Philippine WHO representative acknowledges e-cigarettes are safer than cigarettes
According to news on March 11, according to foreign news reports, WHO has publicly opposed the use of electronic cigarette products. In fact, last September, two leaked papers from the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean (EMRO) showed that the organization is working to regulate vaporizable products in the same way as its combustible counterparts.
At the same time, the representative of WHO, Dr. Ranti Fayokun, National Noncommunicable Disease Control Tobacco Control Scientist, acknowledged the relative safety of the product at a hearing on e-cigarette regulations held by the Philippine House of Representatives.
On the other hand, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte announced a ban on the use and import of e-cigarettes, saying that anyone using the product would be arrested.
Duterte was a veteran smoker who suffered health consequences from his habits and rightfully took a stern position on cigarettes.
Unfortunately, he has the same position on e-cigarette products, but he does not know that the device is an excellent tool to quit smoking and reduce harm.
At the same time, at the aforementioned Philippine Congress hearing, Dr Andrew Da Roza, an addictive psychotherapist and lawyer, pointed out that the ban would be counterproductive. "They (WHO) said that if you are a country that cannot make regulations and cannot enforce them, it must be banned. For me, this is a contradiction. A country cannot be perfectly regulated, but it has to do it in the end What is prohibited is because the black market will proliferate. This is a very important issue for children. If we prohibit things, if we do not regulate things, we will create a black market that does not care about children, does not care about the elderly, and does not care we."
