Enact GEG before excluding vape from Poisons Act - Umno Youth

 

Umno Youth has called on the government to reverse its decisions to exclude nicotine liquids - including those used for vapes - from the Poisons Act.

Its chief Dr Muhammad Akmal Saleh (above) said the government needs to pass the Tobacco Control Bill which will encompass the "Generational End Game" (GEG) to stop future generations from smoking, first.

In a statement today, he argued that if the government's reason to remove nicotine liquids from under the Poisons Act was so that excise duties could be imposed, this could be better implemented once the GEG is in place.

"This is so higher duties can be imposed on users not included in the GEG generation to reduce the number of vape users," Akmal said, adding that the Health Ministry should give this serious consideration.

He said he would also be submitting a letter of protest to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa on the matter.

Nicotine liquids were excluded from the Poisons Act on Friday, and excise duties imposed on vapes came into effect yesterday.

Akmal said this was not a wise move and could be seen as the government encouraging people to take up vaping.

This is because there are no clear guidelines regulating vaping now.

Without the Poisons Act's controls, experts have said that vape liquids can be legally sold to the public with no control to prohibit the sale to minors.

Zaliha had assured yesterday that the vape liquids and related products would be regulated under the Tobacco Control Bill, which will be tabled in the next Parliament session.

Health news portal CodeBlue reported yesterday that the Poison Board had unanimously opposed the proposal to declassify liquid nicotine as a controlled substance in the government’s bid to tax e-cigarettes and vaping.

The Poison Board - which acts as an independent body established under the Poisons Act - had reportedly held a meeting on March 29. This is the same day the amendment to excise duties was gazetted.

Quoting a source, CodeBlue reported that Health Ministry officials opposed exempting liquid nicotine from the control under the Poison Act.

However, the Finance Ministry allegedly requested the Health Ministry to exempt it to provide access to users and local manufacturers to produce the related products lawfully.

Zaliha had allegedly exercised her ministerial powers by gazetting the exemption despite the protests of the Poison Board and public criticism. - Mkini