“Selling and promoting them to minors without the prescribed health warning is equally irresponsible.“
Selling vapes and other forms of electronic cigarettes to the youth without the prescribed health warning, as mandated by health authorities, is a crime and smacks of corporate greed.
The World Health Organization has already noted in an earlier warning that e-cigarettes, which pose serious health risks, are being “aggressively marketed” to young people, and decried the absence of rules in place in large parts of the world to protect children from their harmful effects.
WHO’s notice should not be ignored. It found out that 88 countries have no minimum age at which e-cigarettes can be bought and 74 countries have not implemented any e-cigarette regulations.
The world health body has also warned that the tobacco industry “funds and promotes false evidence” in their argument that e-cigarettes reduce harm, while at the same time “heavily promoting these products to children and non-smokers and continuing to sell billions of cigarettes.”
Here in the Philippines, a major importer of e-cigarettes is being accused of several violations, including the sale and marketing of products and variants not duly registered with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR). Flava Corp. is feeling the heat from lawmakers, who earlier conducted an investigation on its alleged illegal importation and misdeclaration of its products’ nicotine content.
Flava’s alleged disregard of the law does not end with tax evasion and its reported illegal trade practices. Social media reports indicate that Flava has committed violations against the other provisions of RA 11900, particularly in terms of marketing, distribution, point-of-sale and flavoring. The law, among others, regulate the sale, packaging, use and communication of vaporized nicotine and non-nicotine products.
Posters and invitations to events sponsored by Flava’s products do not contain the prescribed health warning and provide for no age requirement for participation. Probers also bared social media posts with claims about being the “trendsetter” in the disposable market vaping industry―which is tantamount to depiction of vaping as a lifestyle. In addition, the company is active in sponsoring music festivals that are open to minors.
Such practices have prompted WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to call on countries to ramp up prevention measures, saying that “kids are being recruited and trapped at an early age to use e-cigarettes and may get hooked to nicotine.”
Children aged 13 to 15 worldwide are using e-cigarettes at rates higher than adults, WHO research has found. The number of young users in the United Kingdom has tripled in the past three years.
Flava, in the meantime, has to face other government investigations. Per the Bureau of Customs report, the agency confiscated a total of 1.4 million pieces of illegally imported vape products of Flava.
Rep. Joey Salceda and Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, during a December 12, 2023 hearing, inquired from the BOC and BIR about Flava’s capability to import. Upon submission of findings by the two agencies, it was discovered that Flava was a registered importer. However, the company has no products or brands registered for importation. Thus, the 1.4 million confiscated vape products were imported illegally to the country.
The company’s action qualifies as an illicit trade, a bane among our tax collectors. The illegal trade deprives the government of billion pesos worth of revenues and finds ways to circumvent product standards.
The illegal trade continues to pose challenges to the government. As an archipelago with porous borders that encourage smuggling, the Philippines is at the receiving end of illicit trade. Mr. Salceda in a House report correctly points out the evils of illicit trade and its adverse impact on government social services and the whole business community.
“Eighty percent of revenues from vape sin taxes are spent towards universal health care and government hospitals. So, the health impacts of smoking vape aside, tax evasion in this product, is stealing from our hospitals and our sick,” he says.
The growing popularity of vapor nicotine and non-nicotine products, or e-cigarettes, has apparently emboldened sellers and manufacturers to resort to the illegal practice.
Selling and promoting them to minors without the prescribed health warning is equally irresponsible. According to the UN health agency, the illegal promotion has resulted in increased use of e-cigarettes, with nine out of 10 smokers starting before the age of 18―and some as early as 11.
“Considering that children spend nearly one-third of their waking hours in school, and much of the peer pressure they encounter occurs within these educational environments, schools play a pivotal role,” WHO said.
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