Health Experts Advocate Harm Reduction Strategies to Reduce Smoking Rates, Challenging Prohibition Approach Health experts believe that providing smokers with less harmful alternatives may be a more effective approach to reducing smoking rates than the World Health...
Dr. Lorenzo Mata, president of the advocacy group Quit for Good. MANILA, Philippines — Encouraging smokers to switch to reduced-risk products (RRPs) such as heated tobacco and vapes would lower healthcare costs and free up hospital resources for non-smoking patients,...
THE Sin Tax Coalition on Thursday reminded House Commission on Appointments member Rep. Rodante Marcoleta that Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Teodoro Herbosa’s primary duty is to “protect and promote health interests.” The group gave their reaction after...
A member of the House of Representatives contingent in the Commission on Appointments (CA) cautioned Health Secretary Ted Herbosa against commenting on the Vape law, saying that Herbosa should follow existing laws to secure his CA confirmation. CA member and 1-Sagip...
This photo illustration shows a customer smoking at a vape store in Manila on November 20, 2019 AFP / Dante Diosina Jr. MANILA, Philippines — Marketing the Philippines as a manufacturing hub for e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products (HTPs) may exacerbate the...
Agents of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) have raided a total 747 stores and warehouses of untaxed cigarettes, vapes, and wines across the country. However, BIR Commissioner Romeo D. Lumagui, Jr. said the determination of tax liabilities of the seized items is...
Expert panel during the 10th Annual Global Forum on Nicotine (GFN 2023) in Warsaw, Poland. The World Health Organization's disregard for tobacco harm reduction (THR) is preventing a billion smokers globally to switch to less harmful alternatives and leaving them with...
JOINT FORCES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY AND BUREAU OF INTERNAL REVENUE AGAINST NON-COMPLIANT VAPE PRODUCTS -- Consumer Protection Group (CPG) Undersecretary Atty. Ruth B. Castelo, DTI-Fair Trade Enforcement Bureau (FTEB) Director Atty. Fhillip D. Sawali,...
AT A GLANCE DTI received several consumer complaints against various online sellers of fake, defective, or undelivered parcels. Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Alfredo E. Pascual has ordered two big e-commerce platforms to explain consumer complaints about...
One group is moving to urge the government to raise the age of those who can legally use vapes to 25 years old. Speaking during a hearing of the Senate committee on sustainable development goals, innovation, and futures thinking last week, Southeast Asia Tobacco...
This photo illustration shows a customer smoking at a vape store in Manila on November 20, 2019 AFP / Dante Diosina Jr. MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health has called on the Department of Trade and Industry to prohibit the access of Filipinos, especially...
Since 2015, the rate of tobacco use among Vietnamese men decreased from 45.3 per cent to 42.3 per cent. Photo baotainguyenmoitruong.vn The main reason is due to easy access to cigarettes triggered by the low tobacco tax and emergence of various types of e-cigarettes,...
MANILA, Philippines — Constant exposure to tobacco leaves puts farmers at risk of green tobacco sickness (GTS), a health think tank warned yesterday. Citing estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO), the HealthJustice Philippines said tobacco farmers absorb...
A cardiologist who served as former president of the Philippine Heart Association and the Asia Pacific Society for Hypertension backed proposals to review the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) if it were to be used as a guide in the forging of a pandemic...
There is enough evidence that support the use of electronic cigarettes as an aid for smoking cessation in adults, says Kenneth E. Warner, PhD, professor emeritus of Department of Health Management and Policy, School of Public Health, University of Michigan. Electronic...
KARACHI - A recent report released by Our World in Data has endorsed the fact that tobacco smoking is one of the world’s largest health problems. “Millions of people live in poor health because of smoking and researchers estimate that every year around 8 million...
Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Undersecretary Ruth Castelo together with DTI-Fair Trade Enforcement Bureau's Atty. Fhillip Sawali, and Valenzuela City Mayor Wes Gatchalian inspect a vape shop in Valenzuela City on Thursday, May 4, 2023, where they discovered...
PHNOM PENH (Xinhua): More than 15,000 people died of smoking every year in Cambodia, Mom Kong, executive director of the local non-government organization, the Cambodia Movement for Health, said on Thursday (March 9). According to a recent survey by the Ministry of...
Tobacco Consumption Among adults (age 15+), 19.5% of Filipinos are current tobacco users, including 34.7% of men and 4.2% of women.1 5% smoke tobacco products (33.3% of men and 3.7% of women). 5% use smokeless tobacco products (2.3% of men and 0.7% of women). Among...
