Don’t delay regulation any longer, say experts

PETALING JAYA: Puffing up is becoming a way of life even for schoolchildren, thanks to easy access to vape products with nicotine and ecigarettes, as well as a loophole allowing the legal sale of these products to minors, say various groups.

They said the situation has led to the emergence of a new generation of young nicotine addicts as the government sits on the crucial Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Bill 2023.

Without the Bill, there is nothing preventing ecigarettes and vape with nicotine being sold to minors after liquid nicotine was deregulated as a scheduled poison from the Poisons Act 1952 on March 31.

Malaysian Council for Tobacco Control (MCTC) secretary-general Muhammad Sha’ani Abdullah said the use of vape among young adults and teens has been exploding due to targeted marketing to younger cohorts by the industry.

This includes the use of attractive and manipulative designs as well as the use of food flavours and scented additives to make the products more appealing, he said.“As the current Control of Tobacco Products Regulation 2004 does not provide powers to act against vape products, there is a very urgent need to pass the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Bill 2023.

“The repercussions of delaying the Bill is the creation of a new generation of nicotine addicts that would waste more public resources to reverse,” said Muhammad Sha’ani.

He added that the Generational Endgame (GEG) provision in the Bill, which seeks to ban tobacco and vape products for anyone born from Jan 1, 2007, onwards is essential as measures implemented have not achieved the expected reduction in smoking.

According to the National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS) 2019, the smoking rate stood at 21.3% in 2019, short of the 18.5% target for that year, while the target for 2025 is 15% and 2040 is 5%.

“The GEG is essential to make the difference in the implementation of tobacco control measures as a party to the World Health Organisation (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) to achieve Malaysia’s commitment to tobacco endgame in 2040,” he said.

Malaysia Society for Harm Reduction president Dr Sharifa Ezat Wan Puteh said the current absence of regulations for vape products is painting Malaysia in a bad light as if it is being promoted to everyone.

Vape and ecigarettes were supposed to be used as harm reduction tools and smoking cessation aid instead of recreational use, she said.

“Vape and ecigarettes are not completely safe, hence they must be used with safety precautions and not by nicotine-naive lungs,” she added.

Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca) chief executive officer Dr Saravanan Thambirajah said vape addiction among the young is a serious issue.

“The most important thing is that we need regulations to control this.

“If the Bill is delayed again, it will not be a good thing and there will be future health impacts not only on them but also the healthcare system,” he said.

Federation of Private Medical Practitioners’ Associations Malaysia president Dr Shanmuganathan TV Ganeson cited the Health Ministry’s survey of 1.3 million secondary school students through the Oral Health Tobacco-Free (Kotak) programme last year which found that, worryingly, 43,019 of them were smokers.

“The Bill is long overdue and one wonders if there is a deliberate delay to please the vape industry. This should be open to scrutiny,” he said.