Duterte to cops: Arrest vape smokers in public

President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered law enforcers to arrest vape smokers in public, as he announced a ban on its use and importation.

“I will ban it, the use and importation.  . . .because it is toxic . . .it is not good and contrary to public safety,” he said in a televised news conference late Tuesday.

“I am now ordering law enforcement agencies to arrest anybody vaping in public. . . . If you’re smoking now, you will be arrested,” Duterte added.

“You cannot do it inside the room . . . you contaminate people na hindi pa panahon mamatay,” he also said.

Duterte said vapes contain chemicals with unknown effects to the body and has not yet passed the Food and Drug Administration.

Earlier, the Department of Health said a 16-year-old female from the Visayas who started smoking last March had been afflicted with lung injury.

According to Health Secretary Francisco Duque, the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine was coordinating with the hospital to gather more specimen from the teenager such as blood, phlegm, or stool for further examination.

The results may be finished in two weeks, DOH said. —LDF, GMA News