The Philippines – where 1 in 4 adults are smokers and the smoking quit rate is a measly 4 percent – can learn from the experience of Japan where the use of heated tobacco products has led to drastically reduced smoking rates. “The dramatic drop in smoking prevalence...
Mom Kong, executive director of the local non-governmental organisation, the Cambodia Movement for Health on Thursday said more than 15,000 people died from smoking every year in Cambodia. According to a recent survey by the Ministry of Health, there are an...
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Smoking cessation in several Filipino tobacco users remains a daunting challenge. Based on the data from the Global Adult Tobacco 2021 Survey, of the 15.1 million adult tobacco users in the Philippines, 63.7 percent planned to quit smoking but...
Currently, the country applies an excise tax on alcohol of 35-65 per cent), beer (65 per cent) and cigarettes (75 per cent). — Photo kinhtemoitruong.vnThe ministry also proposed to add new tobacco products and new equipment as well as trading in online video game...
Mark Kehaya Nicotine industry players have agreed to pursue innovation and new technologies to provide consumers with better and less harmful alternatives to combustible cigarettes. Scientific evidence concluded that it is the burning of tobacco that produces the...
DEBBIE ROBSON, RMN, Senior Lecturer in Tobacco Harm Reduction, National Addiction centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience Vapers are exposed to much lower levels of toxicants, compared to smokers, according to the latest independent review...
Filipinos were urged to quit or do not start smoking to reduce the risk of developing heart diseases, an official of the Department of Health (DOH) said. Smoking is associated with a “two-to fourfold increased risk” of coronary heart disease, said Dr. Maria Rosario...
(screengrab from PTV) MANILA – Smoking increases a person’s risk of having coronary heart disease and sudden death, health experts said Friday. “Smoking associated with two to four-fold increase in the risk of coronary heart disease, a greater than 70 percent...
The province of Ilocos Sur will get the biggest share from the proceeds of the RA 7171 Virginia tobacco excise tax fund in Fiscal Year 2020 while the province of Isabela will receive the highest share from the Burley and Native tobacco excise tax fund pursuant to RA...
Award handed out for participation in smoke-free tourism business. Fresh News The Ministry of Tourism has set guidelines for the establishment of a smoke-free tourism city in order to promote the implementation of a smoke-free environment in tourism and protect...
Market Overview The e-cigarette market size was $17,901.1 million in 2022, and it is expected to reach $38,631.1 million in 2030, with a growth rate of 10.1% during 2022–2030. The fall in conventional cigarette smoking has been a major driver, with consumers switching...
Associate Professor, Doctor, Doctor Tran Van Ngoc. Harm reduction is not a safe measure and completely eliminates harmful factors, but it is also worth noting that up to 90% of toxic substances in tobacco smoke can be reduced. Tobacco addiction and its...
The use of e-cigarettes or vapes is proven to be more effective in helping people drop their smoking habit, compared to just using patches and gums, based on a study published by Cochrane, an international not-for-profit organization. According to a Cochrane Report...
A customer vapes at store in Manila on November 20, 2019. Dante Diosina Jr., AFP/file MANAOAG, Pangasinan — The Department of Health on Friday welcomed the guidelines released by the Bureau of Internal Revenue that set a floor price for heated vapor and other...
An observational study conducted by the Institute for Global Tobacco Control (IGTC) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, found that enforcement of several aspects of the regulations set in place in the Philippines are not being complied with. The...
Anton P. Israel, president Nicotine Consumers Union of the Philippines Inc. (NCUP) Consumer groups asked Lazada and Shopee to purge sellers of unregistered vapes and heated tobacco products (HTPs) on their platforms by end of October 2023 as they committed to the...
Gorkun also disclosed PMFTC has “invested P500 billion” to bring in new products like vapes and nicotine patches and introduce them as alternatives to smoking, even making them affordable by introducing installment payment. Wikimedia Commons / Lindsay Fox MANILA,...
A Mandaue City councilor wants to impose fines on vape pod sellers and distributors who fail to properly dispose of their used products. On Tuesday, August 8, 2023, City Councilor Jennifer Del Mar, the chair of the Committee on Environmental Protection, declared her...
Romeo Lumagui MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) is targeting to cut to at least 10 percent the collection shortfall from excise taxes, majority of which is due to the illicit trade of tobacco in the country. BIR commissioner Romeo Lumagui said...
The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has conducted simultaneous raids on several business establishments across the country as part of the crackdown on the sale of untaxed cigarettes, wine and other similar products. Initial reports indicated that large volumes of the...
