I REFER to "Royal decree to ban vaping?" (My View, Dec 11). I would like to thank Tan Sri Dr Dzulkifli Abdul Razak for his strong conviction about all the bad things about smoking and I agree with him on the irony of tobacco being a legal commodity despite the well-established negative health impact of its use. As part of a healthy debate, I would like to put into perspective his view that there was no clear decision on the part of Health Ministry.
In October, the health minister expressed publicly our intention to ban e-cigarettes and by extension, vaping. This was in line with the view of the Expert Committee that also recommended the same. This issue was then raised at a Cabinet meeting in which the minister again expressed our intention and justification. However, the ministers and elected members of the cabinet raised non-health issues related to vaping and the decision made by Cabinet on Oct 30 was not to ban e-cigarettes or vaping but regulate it. Since the health minister was part of the collective decision of the cabinet and the ministry is part of the central government, the decision necessitates the ministry to comply with the directive.
Pursuant to the Cabinet decision, I gave a press conference on Nov 4 explaining that the ministry was still in favour of a ban but in compliance with the Cabinet decision, will start regulating vaping through the Poisons Act 1952 and Food Act 1983. I also announced that enforcement will be carried out soon on the sale of vape solutions containing nicotine as it is regulated under the Poisons Act. I have made it clear that those solutions labelled as containing nicotine will be confiscated while for others, samples will be collected for testing. Subsequently, raids were carried out, and as usual, everybody claimed ignorance about the warning.
As a professional public health physician and as deputy director-general in charge of public health, I have even expressed my strong view on many occasions, and during the PC on Nov 4, I reiterated our stand. I have clearly stated in that PC, given the choice, I would love to see cigarettes banned too (aired by Astro Awani) but I don't think we have the political will on both sides of the political divide to ban it. So, in terms of leadership and direction in this issue, the ministry has always been consistent.
Meantime, we will step up our health promotion and awareness activities to educate the public on the harm of e-cigarettes and vaping. We hope that through an intense education campaign, we can convince the public to reject vaping in its entirety and even call for its ban by the authorities at whatever level of governance, be it federal, state or local government. And decisions taken by the individual, an institution, a community or a royal decree that promotes a healthy lifestyle, in this case anti-vaping, can always count on our support.
At the end of the day, it is my conviction that the people are the government and the government is the people. We have to accept the fact that in public policy making, politics matters. It is our sincere hope that with increasing awareness, the public will push for a health friendly policy. In this regards, we acknowledge the states of Johor and Kelantan for having the political will to make the right decision for the sake of health.
Datuk Dr Lokman Hakim Sulaiman
Deputy director-general of health (Public Health)
In October, the health minister expressed publicly our intention to ban e-cigarettes and by extension, vaping. This was in line with the view of the Expert Committee that also recommended the same. This issue was then raised at a Cabinet meeting in which the minister again expressed our intention and justification. However, the ministers and elected members of the cabinet raised non-health issues related to vaping and the decision made by Cabinet on Oct 30 was not to ban e-cigarettes or vaping but regulate it. Since the health minister was part of the collective decision of the cabinet and the ministry is part of the central government, the decision necessitates the ministry to comply with the directive.
Pursuant to the Cabinet decision, I gave a press conference on Nov 4 explaining that the ministry was still in favour of a ban but in compliance with the Cabinet decision, will start regulating vaping through the Poisons Act 1952 and Food Act 1983. I also announced that enforcement will be carried out soon on the sale of vape solutions containing nicotine as it is regulated under the Poisons Act. I have made it clear that those solutions labelled as containing nicotine will be confiscated while for others, samples will be collected for testing. Subsequently, raids were carried out, and as usual, everybody claimed ignorance about the warning.
As a professional public health physician and as deputy director-general in charge of public health, I have even expressed my strong view on many occasions, and during the PC on Nov 4, I reiterated our stand. I have clearly stated in that PC, given the choice, I would love to see cigarettes banned too (aired by Astro Awani) but I don't think we have the political will on both sides of the political divide to ban it. So, in terms of leadership and direction in this issue, the ministry has always been consistent.
Meantime, we will step up our health promotion and awareness activities to educate the public on the harm of e-cigarettes and vaping. We hope that through an intense education campaign, we can convince the public to reject vaping in its entirety and even call for its ban by the authorities at whatever level of governance, be it federal, state or local government. And decisions taken by the individual, an institution, a community or a royal decree that promotes a healthy lifestyle, in this case anti-vaping, can always count on our support.
At the end of the day, it is my conviction that the people are the government and the government is the people. We have to accept the fact that in public policy making, politics matters. It is our sincere hope that with increasing awareness, the public will push for a health friendly policy. In this regards, we acknowledge the states of Johor and Kelantan for having the political will to make the right decision for the sake of health.
Datuk Dr Lokman Hakim Sulaiman
Deputy director-general of health (Public Health)