Nowadays, it is a common sight to see teenagers smoking in public.

Be it from home or from friends, youngsters are picking up this extremely harmful habit at a very young age, and go on to get health complications later in life.

Thus, it is good news to learn that the government is planning to prohibit the sale of cigarettes and tobacco products to people born after 2005.

Speaking at the 150th session of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) executive board meeting in Geneva recently, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said that Putrajaya hopes to pass the legislation this year, which would bring about a "generation endgame to smoking".

"This is by making it illegal for the sale of tobacco and other smoking products to anyone born after 2005," The Star quoted him saying.

Getting youngsters to stay off smoking will also have a significant impact on preventing and controlling NCDs (non-communicable diseases) in the country, he added.

According to Malaysia’s 2020 report to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, one in five (21.3%) of people aged 15 and above in the country are smokers.

It is estimated that there are 27,000 deaths in the country annually due to illnesses like heart disease, stroke, and cancer brought about by tobacco.

Out of this number, 15 per cent also involved non-smokers who died from exposure to second-hand smoke.


Source: The Star
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