Materia Medica Malaysiana

‘Yes’ to anti-smoking pact

SERDANG: Malaysia is set to ratify an international anti-smoking convention that will allow the Government to impose further restrictions on the use and sale of tobacco products and even allow civil suits against tobacco companies.

Health Ministry parliamentary secretary Lee Kah Choon said Malaysia had already signed the World Health Organisation’s “Framework Convention on Tobacco Control” (FCTC) last September as part of its efforts against smoking.

“We are now ready to ratify the convention. We will proceed to table this in parliament so that it can become law,” he said after launching the “World No Tobacco Day 2004” event at Universiti Putra Malaysia in Serdang yesterday.

All the 118 countries that signed the convention have until June 29 to ratify it.

So far, only 16 countries have ratified it.

The convention comes into force 90 days after ratification.

The FCTC, adopted at the World Health Assembly in May last year, requires countries to impose restrictions on tobacco advertising, sponsorship and promotion; establish new packaging and labelling of tobacco products; establish clean indoor air controls; and strengthen legislation to clamp down on tobacco smuggling.

Malaysia’s ratification of the convention also means that consumers could soon file civil law suits under new laws against tobacco companies for health problems resulting from use of tobacco products.

“Our survey shows that most smokers are Malays. More women are also picking up this bad habit,” he said.

Lee later gave away prizes for the “International Quit Smoking and Win - Malaysia 2004” contest.

The first prize of RM10,000 went to Hasamuddin Mohamad, while the second and third prizes were won by Lt Muhamad Nazmy Jamal and Mohamad Mazzuan Jamaludin respectively.

The contest attracted 2,508 participants who agreed to quit smoking for at least a month.