Malaysia: Council May Push for Tobacco Control Law via Private Members'' Bill

Source from:  The Star (my)  05/20/2013

The Malaysian Council for Tobacco Control and its affiliate members will push for a law on tobacco control via a Private Members' Bill if the Government does not table the Bill.

The council's secretary-general Shaari Ahmad Junid said the Health Ministry had deliberated on the matter for a long time and the council would consider initiating a Private Members' Bill by the year-end.

"We will discuss it in the Ban Advertisement, Promotion and Sponsorship of Tobacco conference in mid-June," he told a press conference yesterday to announce the conference to be held on June 19 and 20 at Menara KL.

Fomca deputy president Muhammad Sha'ani Abdullah said the ministry had drafted the Bill but due to strong objections by lobbyists and tobacco companies, the Bill could not be introduced.

He said the proposed tabling of the Bill had been delayed for 10 years.

There were regulations on tobacco control under the Food Act but this was not adequate to enable proper enforcement, he said.

The ministry's Tobacco Control Unit senior principal assistant director Dr Sukhvinder Singh said the proposed Act "would have good footage on tobacco control advocacy" in line with the World Health Organisation's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control which the Government had ratified.

The council's deputy president Dr Mymoon Alias said there was now also concern about "third-hand" smoking involving chemicals from cigarettes that had settled on furniture, curtains and beddings which could pose a health hazard even after the smoker had left. Enditem