SEATCA welcomes the statement of Malaysian Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam that the government will not support the proposal by the tobacco industry to re-introduce kiddie packs.
Industry lobbyist are using cigarette smuggling as an excuse to support their plan to bring back cigarette kiddie packs to the market according to Minister Subramaniam.
As a party to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, Malaysia should strengthen its national tobacco control law. This should include provisions especially on increasing size of pictorial health warnings on cigarette packs to at least 85% or more or go for plain packaging to effectively educate the public on the dangers of smoking and increasing tobacco taxes significantly making prices of cigarettes less affordable to reduce smoking prevalence and save lives.
