KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 4 – The government is planning to table a revised version of the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Bill 2023 in the Dewan Rakyat next Monday.
This followed a proposal from the Health parliamentary special select committee (PSSC), chaired by Kuala Selangor MP Dzulkefly Ahmad, that had been working on the tobacco and vape control bill, after the bill was referred to the PSSC following first reading in the House last June.
“We are planning to table it as early as Monday, and debate will be that week itself,” a high-level source told CodeBlue.
The source said the revisions to the tobacco bill – which will be presented to a Cabinet meeting today – included increased fines for suppliers under the generational end game (GEG) ban on tobacco and vape, lower fines for buyers or consumers in the GEG group, and a two-year “educational enforcement” on the GEG first after the Act comes into effect.
The version of the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Bill tabled for first reading last June proposed a maximum RM500 fine or community service for anyone born from 2007 caught smoking or vaping, using, or purchasing tobacco or vape products.
The source explained that the revised bill lowers that fine quantum for GEG offenders to below RM500, while retaining the community service alternative. “There will be no criminal record, but summons instead.”
According to the source, the revised Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Bill retains the GEG ban on e-cigarettes and vape products.
Should Cabinet approve the revised bill today and allow Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa to table it in Parliament next Monday, this would mean an unorthodox legislative process for the tobacco bill.
This is because the full chambers of the House did not debate or pass the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Bill at second reading, since the bill was immediately referred to the Health PSSC after first reading when it was tabled in the Dewan Rakyat.
If the House were to debate a revised bill – based on earlier discussions in the Health PSSC, whose report has not even been tabled in Parliament yet – this would appear to bypass debate and a vote at the policy stage and instead, jump straight to committee.
But in this case, the committee stage appears to have already been completed – i.e. in the Health PSSC whose proceedings were secret (like all special select committees) and not broadcast to the public – rather than debate in the Committee of the whole House.
Health PSSC chair Dzulkefly tweeted last month that the PSSC had worked on the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Bill together with experts from 11 universities, the National Poison Centre, and the National Cancer Society of Malaysia, as well as the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Attorney-General’s Chambers to revise the bill with a “non-punitive and protective-preventive” paradigm for the GEG.
Urgency for the tobacco bill grew after Dr Zaliha exercised her ministerial powers – vetoing the Poisons Board – to remove liquid and gel nicotine used in e-cigarettes and vaporisers from the list of scheduled poisons under the Poisons Act 1952 last March 31.
Her actions led to a lawsuit by anti-tobacco groups against the declassification, as they pointed out that nicotine vape products can now be legally sold to minors aged below 18, amid the complete absence of regulations on vape and e-cigarettes. Current tobacco control regulations under the Food Act 1983 exclude e-cigarettes and vape.
Two medical groups have called for passage of the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Bill in the upcoming parliamentary meeting starting Monday.
The Commonwealth Medical Association (CMA) urged Cabinet members to support the tobacco bill in their meeting today so that it can be tabled in Parliament next week.
“If this bill is not passed, then we cannot regulate the vape industry. If the bill is not passed, then any of our children will be able to use vape without restrictions, and without knowing its contents and the strength of the vape juice,” CMA president Dr Muruga Raj Rajathurai, who is also former president of the Malaysian Medical Association, said in a statement last night.
“It can cause Evali, a lung injury due to electric cigarettes and vaping. There are already reported cases of Evali.”
I-Medik vice president Dr Rafidah Hanim Mokhtar similarly urged the government to table the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Bill in the upcoming parliamentary meeting, highlighting drug-laced vape liquids and the design of e-cigarettes resembling milk cartons and stationery that attract children and youths.
“It has been more than six months that our children have been exposed to e-cigarettes and vape. These smoking products are everywhere, not just in vape boutiques but also as sponsors in sports events, advertised in sports T-shirts and even in sampul raya!” she said in a statement.
