A HEALTHCARE expert says Malaysia is lagging behind other countries in progressive tobacco control strategies.
Professor Dr Mohamad Hussain believes the proposed Generational Endgame (GEG) law would not be effective in helping smokers "kick the habit".
Tobacco harm reduction (THR) components should be considered instead.
"I stress that there should be no GEG if there's no harm reduction component in it, because a hard ban on all tobacco products will not work.
"I see countries like New Zealand adopting THR in their tobacco endgame strategy, but not Malaysia, which is clearly left behind in progressive tobacco control strategies," he said.
New Zealand classifies cigarettes and vapes differently, according to an official FAQ.
According to Dr Colin Mendelsohn, a smoking cessation specialist and the founding chairman of the Australian Tobacco Harm Reduction Association, New Zealand's approach is only viable because they have legalised safer alternatives like vaping, he said in an interview with Sky News Australia.
The legalisation of vaping in August 2020 has led to a 33 per cent drop in smoking rates in New Zealand.
In comparison, Malaysia's smoking rate only dropped by 4 per cent between 2010 and 2020.
Despite New Zealand's relative success, some policymakers and experts are still hesitant when it comes to THR, said Dr Mohamad Hussain, a University Malaya professor.
One possible explanation for this is that THR studies are often tied to funding from the tobacco industry.
"While these people insist on seeing local data, they reject any study with tobacco industry funding. With the tobacco industry at a transformative juncture, moving into harm reduced products, it's no surprise that most studies are funded by it.
"A progressive Malaysian government should consider public-private partnerships to collectively fund THR studies to guide policymaking," added Dr Mohamad Hussain.
Dr Mohamad Hussain has more than 20 years' experience managing patients diagnosed with substance-use disorders, like nicotine dependence syndrome.
He has seen his fair share of smokers who have tried in vain to quit lighting up.
"Smoking is prevalent among mental health and substance abuse patients. Most of them are aware of the detrimental health effects, but find it hard to kick the habit.
"Relapse is the most difficult to treat. 95 per cent of 'quit smoking clinics' fail to help smokers if their treatment objective is total abstinence.
"(On the other hand), THR gives smokers alternatives, so they will not be exposed to toxins produced by cigarettes," said Dr Mohamad Hussain.
He added that products like heated tobacco and e-cigarette are less dangerous than traditional cigarettes because they do not contain tar and polyaromatic carbon.
However, any tobacco use is not without risk, because nicotine in tobacco is highly addictive.
All in all, Dr Mohamad Hussain hopes that stakeholders will consider THR components in the country's GEG plan for a holistic approach to curbing smoking.