VERA Files
The vape genie is out of the bottle and the Senate, one of the two branches of Congress responsible for letting the genie out, is furious.
Ilocanos are stereotyped as being kuripot (stingy with money). President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., an Ilocano, showed this side of him when he vetoed four bills approved by the previous Congress.
Despite the loud applause on his call for a “stronger healthcare system” during his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. remained silent on his plans for the regulation of novel tobacco products. Marcos did not heed the call of former health secretaries, heads of health agencies, and several […]
The Supreme Court recently reversed a regional trial court decision to uphold the jurisdiction of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to regulate cigarettes and tobacco products.
If President Rodrigo Duterte approves the vape bill before he leaves Malacanang on June 30, the Department of Health (DOH) says it will “result in an absurd situation” wherein similar products that cause harm and danger are regulated differently.
More than four months have passed since Congress ratified in haste the proposed “Vaporized Nicotine and Non-Nicotine Products Regulation Act” or the vape bill, but the measure’s final copy has yet to reach Malacañang for President Rodrigo Duterte to either sign or veto it, or to let it lapse into law after 30 days from submission.
In the final year of the Duterte administration, Congress approved a bill that defies the chief executive’s anti-tobacco smoking and anti-vaping position.
Several provisions in the proposed Vaporized Nicotine and Non-nicotine Products Regulation Act or the vape bill, ratified by Congress on Jan. 26, have been contested by medical experts and health advocates, questioning the need for a new regulation on electronic nicotine and non-nicotine devices (ENDS/ENNDS) and heated tobacco products (HTPs).
Timeline of events before the passage of the new vape regulation.
The proposed Vaporized Nicotine and Non-Nicotine Production Regulation Act removes the two-flavor limit and allows online selling and advertising of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) and heated tobacco products (HTPs), prompting health advocates to say that these provisions
would entice younger people to try these and get them hooked on what can become a lifetime addiction.