Read articles from Malaysia

The Kuala Lumpur High Court has rejected the bid by anti-tobacco and child rights interest groups to stay the declassification of liquid nicotine as a scheduled poison. The Malaysian Council for Tobacco Control, the Malaysian Green Lung Association, and Voice of the Children had sought a judicial review to quash the removal of liquid and gel nicotine from control under the Poisons Act 1952, gazetted by the health minister in an exemption order on March 31. According to CodeBlue, Justice Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh said the applicants needed to demonstrate special circumstances to justify the stay of the exemption order.

The Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) today urged the government to ban vape and e-cigarettes amid continued debate over a move that aims to end the habit among future generations of Malaysians. CAP president Mohideen Abdul Kader said there are now two million vape smokers in the country. “According to the latest National Health and Morbidity Survey 2022, Malaysian teens aged 13 to 17 using e-cigarettes and vape rose from 9.8 per cent in 2017 to 14.9 per cent in 2022,” he said in a press conference at the CAP office here.

In a letter written to this newspaper, Sunway University disclosed that it had analysed 10 vape liquid brands and found that 70 per cent of them contained higher amounts of propylene glycol than what their labels stated.

What's worse, 80 per cent of the tested samples had traces of ammonia, a chemical present in products such as fertilisers, hair dyes and plastics. One clear indication that our regulators are not doing their job.

Medical professionals say prolonged exposure to such harmful chemicals will cause lung-related diseases, such as popcorn lungs and cancer, and even death.

There has been no record of vaping-related deaths in Malaysia, but (...)

In June, the government sent the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Bill 2023 back to the Parliamentary Special Select Committee for further review. Among others, the committee will look into ways to regulate not just conventional cigarettes, but also tobacco alternatives like vapes. This is a move in the right direction, considering vaping has become increasingly popular in Malaysia. The Madani government can learn from other countries on how to regulate vaping.

Advertising and sale of vape liquids, supposedly with cannabidiol (CBD), proliferate in Malaysian groups on Facebook and Telegram, even though cannabis derivatives are illegal under the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952. The widespread online distribution of e-liquids with so-called “CBD” – a marijuana compound that does not cause a high – complicates efforts by police authorities to crack down on adulterated e-cigarettes, especially after the federal health regulator, the Ministry of Health (MOH), removed liquid nicotine from control under the Poisons Act 1952.

[...] on a global scale, the World Health Organisation (WHO) projects that a billion people will continue to smoke by 2025.  In light of these worrying numbers, governments around the world have been taking various measures to tackle this persisting issue. From smoking cessation programmes to awareness campaigns, these efforts are carried out to help smokers kick the habit once and for all.

With all these ongoing developments, the concept of tobacco harm reduction is becoming an option for countries looking to reduce the prevalence of smoking

Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa has put the onus on parents to protect their children from e-cigarettes and vape, after the government declassified liquid nicotine for taxation purposes.

Dr Zaliha also admitted the existence of a “lacuna” in the law following the removal of liquid and gel nicotine from control under the Poisons Act 1952 – which she herself had gazetted last March 31 – that legalises the sale of vape and e-cigarettes with nicotine to minors aged below 18. “MOH also calls on parents to be more vigilant to ensure the safety of their children and to not expose their children to risky activities, such as smoking and using e-cigarettes or vape. [...]

Opposition Members of Parliament (MPs) in Malaysia are amplifying calls for the reintroduction of liquid nicotine into the Poisons Act 1952.

Kuala Langat MP Ahmad Yunus Hairi, who heads Perikatan Nasional’s health portfolio, said the absence of regulations on vape has led to a proliferation in the number of teens using e-cigarettes or vaping products.

“By excluding liquid nicotine from the Poisons Act, we have inadvertently created loopholes that undermine our efforts to combat the use of vaping among our youth.

Vaping is still considered “haram” or forbidden for Muslims, religious affairs minister Na’im Mokhtar told the Dewan Rakyat.

The use of electronic cigarettes and vaping was detrimental to one’s health, he said. He said the four prominent schools of Islamic jurisprudence stated that Muslims were forbidden from consuming ingredients that were harmful to their health.

“Thus, based on a fatwa (religious edict) issued by the National Fatwa Council in 2015, the use of electronic cigarettes and vape is haram. Muslims are forbidden from using it.”

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.