Category: Health EN

The Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) supports the Malaysian Alliance for Effective Covid Control (MAECC)’s call for allowing Ivermectin use under the emergency use authorisation (EUA) together with the current vaccination programme. The government must respond positively to the call as it is to save lives. If adopted, Malaysia would be among the 32 countries worldwide to use this drug in...

What’s that written on the label of your bottle of shampoo, deodorant or mascara? Cosmetics and personal care products can contain harmful endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and other substances of concern, but their labels can be hard to read. The Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL) and Tegengif offer a checklist of toxic ingredients to avoid when you go shopping.

Ever since the pandemic started we have been hearing one word repeat itself in terms of the Malaysian public healthcare system. The word is shortage. As Covid-19 started, we had a shortage of Covid testing. The shortage of testing was understandably worse outside of the capital. That is because Malaysia had not set up enough testing capacity across the country. In the OECD countries, they...

Economic activity drives the demand for paint. In many developing countries, including Malaysia, lead paint is still widely used. Presently in Malaysia there is no law to ban the use of lead in paints. This adversely impacts human health and subsequently has a detrimental effect on the economy. The introduction of lead paint laws will eliminate the use of lead in paint. This will break the cycle...

The Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) urges the government not to ignore the plight of two important community segments – undocumented migrant workers and stateless Malaysians – on humanitarian grounds as well as a concern for their access to health care in dire times like this. It was reported that more than 1,000 thousand of undocumented migrant workers were arrested in May 2020 by the...

The Consumers Association of Penang calls on the authorities to ban the sale of sugary drinks from vending machines at hospitals, schools and other public places. The call is made following the actions taken by Western Australian authorities to ban the sale of sugary drinks as part of measures to combat obesity. Under the policy, all vending machines and retail outlets including cafes, gift...

Lead is a toxic metal that is especially harmful to brain development in children under age 6 and babies still growing in the womb. Lead paint also poses a hazard for those who come in contact with it during every stage of its use – manufacture, use, removal, and disposal. Lead Safe Paint® is an independent, third-party certification program that lets customers know that the paint they are...

In 2020, 266 took their own lives between 19 March and 30 October while there were 1,080 suicide attempts according to the Health Ministry. The Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) is concerned because these figures are just the tip of the iceberg and on the rise. The government needs to incorporate suicide prevention in its Movement Control Order (MCO) plans. Government agencies were flooded...

Recently the DG of the Ministry of Health announced the start of clinical trials to study the use and efficacy of ivermectin for high risk Covid-19 patients. The DG added that evidence is inconclusive to recommend routine use of ivermectin for Covid-19 patients and the WHO recommends to use ivermectin in Covid-19 only in clinical trials. On the contrary, there is now a large body of evidence on...