There’s plenty of evidence to show that vaccination helps. On the whole they’ve been very safe. There’s always going to be some side effect in any drug you take, but to go around saying vaccines are a plot to kill you, I’m sorry, that goes in the fruitcake jar for me. – Queen guitarist Brian May.

The Philippines and New Zealand are worlds apart in terms of governance among their respective leaders and quality of life for their citizens.

But Manila and Wellington are converging on a common, precious, vital ground – public health, safety, and security.

Specifically, the two capitals are set to become the first to officially recognize tobacco harm reduction in their public health strategies as their respective legislators prepare to churn out laws that encourage tobacco consumers to switch to smoke-free products.

Developments in the two countries project a powerful message to the global health community and sovereign tobacco regulators, according to public health advocates and policy strategists,

“There are governments that are doing that. The Philippine government has a Congress bill which says that harm reduction is at the core of everything. And that piece of Congress legislation would be everything. New Zealand has equally done the same legislation recently [distinguishing] between combustion and non-combustion. And I think that’s the way to look at the FCTC (Framework Convention on Tobacco Control),” Robyn Gougelet said in a panel discussion on “Safer Nicotine Product Regulation: Supporting or Undermining the End of Smoking” during the Global Forum on Nicotine held virtually from Liverpool June 17 to 18,

The decision by the House of Representatives to pass a bill regulating electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco products is in step with the FCTC adopted by WHO member states, according to Gougelet, who works at Pinney Associates and advises on public health legislative and regulatory policy strategy for THR efforts in the United States.

In May, the lower chamber approved House Bill 9007 – the proposed “Non-Combustible Nicotine Delivery Systems Regulation Act” — which aims to regulate the manufacture, sale, and use of less harmful alternatives to cigarettes such as vapes and HTPs.

The bill — co-authored by 154 representatives — seeks to reflect a public health strategy based on the THR principle. It also aims to fill gaps in the regulation of vapes and HTPs which have been gaining popularity among Filipino consumers.

The discussion, which focused on the appropriate form of regulation for these less harmful nicotine products, including snus, and what regulators were trying to do, was hosted by Clive Bates, a former civil servant who worked for the UK and the United Nations, and Rebecca Taylor, a former member of the European Union who led the call for sensible regulation of e-cigs in the EU Tobacco Product Directive.

Bates, director of The Counterfactual, a consulting and advocacy practice focused on a pragmatic approach to sustainability and public health, said the developments in the Philippines and New Zealand convey an important message to the WHO-FCTC members.

“I think there’s a really important message for people listening worldwide here—the people who are in charge of the FCTC and how it’s implemented and how it’s developed. What recommendations come with it are from the member states. And if you want to be influential, then you need to talk to the people in your home country capital, not try necessarily to budge people in Geneva because they’re pretty unreceptive. But one or two countries that change their approach at home could make a big difference in the FCTC corporate negotiation,” said Bates.

Gougelet said the FCTC is an instrument that could be used to generalize good policy and put authority behind good policy, without necessarily changing or amending the treaty, noting that this is how New Zealand, the Philippines, and other countries are starting to put harm reduction in the discussion.

“FCTC is a legal piece of paper negotiated by 193 governments under the auspices of the WHO as the host. It is not the WHO’s document. It is the document of the parties, which are the national governments that are party to that treaty. The WHO has no decision-making ability from that document at all. That is entirely the domain of national governments,” she stressed.

Gougelet said: “All the little bits are in there, like harm reduction. It did predict the future. It said if there are scientific developments in the future, these are what governments should look to. And this is why I think its whole premise is built on the fact that it’s the protection from exposure to tobacco smoke. It is written so many times through the treaty. It is in the objective. It’s in the opening section. It says smoke is carcinogenic, mutagenic, all those things. So. it’s a matter of understanding that governments have a legal obligation to do what is in that treaty and using those hooks rather than tossing it out and saying, ‘let’s start again’,” she said.

Meanwhile, Bates noted that the critical distinction should be between combustible and non-combustible products, rather than between tobacco and non-tobacco.

“That is the breakthrough in thinking required. The thing that needs to be problematized is combustion, not necessarily tobacco itself. There needs to be a much more liberal agenda around the non-combustible products in terms of the regulatory environment, fiscal environment, and information environment,” he said.

Phising amid pandemic

A virus has been doing the rounds far longer than Covid-19, and it is thriving even under pandemic conditions – fraud, digitalized.

Of Philippine respondents polled by an information and insights company, 57 percent said they expect their online transactions to increase over the next three months, but electronic fraudsters are keeping pace.

TransUnion’s most recent global fraud study noted digital fraud attempts rising 19 percent during the first four months of 2021 from the last four months of 2020.

Phishing (40 percent of those targeted) and third-party seller scams on legitimate retail websites (29 percent) remain the most common Covid-19-related digital fraud schemes encountered by consumers, with shipping fraud (24 percent) coming in close at third.

Phishing is defined as “ a cybercrime where targets are contacted through s representative of a legitimate institution and lures individuals into providing personally identifiable information, banking, and credit card details, passwords, and other sensitive data”.

“We’ve seen in the both the digital fraud attempts monitored by TransUnion’s fraud analytics solutions and the responses of consumers on ground that fraud remains a persistent global problem. As we continuously work to regain our economic progress, it is crucial that businesses, consumers, and the government approach recovery holistically. This entails creating programs and actions in response to insights similar to those we’ve shared, while at the same time maximizing the available digital solutions that can help fast-track results and accelerate growth in areas that it is needed most,” according to Pia Arellano, TransUnion Philippines president and chief executive officer.

TransUnion’s global Consumer Pulse study highlights the ongoing financial impact of Covid-19. The most recent poll conducted online between June 1 and June 16 covered 1,100 consumers in the country.

Meanwhile, the Bankers Association of the Philippines has urged the public to heed financial institutions’ advice regarding best practices on how to protect themselves against cybercriminals.

The BAP cited the rising online fraud like phishing and other cybercrimes, especially since the pandemic hit in 2020.

“We ask the public to remain vigilant against these schemes. Today, cybercriminals are creating more methods to defraud the public. We would like to remind the customers that banks regularly communicate the best practices that the public can utilize to ensure their cyber safety. We call on everyone to be aware of these reminders and apply them so that cybercriminals will fail in their attacks,” it said.

Behold God’s glory and seek His mercy.

Pause, ponder, act, and pray, people.

AUTHOR PROFILE

Dennis F. Fetalino