If you really want it, you'll find a way.
This is what some Filipino smokers have been practicing after cigarette prices increased due to the new sin tax law. Since cigarettes have become more expensive by P.50 to P1 per stick, smokers have turned to an alternative: the e-cigarette.
The Bureau of Internal Revenue imposed higher excise taxes on tobacco and alcohol products, after President Benigno Aquino III signed into law Republic Act No. 1035 or the Sin Tax Reform Law last Dec. 20, a previous report said.
Designed as an alternative to cigarettes, the e-cigarette, an electronic inhaler, vaporizes a liquid solution that turns into aerosol mist, the News to Go report said.
However, the report said Department of Health was not in favor of e-cigarettes, as these may contain harmful ingredients or chemicals.
Pierre Mascardo, who tried e-cigarettes, experienced sore throat after seven months of using the product.
"'Yung isa kong pamangkin, siya 'yung unang nakaranas na nanakit 'yung lalamunan. So eventually, 'yung symptoms nararamdaman ko na rin, so tinigil ko na rin 'yung e-cigarette," Mascardo said.
Last February, tech site CNET reported an e-cigarette exploded in a man's mouth while he was smoking it.
Apart from its possible harmful effects, DOH said e-cigarettes are also dangerous because some flavors of the liquid solution are attractive to the youth, who may end up smoking cigarettes.
"Umaapila ito sa mga kabataan sapagkat may ginagamit silang flavor maliban sa nicotine. Mayroong mga parang candy 'yung flavor, vanilla, chocolate. So itong isang paraan na maaaring makaengganyo sa mga kabataan na dito mag-uumpisa tapos maninigarilyo pa kalaunan," DOH spokesperson Eric Tayag said.
Instead of resorting to e-cigarettes, DOH said smokers who wish to quit should consult a doctor, according to the report.
Meanwhile, the Bureau of Internal Revenue plans to go after cigarette vendors and companies by placing an electronic tracking and monitoring gadget on cigarette packs. The tracking system will automatically place a revenue stamp on each pack, the report said.
"So we can monitor and when we go to the market, if there's no stamp then we'll know it is not tax paid. Then we can confiscate the cigarettes," BIR commissioner Kim Henares said in the report.
BIR hopes to implement the system this year, the report said. —Carmela G. Lapeña/KG, GMA News
To attract young people, because they have outside of their taste for nicotine. Like a candy flavors, vanilla, chocolate. Therefore, it may be a makaengganyo youth smoking start, and then later, "said Department of Health spokesman Eric Tayag.
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