The Health Ministry aims to table the control of smoking product for public health bill in June

MELAKA - The Health Ministry (MOH) hopes to table the Control of Smoking Product for Public Health Bill during the Parliament session in June.

Its Deputy Minister Lukanisman Awang Sauni said the Bill is to regulate all smoking products

"The bill is very important to protect the health of the younger generation and it includes the control of smoking products including electronic cigarettes or vape devices and the implementation of several provisions such as control over registration, advertising, promotion and sponsorship, packaging and sales of smoking products.

"The Health ministry will ensure the commitment to bring the Smoking Product Control Bill for Public Health 2023 for the first reading to be tabled in the upcoming Parliament session which will be held after the Kaamatan and Gawai holidays.

"The Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa also brought the white paper to the cabinet last week and I was informed that the cabinet has agreed for the Health Ministry to table the bill for its first reading," he said.

He said this to reporters after officiating the World Tobacco Day 2023 National Level Celebration Ceremony at Dewan Hang Tuah here

Lukanisman added that the implementation of the bill needs to be done because based on the National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS), electronic cigarette users among teenagers in this country recorded an increase of 14.9 percent

He said, based on the total statistics last year, a total of 242,849 users were teenage boys while 64,260 were teenage girls.

"The increase in the number of electronic cigarette users among teenagers is very worrying, therefore in order to overcome the issue and problem of the use of smoking products especially among children and teenagers, legal control needs to be strengthened through this bill," he reasoned.