Philippine president orders police to arrest anyone vaping in public

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Tuesday he was ordering a ban on the use and importation of electronic cigarettes in the country. Picture: Flickr

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Tuesday he was ordering a ban on the use and importation of electronic cigarettes in the country. Picture: Flickr

Published Nov 19, 2019

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World - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Tuesday

he was ordering a ban on the use and importation of electronic

cigarettes in the country.

Duterte also ordered the arrest of anyone vaping in public, after the

Department of Health said it was investigating what could become the

country's first confirmed case of lung injury from the use of

e-cigarettes.

"I will ban the use and importation [of e-cigarettes] because it is

toxic and the government has the power to issue measures to protect

public health and public interest," he told a late-night press

conference.

"I am now ordering law enforcement agencies to arrest anybody vaping

in public, which is like smoking," he added. "You cannot do it inside

the room. That's full of shit. You contaminate people."

Last week, the Department of Health said a 16-year-old girl from the

central region of Visayas was possibly the first case of lung injury

from the use of electronic cigarettes.

The teenager was admitted in hospital on October 21 for "sudden onset

of severe shortness of breath," the department said.

She was initially thought to have a lung infection, but upon further

evaluation, her case met the criteria for "electronic cigarette or

vaping-associated lung injury" based on the guidelines by the US

Centers for Disease Control.

Further verification was required in order to confirm the diagnosis,

the department said.

The teenager was found to have used electronic cigarettes daily for

four months. After that time, she also smoked traditional cigarettes.

She has been discharged and has since stopped smoking.

IOL 

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