Bill seeks to regulate rugby, toluene-based products

MANILA, Philippines — Citing the widespread use of the substance on street children, two lawmakers have filed a bill seeking to regulate rugby and other toluene-based products. House Bill 4955 seeks to make sure rugby and other toluene-based products, are not used beyond household lubricants, adhesives, solvents and spray paints. "Children who are addicted to rugby could be seen roaming around in many parts of Metro Manila while sniffing the deadly chemical," Cibac Party-list Rep. Emmanuel Joel Villanueva said in an article on the House of Representatives website (www.congress.gov.ph). Villanueva and fellow Cibac Party-list Rep. Cinchona Cruz-Gonzales filed the bill seeking to protect in particular the welfare of children and adolescents who are reportedly the common abusers of products that contain the chemical toluene. Villanueva said it is easy for anyone even children to buy a bottle of rugby from hardware stores because it is not regulated. But the lawmakers said rugby, which is contact cement, is a very popular addictive chemical being used by youth in many parts of the country. They said drug abusers who are unable to afford the higher-class drugs such as marijuana, cocaine and shabu have tended to substitute their vices for the more affordable toluene-based products. Villanueva described toluene as an aromatic and addictive chemical that has been known to induce a sensation of being "high," as well as being able to temporarily abate feelings of hunger. "Toluene has harmful side-effects. It causes rapid damage to brain cell, induces headaches, shaking, loss of senses, and clinical depression," he said. He cited the findings of the US National Toxicology Program that toluene could cause cancerous tumors in the liver and ovaries. Cruz-Gonzales, on the other hand, is concerned with the availability of the toluene-based products from local stores causing it to become a popular and mainstream drug widely abused by those in poorer communities. The bill prohibits the sale of toluene-based products by any person, natural or judicial, without first obtaining the proper license of such products from the city or municipal government exercising jurisdiction over the area where the products are to be sold. It further prohibits licensed sellers of toluene-based products to sell or turnover possession of such products to minors or to any person of age who fails or refuses to show any valid identification card or document and proof that he/she is above 18 years of age. Individual retailers, hawkers, street peddlers, local convenience or "sari-sari" stores and retail, small or micro-hardware store are prohibited form selling toluene-based products. The measure requires all licensed sellers or distributors of toluene-based products to keep a registry book of all transactions involving the said products and to make it immediately accessible for inspection upon request during reasonable hours by any authorized personnel or deputized agent of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, the Department of Trade and Industry or the local government which issued the license to sell the toluene-based products. First-time violators shall be fined P50,000 plus five times the value of the toluene-based product illegally sold or not registered. Subsequent violations shall make the violator liable for a fine of P200,000 plus ten times the value of the toluene-based products illegally sold or unregistered, and imprisonment for up to three years as well as the closure of the business establishment or entity which illegally sold or did not register the sale of the toluene-based products. - GMANews.TV