Tobacco generational endgame remains elusive

THE Malaysian Council for Tobacco Control (MCTC) welcomes the Prime Minister’s assurance of the government proceeding with the Control of Tobacco Products and Smoking Bill, especially in terms of the generational endgame (GEG), which aims to prevent future generations of Malaysians from being entrapped in the habit of using tobacco products and smoking.

MCTC also acknowledges the government’s move to impose excise duty on ecigarette and vaping products containing nicotine. As mentioned by the PM, although technically not legal, ecigarette and vaping products are widely available and should therefore be regulated.

However, the government must acknowledge that a large volume of the ecigarette and vaping products in the market do not contain nicotine; and the consumption of these products make up a large part of the purported RM2bil annual income reported by the industry.

While some quarters continue to position ecigarette and vaping products containing nicotine as part of smoking cessation strategies, it must be clearly understood that products not containing nicotine only have a role in terms of recreational use.

In line with public health principles and the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) Taxation and Price Measures, all ecigarette and vaping products should also be taxed. This will be an important strategy in making them unaffordable to children and adolescents who are prohibited from using them. The actual tariff may differ in accordance to presence or absence of nicotine as well as the nicotine content.

MCTC is also heartened by the PM’s statement that the government will channel half of the revenue collected from this new excise duty to the Health Ministry. On its part, the Health Ministry must use the money to further strengthen smoking cessation efforts by, among others, funding education programmes and widening availability of services such as therapeutics across the country. Efforts should be focused on getting high-risk individuals to cease their nicotine addiction.

These measures in Budget 2023 send strong positive signals to all Malaysians that the government is truly concerned about their health and welfare. However, the job of tobacco control remains incomplete because there is still no overarching framework to govern the conventional cigarette, ecigarette and vape landscape in terms of legislation. As such, MCTC exhorts the government to immediately hasten the passing of the Control of Tobacco Products and Smoking Bill.

MALAYSIAN COUNCIL FOR TOBACCO CONTROL

(MCTC is the umbrella civil society body for tobacco control in Malaysia and comprises 41 organisations.)