these young vapers also experience frequent nosebleed (epistaxis) and atopic dermatitis (skin asthma) noticeable on the face.

The pediatrician also said that according to researches done abroad (using PubMed, a free full-text archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature at the US National Institutes of Health’s National Library of Medicine), kids with family members who are into vaping, suffer from asthma exacerbation or poorly controlled asthma.

“This is second hand aerosol exposure at home,” she pointed out.

At the same time, Gonzalez noted, “The risk of getting severe pneumonia from COVID is 5 to 7 times higher if there is vape aerosol exposure (Stanford University, August 2021).”

“Personally, in my practice, infants would be brought to the clinic with complaints of ‘noisy breathing’ and on further questioning, there are now more kids experiencing recurrent respiratory tract infections due to exposure to this vape aerosol from parents,” she said.

The PPS expressed alarm over the increasing number of teenagers in the country now actively engaged in vaping.

Citing the 2019 Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) released in 2021, Gonzalez said that about 14.1 percent of school-aged children are now smoking electronic cigarettes or vapes.

“There is a significant increase in the prevalence of e-cigarette users among teens – 15 years and below. It was previously at 11 percent,” said Gonzalez.

She said it was alarming that “the Philippines, based on the recent GYTS, tops the list of countries in Southeast Asia where teen vaping is on the rise.”

“This survey was based on school children, hence, the figures may be higher if we include the out-of-school youth,” Gonzalez said.

Research conducted by the group Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) Philippines noted that “since e-cigarettes were brought to the market in 2004, their global use has risen exponentially.”

Citing the GYTS as well, ASH said that e-cigarette is becoming increasingly popular with Filipinos, particularly among the youth.

“In the Philippines, around three out of 10 adults have heard of e-cigarettes, and it’s more popular among younger adults aged 15-24 years,” the group said.

ASH Philippines is an organization committed to advancing health, enabling Filipinos to attain health and freedom from preventable diseases and premature deaths caused by smoking and other lifestyle-related and risky behaviors, the major behavioral risk factors of noncommunicable diseases.

In their report, ASH noted that as legal safeguards against the increased use of vaping, the Philippines has passed legislation such as Executive Order 106 (prohibits the manufacture, distribution, marketing and sale of unregistered and/or adulterated electronic nicotine/non-nicotine delivery systems, heated tobacco products and other novel tobacco products), RA 1146 (increases excise taxes on alcohol and e-cigarettes), and Republic Act 11346 (raises tobacco excise tax rates and imposes taxes on heated tobacco and vapor products).

“Despite the existence of key policies that are designed to regulate the use, manufacture, distribution, and sale of e-cigarettes, the Philippines still lacks a definitive law governing their online sale,” the group said.

(To be continued)