LETTERS: The Health Ministry has announced that it will table the Tobacco and Smoking Control Bill in Parliament this week.
As announced by the minister, the implementation of this generational endgame legislation will prohibit any form of sales, purchase and possession of tobacco products and tobacco substitute products, including electronic cigarettes and vapes, for those born after Jan 1, 2005.
This is a commendable move, which must be supported because the problem of smoking will cause various complications and diseases, which in turn will lead to an increase in the cost of treatment.
Therefore, I call on all members of parliament to support the Health Ministry's efforts and approve the bill.
The prevention of non-communicable diseases (NCD) should be a priority in ensuring that the burden of treatment costs borne by the government can be reduced.
To this end, a strict control of all smoking products, including electronic cigarettes combined with the implementation of the generational endgame, will have a positive impact in reducing the percentage of NCD and in turn reduce the burden of treatment costs.
All forms of tobacco products are hazardous, and there is no safe level of exposure to tobacco. If the combination of smoking product control and the implementation of the generational endgame under this bill is rejected, then the government will incur high costs for the treatment of diseases due to smoking complications as well as diseases due to the use of electronic cigarettes.
In Malaysia, the cost of treating three major diseases related to smoking (lung cancer, heart attack and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) was RM2.92 billion in 2004, and it increased to RM6.21 billion in 2020 and is expected to rise to RM8.77 billion by 2030.
Compared with the tax revenue collected from tobacco of only RM2.97 billion in 2020, the government is at a loss.
In such cases, this bill will certainly have a huge impact on efforts to reduce NCD and ease the burden on the healthcare system.
Apart from that, the government will suffer double losses due to the emergence of a new disease known as EVALI (e-cigarette, or vaping, product use associated lung injury).
The estimated cost of treatment for EVALI, with an average ward admission of 12 days, stands at RM150,892.11. This double cost will certainly burden the government.
I once again call on all MPs to carry out their responsibilities. Evidence has shown that the Tobacco and Smoking Control Bill will do more good than bad.
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR DR NORASHIDAH MOHAMED NOR
Deputy dean,
School of Business and Economics,
Universiti Putra Malaysia
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times