TTF: How could Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad ban smoking but allow vaping at food outlets?
To date, not only has there been no proof to the effect that vaping isn’t a health hazard, existing research data does seem to suggest the exact opposite, that vaping does increase the risk of heart attacks significantly, much like the regular cigarettes do.
As a matter of fact, a research paper presented at the annual meeting of the nonprofit Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco indicated that people who vape regularly may double their risk of having a heart attack compared with those who do not vape or smoke.
In 2017, a paper published by the esteemed Nursing Journal spoke extensively of the many dangers associated with e-cigarettes and vaping.
Excerpts from the paper read:
Nicotine is once again being made to look sexy, smart, and glamorous. The renormalization of smoking by this new technology exposes more individuals to nicotine and increases their risk for addiction and other health consequences. Efforts to regulate tobacco use are being sidelined by the big business of e-cigarettes.
More than 250,000 youth who’ve never smoked traditional cigarettes have tried e-cigarettes.4 Data from National Youth Tobacco surveys estimate that middle and high school students who’ve used e-cigarettes are twice as likely to smoke traditional tobacco products.4 A recent longitudinal study reports that youth who tried e-cigarettes were more likely to initiate traditional cigarette use over the subsequent year.5
Many advocates of e-cigarettes believe that their harms are overstated. They argue that the cost-benefit equation should take into consideration these products’ value as alternatives to smoking traditional cigarettes, saving long-term healthcare dollars spent on tobacco-related illness and death.21 Because e-cigarettes don’t contain tobacco, they’re purported to be “less toxic” than traditional tobacco products, but the lack of long-term research and the variability among available products makes this claim unsubstantiated to date.10 Additionally, the overall cost savings of substituting smokeless tobacco products to decrease negative health outcomes of traditional tobacco products is still unknown.
Try also combing through the established medical journals, and you will find tons and tons of research papers complete with data and statistical analyses, all pointing to the idea that vaping does increase the risk of getting heart diseases.
So how could the Ministry of Health have ignored this?
Is Dzulkefly not aware, that people tend to get more irritated sitting next to vapers than they get sitting next to cigarette smokers?
Heck, even the smoker gets irritated sitting next to a vaper.
Imagine, you’re sitting in a Nasi Kandar, having this very important conversation with someone, when suddenly, this huge smog-like cloud comes gently a wafting between the two of you, completely obstructing your vision and disrupting your train of thought.
Would that not irritate you?
And did you know, that different fragrances have mood altering qualities that affect different individuals differently?
Can you imagine what would happen should one of these fragrances overly excite someone who’s already irritated with the inconsiderate vaper sitting next to him?
Perhaps it’s true what someone told me, that the only reason Dzulkefly banned cigarette smoking is because someone in the DAP is ‘taxing’ the importers of vape juices.
According to this person – who just so happens to be from the DAP – the ban is set to generate millions upon millions for the DAP as smokers nationwide switch from smoking cigarettes to vaping virtually.
Could this be true?
Is Dzulkefly ok with the idea of non-smoking youth, who, as research suggests, are bound to find vaping ‘cool’, suddenly taking up the habit?
PUTRAJAYA: The ban on smoking at all restaurants, food outlets and hawker stalls which will take effect from Jan 1 next year does not include puffing on vaporised liquid nicotine (vape) and shisha, according to Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad.
However, he said the ministry was still in discussion to include vape and shisha in the regulation.
“As for the time being, the ban will only involve tobacco products, but for vape and shisha, we will take regulatory and legal approaches but in other legislative categories,” he said at the Award and Recognition of the Blue Ribbon Campaign 2018, here, last night.
The Blue Ribbon campaign was held since 2013 to protect the public from the dangers of cigarette smoke through advocacy efforts to create 100 percent non-smoking areas.
Starting Jan 1, 2019, smoking ban will be enforced at all covered, air-conditioned restaurants, or open-concept restaurants and stalls and anyone caught breaching the ban will face a fine of RM10,000 with eateries that fail to enforce the law to be slapped with a fine of RM2,500.
In another development, Dr Dzulkefly said the practice of infant female circumcision by Muslims in Malaysia differed from the female genital mutilation (FGM) being practised in other countries.
He said this in response to the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia’s (Suhakam) statement slamming Putrajaya for making misleading statement concerning the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on human rights in Geneva, Switzerland when it delegates reportedly defended the practice of FGM as a “cultural obligation” in Malaysia.
“Infant female circumcision differs from FGM and we have to be very careful in discussing this issue as it involves various aspects, including that of social and culture,” he added.
Source: NST Online
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