Though the National Fatwa Council (NFC) has ruled that vaping or smoking electronic cigarettes is “haram” (forbidden), Malaysia’s Health Ministry has no plan to ban the sale of vape.
In a report by The Star Online, Deputy Health Minister Datuk Dr Hilmi Yahaya told reporters that the ministry will only regulate it under the legal law. He also said that “the ministry’s decision on the sale of vape was the same as that taken by the Cabinet”.
According to Hilmi, the ministry would continue to oversee the sale of vape under the Poisons Act 1952 and Control of Tobacco Product Regulations (Amendment) 2011. He added that it would depend on the special committee chaired by Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah to discuss the decision of the National Fatwa Council.
So far, a total of 4 states have banned the sale of vapes, namely Penang, Kedah, Johor, and Kelantan. NFC chairman Professor Emeritus Tan Sri Dr Abdul Shukor Husin recommended all states to use the national fatwa council’s decision as a reference. In regards to that, Hilmi said it would depend on the local authorities to decide a ban of permits for premises selling vape in different states.
On a separate note, Hilmi has denied Ikhlas president Ridzuan Abdullah’s allegation that 2 vape flavour manufacturing plants, believed to be owned by certain individual stakeholders in the Government, would be built in Shah Alam and Johor soon. It was claimed that the opening of the factories was aimed at monopolising the industry that brought returns of RM2.8bil to existing operators annually.
At the lobby of Parliament House yesterday, Hilmi told reporters:
I have not received any official report and we do not have any information regarding the allegation.
“We (the ministry) do not intend to sabotage anyone,” he added.
Source: The Star Online.
