A consumer group wants a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) established to look into the deputy health minister’s recent claims that tobacco and vape industry players lobbied MPs against the Generational End Game (GEG) provisions in the anti-smoking law.
The bill, tabled by Health Minister Datuk Seri Dzulkefly Ahmad, among other things, prohibits the sale and purchase of tobacco products, smoking materials or tobacco substitute products and providing any services related to smoking to minors.
The Health Ministry should have allowed the constitutionality of the Generational Endgame provision to be debated in Parliament instead of removing it completely from the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Act 2023, said the Malaysian Medical Association.
Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa said the Finance Ministry estimated the revenue from vape taxes to be about RM500 million a year, but research showed that the cost of treatment for Evali was RM150,000 per patient.
