Category: Health EN

Malaysia has seen only 36 COVID-19 cases and most of them have recovered; and this gives us a sense of security, a feeling that we will be fine even though the spread of the COVID-19 virus beyond China seems to be getting worse. However, there is a very crucial weakness in our system that has not been addressed and could yet cause an outbreak in our country. This weakness arises from a few...

Whilst Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) welcomes the recent temporary ban by China on the hunting, sale, transportation and export of all wild animals in response to the Covid-19 outbreak, a more lasting solution is needed to prevent another repeat of such outbreaks, not only in China but in all countries. This requires a permanent ban on the trade, sale and consumption of wildlife and stricter...

The Consumers’ Association of Penang (CAP) urges the government to ban visitors from affected areas from coming into Malaysia to reduce the risk of 2019-nCoV, also known as Wuhan coronavirus infection, and to implement stringent health checks. It is erroneous to assume that it is possible to identify suspected cases by conducting fever screening at transportation terminals because it is not a...

The Consumers Association of Penang reiterate its calls to the authorities to impose an immediate ban on the sale of glyphosate-based herbicides as it is found to be hazardous to humans, wildlife and the environment. Glyphosate is the chief ingredient in Roundup weed killer, from Monsanto. In Malaysia there are more than 200 herbicide products which contain glyphosate. Presently 20 countries have...

The government should not bow to the demands of smokers calling for smoking corners to be set up. The priority should be focused on non-smokers who equally pay taxes. The expenditure on constructing smoking zones are for 22.8 per cent of the population who are smokers. As the proponents of smokers’ rights call for respecting of their rights, they are silent on the rights of non-smokers who are...

The Consumers’ Association of Penang (CAP) commends and congratulates the Malaysian Health Ministry (MoH) for implementing and enforcing Regulations 11 (1) (d) of the Tobacco Control Regulations 2018. Under this Regulation, offenders caught smoking in “any eating place or air-conditioned shop” can be fined upwards of RM10,000 or face jail time of up to two years. A total of 605 cases were...

The Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) is concerned over the announcement made on 6th December by Health Minister Dr. Dzulkefly Ahmad on deregulation of consultation fees in all registered and licensed private healthcare facilities.  With the government’s intention to abolish the consultation fee control under the Seventh and Thirteenth Schedule of the Private Healthcare Facilities and...

Health authorities in Singapore, and Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) in the United States of America raised the alert that Metformin, a common diabetic drug, could be contaminated with N-Nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), a chemical linked to cancer. Metformin has been used as a first-line medication for the treatment of type-2 diabetes and it was used by the National Health Services (NHS) in the...

Recently a Member of Parliament, Datuk Abdullah Sani Abdul Hamid, wants the Ministry of Health (MoH) to temporarily suspend the smoking ban at open-air eateries on 1 January 2020 “until proper regulation is put in place for the vape industry”. His call makes no sense. Banning smoking and vaping at eateries including open-air ones does not depart from enacting regulations for vaping. The...

There were three recent suspected cases of vaping-related illnesses in Malaysia and these should raise red flags for the Malaysian Ministry of Health (MoH) to ban all e-cigarettes and vaping devices. The government should not involve the tobacco industry (TI) in any tobacco control policy discussion because TI is known to interfere with governments’ formulation of tobacco control policies....