MANILA, Philippines—The Dangerous Drugs Board is closely monitoring all manufacturers of toluene-based contact cement, popularly known as “rugby,” to ensure that the product has an additive that would prevent it from being abused by street kids and young adults.

In a statement, DDB chairman Vicente “Tito” Sotto III said the agency will be imposing penalties on manufacturers who failed to add the required five percent mustard oil to their contact cement products after the one-month grace period granted by the agency lapsed on May.

Toluene is the ingredient found in contact cements that draws abusers for its aromatic and addictive properties. Habitual users can suffer brain damage, kidney and liver failure, sight and hearing loss, muscle weakness, leukaemia, and death, the DDB said.
Because of this, the DDB has passed DDB Board Regulation 6, Series of 2007 that states that all adhesives that do not have mustard oil will be classified as dangerous drugs.

Titled “Classifying Toluene-Based Contact Cement Products Without At Least Five Percent (5%) Mustard Oil Content as Dangerous Drugs,” the Board Regulation covers all importers, manufacturers, distributors, sellers, and handlers of the adhesive.

Sotto said that mustard oil helps dampen toluene’s attractive smell making the contact cement pungent and less desirable to abusers.

Under the regulation, all contact cement manufacturers must secure a permit from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) if they want to be exempted.

Without the permit, manufactures will be charged with violations of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, which has penalties ranging from life imprisonment to death, and a fine ranging from P500,000 to P10 million, Sotto said.

The regulation also orders manufacturers to place the mustard oil additive on product labels, cartons, and containers.

Sotto said imposing this regulation will help solve the problem of street kids and young adults inhaling “rugby.”

“I am sure that you will not inhale contact cement like rugby if has 5 percent mustard oil due to unpleasant odor,” he said.

Inhalants, particularly contact cement, followed methamphetamine hydrochloride (shabu) and marijuana among the top abused drugs, according to the 2004 National Household Survey and 2007 rehabilitation facility-based studies conducted by the DDB.

Sotto said that based on their records, there are more than 357 contact cement abusers confined in government and private rehabilitation centers nationwide, with the youngest at nine years old.