Ban kiddie packs now, says group

NST: KUALA LUMPUR: Every day, 50 children pick up the smoking habit.
And what is even more alarming is that more than 30,000 children have started smoking in the last two years — a worrying trend blamed on the delay in banning the sale of cigarettes in packs of fewer than 20 sticks.
Urging Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to impose the ban immediately, Malaysian Women’s Action for Tobacco Control and Health (MyWatch) president Datuk Hatijah Ayob said it was the only way to prevent cigarettes from further harming children’s health.
"Do not wait until 2010 to implement the ban as it is causing potential harm to children," she said.
The Health Ministry had earlier decided to ban the sale of small packs with fewer than 20 sticks in conjunction with this year’s World No Tobacco Day. The ban should have come into force from July 1.
But it did not happen. There are now proposals to amend Part III 9(1) of the Control of Tobacco Product Regulations 2004 to postpone the ban to 2010. At present, packs with fewer than 14 sticks are banned.
Health Ministry parliamentary secretary Datuk Lee Kah Choon said it was the government’s decision to postpone the ban to 2010.
The postponement is to give the 14,000 tobacco farmers in Kelantan and Terengganu time to switch to other crops.
Hatijah, who submitted MyWatch’s findings to the Health Ministry and Prime Minister’s Department early last week, told the New Straits Times that any delay in the ban would only lead to an increase in smoking among children and escalate the cost of treating smoking-related diseases in the future.
"The welfare of the 14,000 tobacco farmers and the livelihood of 150,000 people involved in the tobacco industry are often cited as a reason to postpone tobacco control measures. However, the well-being and health of the nation’s children should also not be sacrificed."
In the report by MyWatch, it was disclosed that older (16 to 17 years) urban-based schoolchildren, who are financially better off, smoked 10 to 15 cigarettes a day compared with younger (13 to 15 years) children who smoked five to 10 daily.
Semi-rural children from both age groups smoked less — between two and four a day. The bulk of young smokers, for both age groups and sex, light up two to five a day.
A survey by Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, in 2003, also found that children picked up the habit from as early as 10 years.
Hatijah said postponement of the ban would not help protect children from tobacco as students had easy access to small packs which were affordable and easy to carry.
Surveys have shown that about 96,000 retail outlets throughout the country sell cigarettes. The surveys also show that cigarettes are accessible to youngsters because 58 per cent can buy their own cigarettes.
"We fail to see how postponing the ban on ‘kiddie packs’ to 2010 is going to protect children from smoking," said Hatijah who is hoping Abdullah will take a personal interest.
"After all, it was the Prime Minister himself who launched the first phase of the RM100 million Tak Nak anti-smoking media campaign in February 2004."
The government also ratified the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) last year, which obligates parties to protect present and future generations from the health and economic consequences of tobacco consumption.
In Malaysia, the toll from smoking is a major cause of concern. More than 10,000 die every year due to cardiovascular diseases, cancer and respiratory complications due to smoking, about one death an hour.
The health costs for just three diseases — ischaemic heart disease, lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease — came to about RM3 billion in 2004, 0.1 to 1.1 per cent of gross domestic product.
MyWatch also urged Abdullah to set up and head an executive National Tobacco Control Co-ordination Board.
"The board could draw up a national tobacco control policy providing strategies to curb smoking, especially among children, step up efforts to assist young smokers to quit and monitor the activities of the tobacco industry in accordance with the provisions of the FCTC," said Hatijah.