Malaysia making renewed efforts to table tobacco bill

Malaysia’s Health Ministry is drafting a tobacco bill that would, among other things, increase the minimum age at which people could buy tobacco products from 18 to 21 and ban smoking in vehicles carrying young people, according to a story in The New Straits Times.

Currently, tobacco products are regulated under the Food Act 1983. The Control of Tobacco Products Regulations 2004, which is part of that Act, requires a smoke-free environment and regulates tobacco advertising, promotion, sponsorship, packaging and labelling.

A ministry official said that in an effort further to regulate tobacco use among Malaysians, especially young people, tougher measures would be proposed in the bill.

“The ministry has, in fact, been lobbying for a tobacco act since 2005, when Malaysia became a party to the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention for Tobacco Control on December 15, 2005,” the official was quoted as saying.

A draft of the tobacco act had been prepared since 2009, the official added, but it had not been tabled in parliament.

Now, the ministry had renewed its efforts to table the bill.

The official said smoking among young people was a growing concern with most people starting to smoke before the age of 21; so raising the minimum age to buy cigarettes could curb the habit considerably.

The National Health and Morbidity Survey conducted on Malaysians aged 18 and below revealed that the prevalence of smoking among male and female youths in 1996 was 16.6 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively, figures that had increased to 30.7 percent and 4.8 percent by 2006.