Malaysian Users Strongly Protest Move That Would Legalize Vaping for Minors

Today, on April 7, reports indicate that outside a convenience store in Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia, a group of middle school students gathered together, sharing various flavors of e-cigarettes they had purchased.

Fifteen and sixteen-year-old kids were openly vaping while exchanging opinions on the flavors they tried.

Fifteen-year-old Syed Ikhmal Syed Ramadani told the Straits Times on Wednesday: "I always wanted to try smoking, but I was afraid my parents would smell it. But e-cigarettes smell nice. My parents won’t know, and we can buy them openly now."

These teenagers have exploited a recent legal loophole in Malaysia that allows e-cigarette products to be freely sold and consumed by minors following a controversial government move.

Liquid and gel nicotine, the main components of e-cigarettes and vaping devices, were removed from the scheduled poison list starting in April, and the government is now taxing e-cigarette products.

The Poison Committee opposed the removal, but Health Minister Zaliha Mustafa exercised her ministerial power to override it.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim told Parliament on Tuesday that the government will tax nicotine-containing products to prevent the widespread availability of this substance at low prices.

He stated that his government is committed to submitting a tobacco and e-cigarette control bill in May.

"Taking extreme measures like banning e-cigarettes, nicotine, or cigarettes is very extreme; no country in the world has done it. Even with various campaigns, many still choose to smoke," Datuk Seri Anwar told Parliament.

"While we are conducting a campaign about the negative impacts of smoking, we will also continue to implement this tax to prevent these substances from becoming widely available and cheap."

The upcoming Generational End Game (GEG) bill, officially named the Tobacco Products Control and Smoking Bill 2022, aims to prohibit individuals born after 2007 from using, possessing, and selling cigarettes and e-cigarette products.

However, currently, individuals under 18 can use nicotine-containing liquids and gels without regulation, prompting public protests from health practitioners and parents.

In response to this news, the Johor state government stated that its 2016 ban on the sale of e-cigarette products (including devices and liquids) remains in effect.

The Malaysian Tobacco Control Committee (MCTC) stated that the government's action to remove nicotine from the poison list will lead to more children starting to use e-cigarettes and potentially becoming addicted.

"The issue is that even if they (the government) propose the bill in May, they have already opened the field to many new young people, allowing them to start using nicotine e-cigarettes. Nicotine is the fundamental driving factor," MCTC Chairman M. Murallitharan told ST. "The longer you wait for the GEG to be introduced, the more you actually increase the chances of poisoning the well."

He stated that nicotine is classified as a highly addictive substance by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and similar agencies in other countries.

Dr. Murallitharan, the medical director of the Malaysian National Cancer Society, said: "Introducing someone to this addictive substance will make them addicted in the short term."

The Malaysian Health Alliance stated in a statement on Tuesday: "We are deeply concerned about the impact of e-cigarette and tobacco use on public health, especially for children and adolescents. We support the GEG and advocate for a complete ban on e-cigarettes. Strict regulations will align Malaysia with increasingly popular international norms."

This alliance consists of the Malaysian Society of Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology and 28 other organizations, urging the government to delay taxation and the removal of nicotine from the poison list until the tobacco control and regulation bill is passed and debated. As part of the bill, the legal status of e-cigarettes in Malaysia will be determined.

"Once you are addicted to this substance, whether it is heroin or nicotine, you will ultimately continue to need and crave larger doses of this substance, regardless of where they obtain nicotine," Dr. Murallitharan said.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, using e-cigarettes is unsafe for children, adolescents, and young adults because nicotine is highly addictive and can harm brain development in adolescents, a condition that can persist into their mid-20s.

Jurisdictions that partially or completely ban e-cigarettes include Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Australia, Brazil, Canada, and many states in the U.S.

In Malaysia, the price of disposable e-cigarette devices typically ranges from 16.90 Ringgit (5.10 SGD) to over 100 Ringgit, containing up to 9,000 nicotine puffs. #p#分页标题#e#

ST's investigation found that industry insiders hope to raise prices by 20% or 30%. However, Dr. Murallitharan stated that price increases would not significantly affect minors.

"I have middle school students as patients who only need to spend RM5 to get devices that provide 6,000 to 8,000 puffs. With price increases, they might need to spend an extra RM1," he said.

However, Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim, chairperson of the Malaysian Parents Action Group, expressed a similar view: the better approach is to maintain the status quo.
"E-cigarettes will ultimately lead to smoking. If they (minors) even know about the exemption, they will be very eager to vape openly... because they think it can improve their self-image," she told ST.

Forty-seven-year-old architect Zainab Salim also expressed similar concerns: "As a parent, I worry that my child will prove he did nothing wrong, while in fact, e-cigarettes do pose some health risks."