The Department of Health (DOH) over the weekend floated the idea of a sweeping ban on vape products as it condemned the “deceptive” marketing of the e-cigarettes, which the agency said pose serious health risks.

Speaking on dzMM, Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa lamented that some high school students were using and flaunting vapes, which are battery-operated devices that heat e-liquid products — also called vape juice, usually with flavors — and generate aerosols.

“Eighteen years old and above ang pwedeng mag-vape pero umikot ka, tingnan mo ‘yung mga batang naka-high school uniform, may vape implement sa leeg nila at makikita mo nagve-vape,” Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa said.

He pointed out that vape companies target the youth in their advertising materials, warning that it could be difficult to quit using e-cigarettes once a person has become addicted to them.

“Nakita mo nang tuluyan ang advertising ng ating vape industries may flavor ‘yung mga cartoons, so totally talagang totoo na ang mina-market nila sa ating kabataan kasi kapag nalulong ka na diyan sa vape ay hindi ka na makakaalis,” said Herbosa.

He also said that some vape firms were launching misleading marketing of vaping as “less harmful” than cigarette smoking.

“Kailangan striktuhan natin ‘yung enforcement nung batas na pinasa natin o baka mas madali mag-total ban na lang tayo para wala nang mabili itong mga kabataan,” he said.

In a statement, the DOH warned that e-cigarettes and tobacco products could lead to cardiovascular disease, cancer, and other lung illnesses.

Last year, health advocates announced the Philippines’ first death due to e-cigarette or vape-associated lung injury (EVALI).

The World Health Organization (WHO) warned in October that e-cigarettes were fueling an “alarming” new wave of nicotine addiction, with millions of children now hooked on vaping.

In countries that have the data, children are on average nine times more likely than adults to vape, the WHO said.

The United Nations health agency said the industry was promoting vapes as supposedly less harmful products than cigarettes — but in fact was aggressively targeting young people and getting children addicted.

More than 100 million people are vaping, according to the WHO’s first global estimate of e-cigarette use.

They include at least 86 million adults, mostly in high-income countries — and at least 15 million children aged 13 to 15.

“E-cigarettes are fueling a new wave of nicotine addiction. They are marketed as harm reduction but, in reality, are hooking kids on nicotine earlier and risk undermining decades of progress,” Etienne Krug, the WHO’s director of health determinants, promotion and prevention, said in a statement. (ABS-CBN News / Agence France-Presse)