PETALING JAYA: A health think tank has slammed the government for its failure to prioritise the health threat of vape and electronic cigarette products.
The Galen Centre for Health and Social Policy said prioritising the growth of the country’s vape industry, which is valued at RM3 billion, and looking to gain tax revenue from it would be “pointless” if it came at the cost of a surge in nicotine addiction among the people, especially youths.
“For every RM1 collected from the tax currently imposed on cigarettes and tobacco products, RM4 is spent on treating those suffering from chronic smoking and vape-related diseases, such as lung cancer, heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and at least several types of cancer,” Galen CEO Azrul Khalib said.
He said collecting RM4 billion in tax revenue from vape and nicotine products would mean that the government would have to spend RM16 billion to treat the health consequences of smoking.
“Responding to the public health threat of vape and e-cigarettes should be a main priority to the government (but) it does not look that way at the moment.”
Azrul said the Tobacco Product and Smoking Bill, commonly known as the Generational End Game (GEG) Bill, has served as a “convenient distraction” and provided a reason for industry players, businesses and politicians to oppose regulations.
The health ministry is expected to re-table the Bill for its first reading in the Dewan Rakyat next Monday. The revised law seeks to ban the use, purchase and sale of cigarettes and vape products to those born after 2007.
Azrul said the Bill was urgently needed to protect children from vaping and using electronic cigarettes, adding that a failure to pass the legislation could lead to long-term addiction, lung diseases and poor quality of life for the younger generation.
“The prevalence of vaping among 13- to 17-year-olds in Malaysia at 14.9% is already higher than those in the same age category in the United States.
“Vaping among young people is already higher than cigarette smoking (in Malaysia). How is this acceptable?” he said, adding that vape and e-cigarettes should be treated similar to that of tobacco products and cigarettes.
According to Azrul, Malaysia was once regarded as one of the leading countries in the region in the field of tobacco and smoking control, but in a short period of time, the country had “not only retreated but gone in the opposite direction”.
“It was a major mistake to exempt liquid and gel nicotine from the controlled substances schedule under the Poisons Act 1952, allowing vape and e-cigarettes containing nicotine to be freely sold without restrictions, safeguards and protections.
“Doing so without a legal framework or even minimal regulations already in place, resulted in the worsening of a threat to public health, that is, the uncontrolled vaping among children and teenagers,” he said.
Azrul urged Putrajaya to give serious consideration to resolving the matter, adding that it was the government’s duty to “secure a healthier and better future” for the people.