Iloilo City Task Force Raises Alarm Over Student Smoking and Vaping Rates

Iloilo City – The Iloilo City Anti-Smoking Task Force (ICAST) has voiced significant concern regarding the rising use of cigarettes and vapes among students, prompting a call for urgent policy updates in schools ahead of the new academic year.

According to Philippines News Agency, Executive Director of ICAST, there is a pressing need for effective regulation to address this public health issue. “Proper regulation is necessary because it is a public health concern,” Garingalao explained on Friday. He emphasized the importance of updating policies to include anti-smoking measures, conducting awareness campaigns, and enforcing rules against underage smoking and vaping. From January to June this year, ICAST noted 3,507 violations of the city’s anti-smoking ordinance, which included 600 students and 10 minors, with 751 of those apprehended for using e-cigarettes.

In 2023, the task force encountered 10,725 violators, among whom 1,513 were caught using vapes. Of these, 191 were students and 16 were minors. Garingalao pointed out that the increase in vaping, particularly among the youth, could be attributed to misleading advertising by the e-cigarette industry, which often markets vapes as a healthier alternative to traditional smoking. “Last year, many institutions were caught off guard because their policies did not explicitly prohibit vaping. As a result, apprehended students could argue that they weren’t breaking any rules,” he stated.

Garingalao also highlighted the challenges in implementing anti-smoking initiatives due to their broad societal impacts, which include economic, sociographic, and psychological factors, thus necessitating a multi-sectoral approach. The task force, in collaboration with the City Health Office and the Department of Health, is intensifying community education efforts through lectures and sharing best practices to combat this trend.

The task force stresses the importance of early intervention, noting that heavy smoking often begins with what seems like harmless experimentation among youths.