KUALA LUMPUR – The government’s bill to regulate smoking and vaping that includes the Generational Endgame (GEG) is seeing a delay again as the attorney-general has found the GEG element unconstitutional, according to CodeBlue.
The health news portal, citing sources, said Attorney-General Datuk Ahmad Terrirudin Mohd Salleh is of the view that the lifetime ban on tobacco and vape products for anyone born on or after January 1, 2007, is unconstitutional.
This means that the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Bill 2023, which Health Minister Datuk Dr Zaliha Mustafa had said previously would be tabled for a second reading on October 10 during Parliament’s current meeting, will most likely not see the light of day this round. The current meeting ends on November 30.
CodeBlue’s source said the cabinet has decided to drop the GEG provisions as the Attorney-General’s Chambers deemed them unconstitutional in violation of Article 8 of the federal constitution on equality before the law.
With the bill delayed, nicotine, which has been removed from the Poisons Act 1952 as a scheduled poison, remains unregulated.
The government removed it from the list of scheduled poisons in order to begin collecting excise duty on nicotine-containing vape liquids at 40 sen per ml, effective April 1 of this year.
Health activists and medical groups have expressed concern that there is now a lacuna in the regulation of cigarette and vape products, which will make them easily accessible to minors.
The bill with GEG provisions was first tabled in 2022 under the Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob administration but was pulled back for revision.
A revised version was tabled for first reading in June of this year under the present government and was again sent for further review by the Parliamentary Special Select Committee.
Instead of tabling it in October as promised, the Health Ministry announced a survey to gather public feedback on the bill via the MySejahtera app. – November 7, 2023