In the ongoing lawsuit against her, the Minister of Health Dr Zaliha Mustafa has reasserted that she does not need the approval of the Poison's Board as apparently they only serve for a "consultative" purpose; this is because the Poison's Act gives her the authority to exempt liquid nicotine from the Poisons List.
In an affidavit filed in the High Court recently, she explained that having been advised by the senior federal counsel that based on Section 6 of the Poisons Act 1952, she was only required to seek "consultation" from the Poisons Board about her decision for exemption order.
She added that therefore her decision to exempt liquid nicotine from the Poisons List was lawful, rational and without any procedural errors.
The affidavit was in response to a lawsuit filed against her by the Malaysian Council for Tobacco Control (MCTC), the Malaysian Green Lung Association (MGLA) and the Voice of the Children (VoC) over the declassification of liquid and gel nicotine used in e-cigarettes and vaporizers as a scheduled poison from the Poisons Act.
Meanwhile in a supporting affidavit filed on behalf of MCTC, MGLA and VoC in the High Court last June 30, the applicants had pointed out that Dr Zaliha had “vetoed” the unanimous decision of the Poisons Board to reject the proposed delisting of the liquid nicotine but that she had gone ahead with the exemption order on March 31 without giving stakeholders "the effective right to be heard" on the matter.
The health minister then responded that as per Section 6 of the Poisons Act, "the applicants do not have the right to be heard."
For context, the Poisons Board is an independent body established under the Poisons Act with representatives from healthcare and business sectors, whose function is to advise the Health Minister.
Apparently, Dr Zaliha had said that the Ministry of Finance had "requested" the Ministry of Health to exempt liquid and gel nicotine from the Poisons Act.
Interestingly, this was after PM Anwar (in his capacity as the Finance Minister) had on February 24 - while tabling Budget 2023 in Parliament - proposed imposing excise duties on e-liquids containing nicotine; shortly after that the Dewan Rakyat passed the Federal Budget on March 9.
Given the country's mounting debt situation the PM's decision might make sense to some as the vaping industry is now deemed to be a multi-billion ringgit sector which may prove to be a much-needed source of revenue to fill up the depleting government coffers! But was the move by the Madani government “ethical”?
In fact, way back in April 2023 according to another report by Codeblue the rector of the International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM) Prof Dzulkifli Abdul Razak had slammed Dr Zaliha's decision to "veto" the Poisons Board's unanimous decision as undemocratic, unethical and a betrayal for allowing vaping to be unregulated.
Dr Dzulkifli had warned that the decision to lift restrictions on e-cigarettes and vapes already had harmful, negative effects among school children including cases of seizures, delirium and vomiting in class.
Being a pharmacist and a well-respected toxicologist as well as a member of World Health Organization's Scientific Committee of Tobacco Product Regulation (2004-2006), he had questioned the government's “hasty decision” to declassify nicotine; rightfully it should come after a Bill to regulate tobacco and smoking products which was to be presented to Parliament in mid 2023.
He had further lambasted the government for prioritising political desires and the interests of the tobacco industry over public health. It was also obvious that the government had decided to declassify liquid nicotine as a controlled substance just so that they can collect tax from e-cigarettes and vapes as early as from April 1 onwards!
But at what cost? By sacrificing the health (and the future) of thousands of vape-users especially teenagers and children - by allowing them unregulated access to harmful nicotine?
Anyway, there is still time for redemption as the Health Ministry is scheduled to table a revised version of the Control of Smoking Product for Public Health Bill 2023 for its second reading in Parliament this October 10.
The bill which seeks to ban the use, purchase and sale of cigarettes to those born after 2007 is part of the government's generational end game (GEG) policy.
This time the people can only keep their fingers crossed and pray that there won't be any more delays or “sabotage” of the bill at the last-minute.
Enough untold harm would have been done already to thousands of people (especially gullible children) in the past six months, thanks to the government's earlier hastiness - just so that they can collect a “fistful” of ringgit in revenue!
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