Treat these products like cigarettes
THE Consumers’ Association of Penang is shocked and disappointed that the Malaysian Ministry of Health (MoH) allows the sale of heat-not-burn (HNB) tobacco product devices and has exempted them from pictorial health warnings.
The Control of Tobacco Product Regulations state that a “‘cigarette’ means any product which consists wholly or partly of cut, shredded or manufactured tobacco, or of any tobacco derivative or substitute, rolled up in a single or more wrapper of paper, and which is capable of being immediately used for smoking”. However, Article 11 (Packaging and labelling of tobacco products) of the World Health Organisation’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control applies to all tobacco products, not just cigarettes or tobacco wrapped in paper.
If the Malaysian regulations have such a narrow interpretation then they are highly vulnerable, as we have seen the emergence of shisha, e-cigarettes, and HNB tobacco product devices in recent years.
The MoH has explained that HNB devices do not come under the classification of a “cigarette” as defined by the current law. They may not fit the definition of a cigarette but the tobacco plug that is inserted into the device is certainly manufactured from tobacco.
If a HNB tobacco product device is not considered a tobacco product, then will it be spared from smoking prohibitions in public places and eateries? All the efforts to reduce or eliminate tobacco use will come to naught, and the whole nicotine addiction epidemic caused by cigarettes will replay itself.
There have been some studies carried out on HNB tobacco product devices and published in established journals such as the British Medical Journal, PubMed, and Tobacco Control. The low number of research conducted is due to the fact that HNB tobacco product devices first hit the market only after 2014. Surely the MoH knows that many smoking-related diseases manifest only after decades of exposure? How can four years of research by scientists not funded by the industry clear such devices for consumers?
We have made our stand very clear that all tobacco products must be banned from the market. If the MoH allows the sale of HNB tobacco product devices, future generations of Malaysians are doomed, as the nation will have to continue to battle the scourge of nicotine addiction and smoking-related diseases.
The nation’s coffers will suffer, too, as the health budget will be strained to treat such diseases. S.M. MOHAMED IDRIS President Consumers Association of Penang