Prof Dzulkifli Abdul Razak says nicotine is highly addictive, on par with heroin and cocaine. More girls are vaping. Today, after the delisting of liquid nicotine, vaping is the new normal for children who were non-smokers.
Declassifying liquid nicotine now enables local manufacturers – who were previously restricted by the Poisons Act – to produce vape and e-cigarette liquids with nicotine and potentially take over market share from foreign companies.
MCTC, an umbrella anti-tobacco body of 41 organisations, says it had "little success" in getting the government, including Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa, to reconsider the "poorly thought out move" of delisting liquid nicotine for taxation purposes.
MMA says Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa told health groups that she had signed off on the delisting of liquid nicotine with a "heavy heart" for the vape tax. "We have heard the ministry's explanation and still do not find the reasons given acceptable."
Until each MP discloses their stand, talk about May tabling of the smoking product bill remains smoke and mirrors. Every day, the government is creating new generations of nicotine addicts. The real end game, it turns out, is public health – not the GEG.
KJ says he refused to heed MOF's instruction to exempt liquid nicotine from the Poisons Act for tax, pending tobacco bill's passage. Health NGOs told him then: "The health minister who does this is a minister who does not care at all about public health".
Pasir Mas MP Ahmad Fadhli Shaari urges the government to reconsider the exemption of liquid nicotine from the Poisons List pending passage of the tobacco & vape bill, saying he is sure that Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa also agrees with him on this.
The government must reverse the delisting of liquid nicotine to give itself time to draft a good tobacco & vape bill acceptable to most MPs, instead of trying to bulldoze through a badly drafted bill to close the gap in legislation created by the government itself.
Ex-Health deputy DG (public health) Prof Dr Lokman Hakim Sulaiman describes the delisting of liquid nicotine from the Poisons Act as the "most ridiculous public health policy decision I have ever seen" – "almost nearing stupidity in policymaking".
Dr Zaliha Mustafa says she expects to table a "new" bill on tobacco and vape control, which will include GEG, in the next Parliament meeting, expected in May. The health minister adds that e-liquids with nicotine are now regulated under the Excise Act.