Towards a smoke-free generation

IT’S an ambitious plan, but if it succeeds, it would create an entire generation that does not smoke.

The Health Ministry has proposed a ban on the sale of cigarettes and all smoking-related products to those born after 2005.

The ministry plans to table this as part of a new Tobacco and Smoking Control Act at the upcoming Parliament meeting; if approved, the legalisation could come into effect as early as next year, and Malaysia would join countries like New Zealand in imposing a “generational ban” to create a “smoke-free generation”.

It would be a much healthier generation: In his World Cancer Day address on Feb 4, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin pointed out that tobacco consumption accounted for 22% of cancer deaths in Malaysia.

And according to respiratory physician Dr Helmy Haja Mydin, 50% of all smokers die from smoking-related diseases.

Of course, business and trade groups have expressed concern that the country will lose the lucrative tobacco tax that runs into the millions.

However, as Khairy pointed out during his speech, the estimated cost of treating lung cancer due to smoking is RM132.7mil a year for the country. Reducing the number of smokers will reduce such treatment costs, not to mention the cost of lost productivity.

One of the reasons there are so many smokers in Malaysia is the easy availability of cheap illegal cigarettes, ie, smuggled cigarettes on which no taxes are paid. So any new aspirational law must avoid the issues we have long had with enforcement in this country.Corruption is one of the main reasons it’s so easy to smuggle cigarettes into Malaysia and to sell them to minors, who often buy single sticks of cigarettes from small shops.

Not only should there be heftier penalties on smugglers but also on those who sell such illegal smokes, especially those who sell to minors – and these penalties must be enforced without fear or favour by corruption-free government agencies.

Perhaps the government could also look into overhauling educational programmes on the dangers of smoking to ensure they are saying the right things in the right way to the younger generation – simply trying to scare people about the dangers of smoking doesn’t seem to be enough.

If you need assistance to stop smoking, call the Health Ministry’s JomQuit hotline at 03-8883 4400. The National Cancer Society of Malaysia also runs a Quit Smoking Clinic and can be contacted at 03-2630 6670.