DTI boosts drive vs illegal vape products after first PH vaping-related death

Inquirer file photo

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) announced on Wednesday that it was intensifying its efforts to prevent the sale of illegal vape products, particularly to minors, after a 22-year-old male died due to his prolonged use of vapor products.

In an interview on “Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon,” Trade Assistant Secretary Amanda Marie Nograles said the DTI supports the findings of the Department of Health (DOH) that e-cigarettes and vaping increase the risk of lung and heart diseases.

“We at DTI continue to wage an intensified enforcement of the law on vapes, which includes the apprehension of physical and online stores, while continuing to conduct online monitoring for [the] sale of vapes,” she said.

READ: DOH, PGH raise warning vs vape, cite 1st PH death

Nograles issued the statement after the country reported its first case of vape-associated death—that of a 22-year-old male who had no prior health issues but died of a heart attack in 2023 after sustaining severe lung injury linked to vaping.

Journal report

The report was published in April by Dr. Margarita Isabel Fernandez and other doctors of the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) in Manila in the Respirology Case Reports journal of the Asian Pacific Society of Respirology.

According to Nograles, the DTI monitors the volume of illegal vape products based on studies, surveys, and seizures.

She said their intensified efforts were focused on online sales, where most of the illegal vaping products were being sold, by working closely with online platforms.

“The intensified crackdown is in the sense of how we can permanently remove these posts offering vapes on online selling platforms because, while we [can keep taking them down], they will later be put back up. So we are still trying to find a solution to this problem,” she added.

“So aside from our crackdown on the marketing and sale of vape to minors, starting September, we will also be going after vape products being sold that did not go through DTI registration,” Nograles said.

Under Republic Act 11900, vaporized nicotine and non-nicotine products, their devices, or novel tobacco products shall not be sold to persons below 18 years old. The law also transferred the regulation of vaping products from the Food and Drugs Administration under the DOH to the DTI, with critics saying this made vaping “a business and profit issue, instead of a public health concern.”