17/08/2025
| ๐ฆ๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฝ๐ผ๐ฟ, ๐ฏ๐ถ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ฟ๐๐๐ต
In neon-lit v**e stores and swiping TikTok feeds, va**ng shimmers with the allure of something cleaner, cooler, and safer than smokes. The flavors are childlikeโmango ice, cotton candy, bubblegumโand the devices are chic enough to masquerade as USB drives. It is less of a vice and more of a lifestyle add-on for most young Filipinos. But strip away the sweet haze, and the bitter reality rushes in: quietly, these devices are addicting a generation and poisoning the world they will inherit.
The science is clear. The World Health Organization keeps sounding the warning that e-cigarettes are bad for health. Here in the Philippines, numbers don't lie: one in seven students between 13 to 15 is already a user of e-cigarettes, according to the 2019 Global Youth To***co Survey. More alarming, more than a third of the youthโ37.1 percentโsaid that nobody prevents them from purchasing to***co products, whether from retail shops, street vendors, or even online. What does it reveal about our laws if kids are able to so readily acquire an addictive tool wrapped in candy-colored boxes?
Rather than strengthening the protections, the Republic Act 11900โenacted in July 2022โreduced the minimum age for use from 21 to 18 and transferred regulatory control from the Department of Health to the Department of Trade and Industry. With one stroke, va**ng products were regarded less as health threats and more as consumer devices. Benevolent intentions notwithstanding, this act opened wider gates to addiction while pushing public health professionals to the sideline. Choices made in Congress today have the potential to engrave scars on the lungsโand livesโof our young people tomorrow.
The risk does not stop in our bodies. V**e litter is an environmental time bomb waiting to explode. Every disposable v**e contains plastic, heavy metals, and lithium-ion batteries that donโt biodegrade and donโt belong in landfills. Left untreated, they leak toxins into soil and water and even spark landfill fires. Globally, the scale is staggering: in just one year, the United Kingdom threw away enough lithium from v**es to build 2,500 electric car batteries. Imagine the damage if the Philippines follows that trail of toxic litter.
And yet, false information flourishes where rules are weak. On social mediaโwhere Filipinos obtain most of their information about the worldโads and influencers wrap va**ng in wellness, convenience, and even revolutionary language. Most teens view a hip device, not an apparatus for delivering ni****ne. Some nursing students in the Visayas even had no firm knowledge of va**ng hazards, based on a new prevalence study, indicating that even future health professionals require better education. When truth is drowned out by paid promotion, what hope do ordinary consumers have?
The price is not only individual but intergenerational. Each v**e carelessly discarded is tomorrow's polluted runoff, tomorrow's contaminated fish, tomorrow's scorched landfill. The hard reality is this: va**ng is not only a health problem or an adolescent problemโit's an infrastructure problem, an environmental problem, a national problem. The Philippines cannot afford to wait for other countries to do the same thing that will lead us to tragedy by waiting for a full-blown crisis to take action.
This is where policy, technology, and science intersect. Innovation without responsibility always leaves devastation. If companies can design dozens of candy flavors to addict teenagers, why can't they design devices that are recyclable, rechargeable, and responsibly sold? If we can legislate in order to control commerce, why can't we legislate to protect landscapes and lungs simultaneously? If we are able to view the data so clearly, why do we elect to close our eyes to it?
We don't need to see another generation suffocate on flavored lies. National policy needs to be reformed to prioritize health and environment. Funding for research needs to reveal the long-term effect of e-cigarettes in Philippine society. Schools need to educateโnot tweetโabout va**ng. And all Filipinos, from policymakers to parents, need to treat these as what they are: toxic electronic rubbish, not innocent toys.
The v***r may be sweet. But the truth? It is bitter enough to make us all cough.
