Malaysian industry lobbying against tobacco ban bill

The bill banning the sale of tobacco and vaping products to anyone born after 1 in Malaysia from 2025^er January 2007 is contested by industrialists, who invoke the arguments of respect for human rights and risk reduction.

Like New Zealand, Malaysia also aims to achieve a tobacco-free generation (tobacco prevalence of less than 51% of smokers) and could become the second country in the world to pursue this initiative. The Smoking and Tobacco Products Control Bill has been under renewed debate in Parliament since July 25.

Tobacco exit planned for 2025

This bill provides in particular for the end of the sale of tobacco and vaping products to people born from 2007 onwards in 2025.[1]. Beyond the sale, the purchase, consumption, and possession of tobacco products or equipment enabling their consumption may be subject to fines. The bill also regulates the sale of vaping products, which was not previously regulated, by aligning it with that of tobacco products, which restricts any possibility of advertising, promotion, marketing, and sponsorship. The online sale of tobacco and vaping products would become prohibited.

Following consultation with health professionals, the ban on tobacco sales to people born from 2007, initially planned for 2023, will not apply until 2025.[2]43 health associations have approved this bill, which is widely supported by a large majority of the population. However, a two-thirds majority of parliamentarians is required to validate this law.

Opposition from industrialists

The tobacco and vaping industries opposed this bill. The former brandished the threat of an explosion in the illicit cigarette trade, while overestimating the weight of contraband in the domestic market. In a letter to the Minister of Health, local managers from British American Tobacco (BAT), Japan Tobacco International (JTI), and Philip Morris International (PMI) described the penalties that would be applied to minor smokers as a form of criminalization and stigmatization of smokers. Citing the Consumer Protection Act of 1999 and consumers' freedom of choice regardless of the repercussions, they denounced a violation of human rights, while ignoring the issue of a lifelong choice made by a minor.

Vape industry professionals, for their part, invoke the principle of harm reduction to defend free access to e-cigarettes. The regulation of this market and the ban on advertising, marketing, promotion, and sponsorship appear to them as threats to the industrial and commercial fabric of small producers and retailers, in a sector that already employs 15,000 people. While this sector was consulted in the drafting of the final bill, BAT Malaysia—a major player in the vaping market—publicly regretted that "other manufacturers" were not involved.

A particularly vaping country

With 4.91 billion vapers among its population, Malaysia is the leading country in Southeast Asia in terms of e-cigarette consumption. An estimated 600,000 young Malaysians aged 11 to 18, most of them non-smokers, are e-cigarette users.[3]. To the argument that e-cigarettes help smokers quit smoking, Dr. Azrul Mohd Khalib, director of the Galen Centre for Health and Social Policy think tank, counters that the number of vapers contacting the smoking cessation hotline is constantly increasing. While strongly supporting the bill, he called for its adoption to be delayed by three months in order to eliminate any loopholes it may contain, including the controversial issue of penalizing users.[4].

This last theme, which differentiates the Malaysian project from that of New Zealand, is denounced by both supporters and opponents of the bill, but is also the subject of misinformation, for example on the amount of fines or the application of prison sentences to users. As in other countries, the subject of harm reduction is a source of debate within the medical world[5].

This bill should provide an opportunity for Malaysian leaders to distance themselves from the tobacco industry. According to the Global Tobacco Industry Interference Index 2021, which measures tobacco industry interference in public health policies, Malaysia has moved from 23^th rank in 2020 at 66^th rank in 2021, particularly for the endorsement given by its leaders to the social and environmental responsibility (CSR) operations deployed by tobacco manufacturers in this country[6].

Keywords: Malaysia, 2025, quitting smoking, vaping, tobacco-free generation, endgame ©Generation Without Tobacco

MF

---

[1] Malaysia considers banning tobacco for future generations, Generation Without Tobacco, published on January 17, 2022, consulted on 1^er August 2022. [2] Bedi R, Malaysia's smoking ban proposal aims to reduce cancer risk, but the Bill divides opinion, Channel News Asia, published August 1, 2022, accessed August 1, 2022. [3] Azrul MK, Let Malaysia be on the right side of history in tobacco ban, Malaysia Now, published July 16, 2022, accessed August 1, 2022. [4] Should The Tobacco And Smoking Bill Pass Now Or Be Deferred To October?, Galen Centre for Health and Social Policy, published August 1, 2022, accessed August 1, 2022. [5] Doctors' groups clash over GEG bill, Free Malaysia Today, published August 1, 2022, accessed August 1, 2022. [6] Mary Assunta. Global Tobacco Industry Interference Index 2021. Global Center for Good Governance in Tobacco Control (GGTC). Bangkok, Thailand, Nov 2021. National Committee Against Smoking |