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The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) must consider the difference between combustible cigarettes and heated tobacco products (HTP) when drafting guidelines for the regulation of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), said the Senate President , Vicente Sotto 3rd.
“They are better than cigarettes,” he said during Senate deliberations on the Health Department’s budget sponsored by Senator Pilar Juliana Cayetano.
“We have to admit that, especially hot tobacco. There is a big difference, even in terms of secondhand smoke from cigarettes. Heated tobacco doesn’t have secondhand smoke, but real cigarettes do, ”Sotto added.
The FDA, an adjunct agency of the Department of Health, was tasked with drafting the guidelines for the implementation of Republic Law 11467 and Executive Order 106, which allow the sale, distribution, and taxation of HTP and e-cigarettes or vapors.
Sotto regretted that the FDA’s proposal to ban certain ingredients like glycerol and propylene glycol in HTPs and e-cigarettes could restrict the availability of these electronic devices in the country, which would be contrary to enabling law.
“I understand that we need to properly regulate Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems, or ENDS, and Heated Tobacco Products, or HTP. However, it seems that they intend to ban certain ingredients considered essential for these products, “he said.
“These are aerosol formers for these products, so if they are banned, the products will stop working. If there is no aerosol to inhale, these products will be unusable. In other countries they are not prohibited in electronic cigarettes, ”Sotto said.
The senator clarified that the regulation of HTPs and e-cigarettes in the Philippines was not intended to encourage youth and non-smokers to use them, but rather to provide smokers with alternatives to traditional cigarettes.
“What we want is for smokers to try heated tobacco or e-cigarettes, because the research or study shows that once they switch from cigarettes to heated tobacco in particular, about 80 percent would not smoke again.” said.
Sotto cited as an example his brother the comedian Vic Sotto and the other cast of a noon
variety show who were mostly smokers.
“When they started using hot tobacco more than a year ago, none of them went back to [smoking cigarettes]. So I believe in studying, ”he said.
“I was in London over a year ago and I saw the difference which was huge,” he added.
He urged the FDA not to make it difficult for HTPs and e-cigarettes to compete with traditional cigarettes.
Sotto also noted concerns raised by some quarters, particularly e-cigarette consumer groups, about the initial draft of the FDA’s guidelines on vapor and HTP products.
“What is the basis for the draft guidelines?” I ask. “Are there other countries in the world that impose similar guidelines?”
He admitted that the development of guidelines by some government agencies became a matter of concern among the authors of the law.
“It has been a big problem for us. Because some agencies seem to go beyond their enabling law, what the enabling law provides, ”he said. Sotto then asked Cayetano to ensure that the draft guidelines would stay true to the enabling law.
Cayetano replied: “Yes, Mr. [Senate] President, CEO [of FDA] nod your head with your thumbs up. I will remind you that we are very aware that you do not exceed your authority. They should simply be guided by the law. “
He vowed to ask the FDA to address concerns about a ban on ingredients used in HTPs.
“Our biggest concern is young people and what I learned when I went to London was that the reason they can really push for e-cigarettes [in London] it’s because they have already been successful in preventing young people from smoking cigarettes, ”he said.
“So now even e-cigarettes are not something they want to try, unlike the Philippines, where we have not yet cut off that desire for young people to engage in smoking,” Cayetano added.
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