Several local studies and a recent public survey by CodeBlue and the Galen Centre for Health and Social Policy found significant prevalence of e-cigarette use among people who never smoked and in dual users of tobacco and vape.
Health experts say “it’s a matter of time” when researchers will be able to associate more diseases, including lung cancer, with e-cigarettes as was done with conventional cigarettes.
In a CodeBlue-Galen poll, 90% of cigarette smokers, 92% of vape users, and all teen respondents support the proposed ban on the sale of cigarettes, tobacco, and vape to those born after 2005.
The proposed ban on the sale of tobacco to anyone born after 2005 includes vape or e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products, besides cigarettes, cigars, and smokeless tobacco.
Galen Centre for Health and Social Policy CEO Azrul Mohd Khalib says a QR code can be generated on MySejahtera only for users born before 2005 to purchase tobacco products.
Malaysia has fallen behind targets with 21.3% smoking prevalence in 2019, nearly 3 percentage points higher than the 18.5% goal for that year in the National Strategic Plan for Tobacco Control.
Khairy Jamaluddin says the new Act will enable more comprehensive controls of new emerging smoking products that are increasingly taken up by young people.