Smoking, vaping: Crisis worsening among PH youth

SMOKING among PH youth composite image from Inquirer files

Paul (not his real name) was only eight years old when he first held an e-cigarette. Like a simple toy hanging on his neck, he believed it was “harmless.”

He said he borrowed it from a friend, younger than him, who took his brother’s old vape, a “battery-operated device that heats a liquid and produces aerosol.”

Now 10, he said he did not know a lot about the device, just that “it was like smoking but not from a cigarette,” so he believed it was safe. “Almost everyone I see has vape.”

He tried it, inhaled and exhaled.

But in less than a day, he threw the vape and never held one since. He was scolded by someone and was told “it is dangerous,” especially for a kid like him. It was not too late.

Advertised as a “healthier alternative” to cigarettes, the device is worsening the already serious problem of smoking in the Philippines, especially among young people – the 10 to 18 year olds.

READ: VAPE: Flaws in law worsening youth ‘vapedemic’

Based on data from the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI), the percentage of young smokers dropped to 2.3 percent in 2021 from 4 percent in 2018 only to rise to 4.8 percent in 2023.

GRAPHIC: Ed Lustan/INQUIRER.net

While there were no details as to the frequency in 2023, most people who smoke or vape did so every day in 2021 at 54.8 percent, compared to once a week at 11.6 percent and two to six times a week at 33.6 percent.

GRAPHIC: Ed Lustan/INQUIRER.net

Too late for some

As pointed out by the FNRI, “assessing smoking status among adolescents is very important because most adults initiated or started and established habitual smoking before they turn 18 years old.”

Take the case of Magno (not his real name), who started vaping at 11 years old. He said he learned it from his brother, who was already in college in 2023. Now 13, he is still smoking and even influenced a friend.

RELATED STORY: Gatchalian calls illicit tobacco, vape trade `devil in our country’

Dexter (not his real name) was only 12 years old when he was swayed to vape, and as he said, he and his friend are no longer having snacks to save some money for vape and cigarettes.

He is now 13 years old.

Republic Act No. 11900, or the Vaporized Nicotine and Non-Nicotine Products Regulation Act, set the “minimum allowable age for the purchase, sale and use” of nicotine and non-nicotine products to 18 years old.

The law was criticized, with some stressing that it legitimized the use of vaping products and also lowered the age at which these can be accessed.

READ: Doubling down on cigarette and vape taxes may do more harm than good

Vonn Vincent Tanchuan, communications lead of The TobaccOFF NOW initiative, told INQUIRER.net that young people “get access to nicotine-based products through accessibility to retail outlets.”

These include sari-sari stores, or even street vendors “who are not as stringent when it comes to selling these products to them.” He said “they are also in close proximity to schools.”

Disposable vapes can be bought for as low as P249 while a cigarette is P6 to P8 per stick.

New smokers

The FNRI said smoking at an early age “can lead to respiratory and non-respiratory health problems, nicotine addiction, and a higher risk of substance abuse.”

As the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) pointed out, “no tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, are safe” as they contain nicotine, which is highly addictive and dangerous to health.

RELATED STORY: A new generation of smokers

But to the youth, nicotine presents unique dangers since “their brains are still developing” until 25 years old. It can “harm the parts of the brain that control attention, learning, mood, and impulse control.”

GRAPHIC: Ed Lustan/INQUIRER.net

Some other serious consequences include cancer, heart disease and stroke, lung diseases, diabetes, harmful reproductive health effects, and other diseases such as in the eye.

GRAPHIC: Ed Lustan/INQUIRER.net

Based on data from the CDC, the FNRI also stressed that “adolescent smokers are almost three times more likely to experience shortness of breath than their non-smoking peers.”

READ: Advocacy group: Illegal cigarette, vape trades worsen public health

Despite these, however, the FNRI in 2023 revealed one million new smokers and vapers among 10 to 19 year olds. Almost 50 percent are vapers at 423,185, a significant increase from only 37,513 in 2021.

This may be because e-cigarettes are easier to get than cigarettes since they are advertised as “less harmful” despite the same dangerous nicotine content, Tanchuan explained.

“The youth are also exposed to subtle tactics online through organic social media posts, as well as influencer content,” he said while pointing out how the industry has been “quite strategic” in tapping influencers.

RELATED STORY: DOH wants vape devices banned within schools

Tanchuan told INQUIRER.net, as well, that flavors and packaging also play a huge role because young people feel that these products appeal directly to them.

Fighting for tomorrow

To respond to the crisis and keep the youth safe from both cigarettes and vapes, Tanchuan, together with the Positive Youth Development Network (PYDN) and 170 young people, launched last month the The TobaccOFF NOW initiative.

Started in March with co-creation workshops conducted in Oriental Mindoro, Metro Manila, Iloilo, and Dinagat Islands, and attended by 126 young people, the movement is said to be a “collective voice of the youth.”

“It amplifies the voices of Filipino youth speaking directly to their peers, their parents, the policymakers, their schools and community, and even to businesses about the world they want to live in,” Tanchuan said.

He said the campaign will last until January 2026 and is expected to make people, especially the youth, aware of the deceptive tactics employed by the industry that make young people at risk.

Through the campaign, the TobaccOFF NOW! movement hopes to influence policies that will protect the Filipino youth from the manipulative and deceptive marketing and sales tactics of the tobacco industry by:

• Increasing the minimum age of access to 21 years old for ALL nicotine-based products
• Revisiting and strengthening distribution and partnerships regulations to ensure that nicotine products are NOT accessible to youth
• Eliminating the different flavors to prevent and reduce youth consumption
• Further strengthening bans on advertising, promotion, and sponsorships for all nicotine-based products
• Making nicotine products more expensive by raising taxes