Leading medical organizations in the Philippines consider e-cigarettes as potentially harmful and do not recommend them as smoking cessation aids. This position is consistent with the World Health Organization’s (WHO) “quit or die” approach—that smokers only have two choices and there is nothing in between—and the global body’s opposition to tobacco harm reduction.
The Philippine Medical Association (PMA) is the umbrella organization of physicians in the country. Together with various medical associations, PMA has called on the government to impose a total ban on the manufacture and sale of e-cigarettes in the country. The organization claimed that e-cigarettes “deliver unwanted chemicals into the body and could cause cancer and other deadly diseases.” PMA warned that “e-cigarettes are now flooding the market and even sold by sidewalk vendors…”1
The Philippine College of Chest Physicians (PCCP) contends that there is limited evidence to show the safety of e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation aid, especially its long-term health effects with continued use. PCCP is the specialty organization of Filipino pulmonologists and acknowledged authority in pulmonary medicine in the Philippines.
Clarisse Virgino – 24Share Updates – 2021-05-03.
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