KUALA LUMPUR: British American Tobacco (BAT Malaysia) is open to discussions with the government to promote appropriate laws for tobacco harm reduction products such as nicotine vapour.
BAT Malaysia legal and external affairs director Nick Booth said the initiative falls under the harm reduction pillar of its recently unveiled sustainability strategy and part of its journey towards 'A Better Tomorrow.'
"Our focus on harm reduction is now to provide a range of tobacco harm reduced products that are less risky than traditional tobacco products.
"The most popular one is nicotine vaping, which is currently prohibited from being sold in Malaysia due to the existing regulatory environment.
"We would like to work with the government to ensure that there is a regulated marketplace for these products because, at the moment, there are over one million Malaysians vaping products that are of unknown quality and standards.
"If the government were to put in place a regulatory regime, we would support them in that. We would love to offer these tobacco harms reduced products to consumers in Malaysia," he told reporters after the unveiling of BAT Malaysia's new environment, social and governance (ESG) strategy today.
Meanwhile, Booth said the four pillars of the sustainability strategy include harm reduction, environmental, social and governance.
He said BAT Malaysia had aligned its strategy with the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and key elements of the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP).
"With our A Better Tomorrow purpose, we are transitioning from being a business where sustainability has always been important to one where it is front and centre in everything that we do.
"We will work to reduce the health impact of our business and at the same time champion environmental, social and governance excellence.
"Together, we believe this will drive the company's long-term business sustainability and create shared value for consumers, society, employees and our shareholders," he said.
Booth said as a publicly listed company, BAT Malaysia will also be benchmarking itself against the FTSE4Good Bursa Malaysia ESG rating.
"We have clear goals in delivering the strategy. First, we want to be the leading consumer product and services company when benchmarked against the FTSE4Good Bursa Malaysia ESG rating and recognised for sustainability initiatives locally and internationally," he added.