(Unsplash) Anakalusugan Party-list Rep. Ray Reyes wants to raise the age limit for vaping, which according to him has addictive properties."Kailangang protektahan natin ang ating mga kabataan mula sa mga masamang bagay na maaaring idulot ng mga produktong ito (We need...
Dr. Rafael Castillo, a renowned Filipino cardiologist who served as president of the Philippine Heart Association-Philippine College of Cardiology International policy and public health experts expressed dismay over the World Health Organization’s (WHO) controversial...
Ang nasabing ordinansa ay ang Ordinance No. 1098, Series of 2023 o ang Non-Combustible Nicotine and Non-Nicotine Delivery Systems Regulations, ang pagbili, pagbebenta at paggamit ng vaporized nicotine at non-nicotine na mga produkto o nobelang produktong tabako ay...
Figures showed that although the number of adult male smokers had decreased, it still failed to reach the target of 39 per cent by 2020. A man smokes in public in Hà Nội. — VNA/VNS Photo Minh Quyết HÀ NỘI — The use of tobacco, including e-cigarettes, heated tobacco,...
“The DOH urges the Department of Trade and Industry, as the mandated authority, to strictly enforce the provisions of the vape law, to prohibit access to these harmful products, especially among the youth,” the DOH said in a statement. Wikimedia Commons / Lindsay Fox...
A saleswoman holds an e-cigarette as she demonstrates vaping at the Vape Shop that sells e-cigarette products in Beijing, China, January 30, 2019. Photo by Reuters/Thomas Peter The government has approved a national program to restrict the use of e-cigarettes,...
In line with the government’s campaign against illicit cigarette trade, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) released its list of registered manufacturers and importers of tobacco and vape products catering to local consumers. Based on Revenue Memorandum Circular No....
Base sa isang memorandum circular na inisyu noong Mayo 5, ang bagong floor price para sa isang pakete ng sigarilyo ay P114.60 habang ang isang ream ay nagkakahalaga na ngayon ng P1,146.00. MANILA, Philippines — Nagpatupad ang Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR)...
Base sa isang memorandum circular na inisyu noong Mayo 5, ang bagong floor price para sa isang pakete ng sigarilyo ay P114.60 habang ang isang ream ay nagkakahalaga na ngayon ng P1,146.00. MANILA, Philippines — Nagpatupad ang Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR)...
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) seized uncertified vaporized nicotine and non-nicotine products, and novel tobacco products worth P3 million and found that a large majority of online stores are non-compliant with the implementing rules and regulations of...
A young man smokes an e-cigarette on a street in Phnom Penh. KT/Yarn Soveit A case study conducted by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS) has found that 60% of teachers and students across the country lack awareness about the side-effects of...
The Department of Trade and Industry official noted that unregistered vape products were already subjected to the Vape Law, since implementing rules and regulations of the law came into force back on December 28. MANILA, Philippines — The Marcos Jr. administration is...
On October 8, 2022, the Ministry of Education and Training held a direct communication session on the prevention and control of tobacco harms, particularly e-cigarettes, for students in Cần Thơ Province. VNA/VNS Photo The department said in a document sent to...
(Photo from Quezon City Police District/ MANILA BULLETIN) Operatives of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) arrested two suspects for alleged illegal distribution of vape products and for raping his 15-year-old daughter in Quezon City on Wednesday, April 19, and...
A young man smokes an e-cigarette on a street in Phnom Penh. KT/Yarn Soveit A case study conducted by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS) has found that 60% of teachers and students across the country lack awareness about the side-effects of...
PHNOM PENH (Xinhua): More than 15,000 people died of smoking every year in Cambodia, Mom Kong, executive director of the local non-government organization, the Cambodia Movement for Health, said on Thursday (March 9). According to a recent survey by the Ministry of...
CEBU, Philippines — The Philippine Heart Association (PHA) is pushing for the recall of the Vape Law as they believe vape smoking still pose risk for cardiovascular diseases. Dr. Ronald Cuyco, PHA vice president, said that the medical society is strongly against the...
The Consumer Protection Group (CPG) of the Department of Trade and Industry has sternly warned online marketplaces that sell vape products to minors amid the proliferation and marketing of these items in very appealing packaging in both online and physical stores. DTI...
What’s the problem with these particular vape products out in the market? For one, they shouldn’t be out in the market at all, according to Albay 2nd district Rep. Joey Salceda. Salceda said such labels on vape products “obviously appeal to young people, in direct...
Senators slammed the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the implementing agency of the VAPE Law, over the proliferation of banned vape flavors sold in outlets targeting the youth in plain view and in clear violation of the law. Sen. Pia Cayetano, chairman of...
