KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Society for Harm Reduction (MSHR) urged the government to establish regulations for vape products to assist in reducing the prevalence of smoking in Malaysia.
It was reported last week that the Poisons Board are meeting to discuss the potential exemption of vape liquids or gel containing nicotine from the Poisons Act 1952, a step needed to enable regulations to be introduced onto vape products.
The health minister has also stated that the ministry is expediting the tobacco bill to be tabled in the Parliament soon.
MSHR chairman Professor Dr Sharifa Ezat Wan Puteh said this is signalling that the Ministry of Health (MoH) is taking steps
to regulate vape products which is a step in the right direction.
"The current situation where vape products are unregulated cannot be left unattended and needs to be addressed immediately.
"While waiting for the tobacco bill to be tabled in Parliament, MSHR believes immediate amendments to current regulations need to take place to enable controls to be imposed onto vape products.
"MSHR urge all parties to support this move so that the government can take steps to regulate vape products immediately to protect consumers from prohibited ingredients, prevent potential contaminations from open system products and prohibit products from falling into minors' hands," said Dr Sharifa, who is also a community health physician and health economics specialist from the faculty of medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM).
At the same time, MSHR is also urging the government to develop regulations that will take into consideration the harm reduction potential of vape products.
"Multiple independent data from local and international research show that vape has been proven to be less harmful compared to smoking and is effective in assisting smokers to quit smoking.
"These independent researches have also been acknowledged by the United Kingdom (UK) and New Zealand governments are spearheading the tobacco harm reduction agenda.
"Therefore, in developing the regulations for vape products, the health ministry needs to consider the harm reduction potential for vape products and introduce appropriate regulations to regulate the products instead of categorising them in the same way as cigarettes," Dr Sharifa.
At the same time, MSHR also urges the government to hold more discussions and conduct in-depth studies on the Generational End Game (GEG) proposal.
"MSHR believes that GEG will send a wrong message to smokers given the fact that it treats vape products in the same way as cigarettes and tobacco.
"This will deter smokers from switching to vape.
"In light of this, MSHR suggests that the government should establish an independent committee driven by science and evidence to conduct in-depth research and studies on vape products before deciding to impose GEG for the product," Dr Sharifa said.