The New Vois Association of the Philippines (NVAP) – a cancer survivor group that advocates healthy lifestyle urged President-elect Rodrigo Duterte to implement a nationwide smoking ban in public places once he occupies the presidential seat.
Emer Rojas, the NVAP president, said in a statement, “We are excited for him to replicate what he did in Davao in the rest of the country.”
The president-elect imposed a city-wide smoking ban in 2002, prohibiting smokers to smoke tobacco in public areas.
“A national smoking ban will save millions of Filipinos, especially children and the youth from the ill effects of secondhand smoke. It will also save on the costs of treating diseases,” the NVAP president explained.
Secondhand smoke poses a greater risk of life-threatening diseases such as lung cancer, nasal sinus cancer, heart disease, stroke, ear infection and breathing problems such as coughing, asthma, wheezing, bronchitis and pneumonia.
Babies who are exposed to secondhand smoke are also at greater risk of dying from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
Statistics show that approximately 55 percent of young Filipinos are exposed to secondhand smoke at home while 65 percent are exposed in public places. Smoking also causes approximately 10 deaths every hour in the Philippines.
“There is no safe exposure from tobacco smoke. With all the toxic chemicals associated with it, inhaling tobacco smoke is like breathing in poison coming from another person,” Rojas said.
Source: KAMI
Image: GMA News
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