Materia Medica Malaysiana

Malaysia takes steps to stem tobacco use

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Next month's Malaysian Formula One Grand Prix will be the last time cigarette companies will be able to use the romance of racing to sell their tobacco products in Malaysia.
Health activists here can at least in part thank the World Health Organization's treaty on tobacco control, which goes into effect Sunday in 40 countries, for prompting the new limits on advertising.
Malaysia is joining a growing list of nations that severely restrict tobacco sponsorship of sporting events - long a favorite publicity playground of cigarette sellers - for public health reasons.
The new anti-tobacco rules are among a slew of steps Malaysia is taking to ban promotion of cigarettes and other products as it prepares to join the WHO treaty.
About 3.6 million of Malaysia's 25 million people are smokers, and nearly half of adult men light up regularly, according to Health Ministry statistics. About 10,000 people die every year from smoking-related ailments.
"The burden of disease and the economic loss borne by the government all this while was tremendous," Health Minister Chua Soi Lek said. "If the situation is allowed to continue it will only grow worse in the near future. We must act."
A ban on most cigarette advertisements has been in place for years, but point-of-sale advertising at neighborhood coffee shops, grocery stores and supermarkets was allowed.
These ads, along with sponsorship of events such as auto racing that Malaysia hosts every year, will become illegal June 1 under amendments to the law approved by parliament in September.
Also, shops won't be allowed to sell smaller packs or single sticks of cigarettes, sales that authorities say make cigarettes affordable for teenagers.
Still, activists say Malaysia has done too little to control tobacco.
In neighboring Singapore and Thailand, some cigarette packs carry images of diseased wombs and rotting brain and heart, with slogans like "Tobacco Smoke can Kill Babies" or "Smoking Harms your Family." Nothing like that exists in Malaysia.
"The efforts against smoking is not achieving much," said Mohamed Idris of the Consumers Association of Penang. "The smoking habit is being successfully promoted and new smokers are being recruited everyday."
Idris and other activists here want a complete ban on tobacco products. No way, says the government, aware of the tax revenue the industry fetches.
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi raised taxes on cigarettes by 40 percent in his 2005 budget. The government also has launched a $26 million anti-smoking campaign.
Anti-tobacco activists say the government should also close tobacco farms - a government-supported business in some Malaysian states.
"It is ridiculous to see the health ministry fighting against tobacco while other ministries in the government encourage tobacco planting," said Idris.