It was cowardly and irresponsible, says Khairy

The Star

Former health minister Khairy Jamaluddin says he has finally been proven right while those in the medical profession expressed shock and are demanding an explanation after it was revealed that Big Tobacco and the vape industry had influenced ministers and MPs.  Read more at https://shorturl.at/prZ79  WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

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00:00 Deputy Health Minister Datuk Luka Nisman Awang Sawni told the Dewan Rakyat on Thursday that

00:08 the generational endgame component in the anti-smoking bill was killed due to influence

00:13 from the tobacco and vape industry. He revealed that lobbyists from the industry had even

00:19 met with MPs.

00:20 "The pressure from the industry is that we need cooperation and support from all parties.

00:27 We can see that when we are discussing the GEG, there is a gap in view when the pressure

00:34 from the industry, the industry meeting with MPs, the industry meeting with MPs, this

00:40 affects the decision. And I also hope that if we really want to reject the smoking and

00:47 vaping regulations, we must start from the MPs."

00:50 Former Health Minister Kairi Jamaluddin said Luka Nisman is honest enough to admit that

00:55 big tobacco has penetrated the government, the cabinet and MPs. He said he knew all along

01:01 that the big tobacco and vape industry had been lobbying their agendas to politicians

01:06 and lawmakers. He said Malaysia is signatory to the World Health Organization's Framework

01:12 Convention of Tobacco Control, which disallows tobacco lobbyists from influencing national

01:18 policies. But he said yet this happened during the current administration. He labelled the

01:24 government as "cowardly and irresponsible" when it removed the GEG component from the

01:29 anti-smoking bill. He said if the government is too scared, the least it could do is to

01:34 tighten existing regulations on tobacco sales, such as plain packaging for tobacco products

01:40 and storing such products in the drawer.

01:43 In November last year, the Health Ministry announced the dropping of the GEG element

01:48 from the bill tabled for the first reading in the Dewan Rakyat. The bill was passed after

01:53 two days of debate on November 30, with it later also being passed by Dewan Negara on

01:59 December 14. The GEG element sought to ban those born in 2007 and onwards from smoking

02:06 or purchasing smoking products.

02:08 "I want to save tobacco but not human lives. I am very disappointed and I am not happy

02:15 with the way things are going. I am very disappointed and I am not happy with the way things are

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