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 6) — The Department of Trade and Industry caught some heat from senators who condemned the sale of vaporized products with designs and flavors attractive to the youth. In a privilege speech on Monday, Senator Pia Cayetano showed...
A consumer advocacy group urged major e-commerce platforms Shopee and Lazada to take immediate action against unregistered and untaxed cigarettes, heated tobacco products and vapes that are proliferating in their online stores. In separate letters to Shopee...
A man lights a cigarette as beneficiaries of government cash aid line up at a covered court in Baseco Compound, Tondo Manila on April 7, 2021. George Calvelo, ABS-CBN News/File MANILA — Advocates and some officials said Friday that increasing further sin taxes in the...
Tobacco industry stakeholders echoed the call of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) for full compliance to Republic Act (RA) 11900 or the Vaporized Nicotine and Non-Nicotine Products Regulation Act which regulates the importation, manufacture, sale and distribution...
Distributors and sellers of vaporized nicotine and non-nicotine products must comply with the requirements of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) following the seizure of tons of smuggled and untaxed vape products from...
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has issued the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the law regulating vaporized nicotine and non-nicotine products. DTI Administrative Order 22-16 Series of 2022, dated Dec. 5, issues the IRR of...
The prevalence of current tobacco use and smoking among Filipinos aged 15 and above decreased in 2021 to 19.5% of the population or 15.1 million, according to the results of the 2021 Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS). At a press forum on Tuesday, Dr. Vito Roque Jr....
Any tobacco product needs to be controlled under the law, with no exceptions. The proliferation of new generation tobacco products through smuggled, "portable" routes throughout the years is the status quo that is being concerned by the authorities and public...
Over the years, vaping has emerged as a contentious topic, sparking debates about its potential benefits and risks. As a harm reduction tool aimed at helping smokers quit traditional cigarettes, vaping has garnered both support and skepticism. The stigma attached to...
The Philip Morris International (PMI) chief executive officer (CEO) Jacek Olczak recently announced their company – selling the world’s No.1 cigarette brand Marlboro – aims to become a majority “smoke-free” business by 2025. This means more than half of their total...
PMFTC President Denis Gorkun holding IQOS Iluma, the latest innovation in heated tobacco product category The president of the country’s leading heated tobacco company said that the passage of the landmark Vape Law a year ago was a “win” for public health and that the...
INQUIRER.net stock photo The Department of Health (DOH) on Thursday reminded the country’s economic managers that promoting the Philippines to investors as a manufacturing hub for heated tobacco products (HTPs) runs counter to government policies that aim to protect...
ASCRA Consulting Inc. joins the celebration of National Lung Month this August 2023 in line with the organization’s campaign to protect the health of Filipino smokers. #ASCRAConsultingInc #TobaccoHarmReduction
Public health advocates who attended a recent global forum called on the World Health Organization to stop its opposition to the tobacco harm reduction approach and insistence to ban less-harmful tobacco alternative products like vapes and heated tobacco. Dr. Lorenzo...
Just three years after it was launched, an estimated 75,000 Filipinos have quit smoking cigarettes and adopted IQOS, a device that heats without burning tobacco and is scientifically validated as a better alternative to smoking. PMFTC, Inc., the local affiliate of...
Nagsagawa kahapon ang Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) kasama ang Bu[1]reau of Internal Revenue ng inspeksyon sa ibat-ibang vape shop sa Maynila kung saan iilan sa mga ito ang nakitaan ng bayolasyon. Pinangunahan ni Consumer Protection Group (CPG) Usec. Atty....
A consumer rights group has voiced its concern over the alarming rise of smuggled cigarettes and vape products, saying that rampant illicit tobacco trade is detrimental to its goal of promoting less harmful alternatives to smoking. “We have staunchly advocated for...
Illustrative image (Photo: AFP) The Central Committee of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union (HCYU), the Health Ministry’s Fund for Prevention and Control of Tobacco Harms and the Global Public Health Organisation Vital Strategies held a symposium in Hanoi on May 31...
ILOCANDIA’S GREEN GOLD | A farmer works in his tobacco farm at Barangay Macayo in Alcala, Pangasinan, in this January photo. Growing tobacco has sustained generations of farmers in the Ilocos region, where the cash crop is considered as “green gold.” (Photo by WILLIE...
THE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) on Thursday filed 69 tax evasion cases against illicit cigarette traders before the Department of Justice. The traders, who were apprehended during a nationwide operation in January, reportedly cost the government some P1.8 billion...
