KUALA LUMPUR, 7th November 2023 – The Consumer Choice Center (CCC) is supporting the government’s action to remove the generational endgame from the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Bill 2023 because it is against the principle of equality before the law.
Representative of the Malaysian Consumer Choice Center, Tarmizi Anuwar said: “The government’s decision to remove the generational endgame provisions needs to be supported because this coincides with the spirit of the Federal Constitution.”
“The CCC strongly disagreed with the proposed ban because it violated the fundamental rights of Malaysians that everyone is equal under the law and entitled to equal protection under the law as stated in Article 8 of the Federal Constitution. The law must be fair for all generations and every group of society. The law cannot give only one advantage to one generation and deprive it from another.”
However, Tarmizi emphasized that the government needs to immediately regulate vaping to ensure the safety of consumers and avoid misunderstandings or myths about this harm reduction product.
“The government needs to immediately introduce smart laws to regulate vaping to ensure the safety of users can be guaranteed and minors protected. The absence of this law exposes consumers to the risk of products that do not meet health regulations on the market.”
“This absence also causes the public to not get accurate information about vaping which is 95 percent safer than cigarettes and able to be the most important alternative to effectively reduce smokers in Malaysia.”
Public Health England estimates that vaping is 95 percent less harmful to the user’s health than regular cigarettes.
One of the latest research studies from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King’s College London vaping can lead to a significant reduction in exposure to toxins that promote cancer, lung disease and cardiovascular disease.
“This is the best time for the government to end the myth about vaping and recognize tobacco harm reduction as the main strategy to reduce smokers in Malaysia,” he concluded.