One important concept in Public Finance Economics is the Laffer Curve. It shows a bell-shape relationship between tax rates and revenues: as tax rates increase, revenues also increase initially then plateau at some point and start to decline after. The concept was...
Dr. Rafael Castillo, a renowned Filipino cardiologist who served as president of the Philippine Heart Association-Philippine College of Cardiology and the Asia Pacific Society of Hypertension As the World Health Organization works on the creation of a global...
Photo: efired The Ministry of Health in Vietnam has called for stricter control of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products that are not licensed in the country, reports VnExpress International. In a recent document addressed to various government ministries and...
A man views vape products advertised on a Facebook page. – SUPPLIED PHNOM PENH (The Phnom Penh Post): The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport has found that children and youth have continued to purchase e-cigarettes – also known as vapes – via social media, despite...
MANILA – The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Tuesday vowed to intensify its campaign against the use and sale of vapes or e-cigarette products among minors. In a radio interview, PNP chief Gen. Benjamin Acorda Jr. said they would coordinate with school officials...
A man smoking a cigarette during his break from work in Chhouk district of Kampot province last year. Heng Chivoan In Cambodia, the rate of tobacco use has declined but there are still more than 150,000 deaths each year due to tobacco use, said a senior Cambodia...
As many as 354,000 Vietnamese people are living with cancer, a figure that is many times higher compared to 30 years ago, with many people diagnosed at a late stage leading to a high mortality rate. People who smoke cigarettes are 15 to 30 times more likely to...
Lent may be over but if you promise to make the sacrifice to quit smoking, then do so. Quitting smoking, according to the Centers for Disease Control Prevention (CDC), is one of the most important actions people can take to improve their health. Health Justice...
This November, Panama will play host to the tenth WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) Conference of the Parties (COP), where decisions on tobacco control will be taken that may have far-reaching implications for the world’s more than a billion smokers....
A pack of Marlboro cigarettes in a coffee house in Vienna, Austria, May 12, 2017. Photo by Reuters/Leonhard Foeger The Ministry of Finance in a draft bill wants the special consumption tax on cigarette be increased to reduce consumption. The tax, currently...
THE percentage of tobacco smokers in the Philippines decreased from 22.7 percent (15.9 million) in 2015 to 18.5 percent (14.4 million) in 2021, according to the report on the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (Gats) released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)....
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), through the Bureau of Philippine Standards (BPS), has prevented the sale and distribution of 600 pieces of substandard equal-leg steel angle bars worth P740,000 in Valenzuela City. In a news statement released on Monday, the...
CROP TO CRY FOR The once lowly onion has been in high demand since late last year, even with soaring prices due to smuggling and overpricing by traders. Consumers line up in January at the Department of Agriculture’s Kadiwa Store in Quezon City which sold the...
MANILA – The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) on Friday vowed to boost its campaign against the sale of vape and e-cigarette products that are in violation of Republic Act (RA) 11900 or known as the Vape Law. DTI Assistant Secretary Ann Claire Cabochan made the...
Tobacco cravings and the urge to smoke can be overwhelming. Nevertheless you still can overcome them with just a few key tips. Is quitting smoking your New Year’s resolution? Or do you intend to do so in the future? Whether you have been smoke-free for a few...
The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has raided perpetrators of illicit cigarette trade across the country, placing all regional enforcers on alert while their operations were ongoing on 378 stores in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. BIR Commissioner Romeo Lumagui Jr....
Quit Smoking Apps Market The latest independent research document on Quit Smoking Apps examines investment in Market. It describes how companies deploying these technologies across various industry verticals aim to explore their potential to become major business...
The Bangladesh Electronic Nicotine Delivery System Traders Association (BENDSTA) called on authorities to consult with all stakeholders before making any policy decisions on vaping at a press conference held in the capital on Tuesday. The organization also called for...
MANILA, Philippines — Hefty penalties ranging from P5,000 to P20,000 await smokers who will be caught using vapes in indoor public spaces, including government offices, schools, airports, and churches. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) released on Thursday a...
PMI CEO Jacek Olczak said Bonds by IQOS represents a step forward in the company’s ambition to replace cigarettes with innovative, science-based and smoke-free alternatives. STAR / File MANILA, Philippines — Philip Morris International Inc. launched its latest...
Jacek Olczak, Chief Executive Officer at Philip Morris International “BONDS by IQOS represents another step forward in our ambition to replace cigarettes with innovative, science-based, smoke-free alternatives,” said Jacek Olczak, Chief Executive Officer at...
