“Start Discussions To Ban Cigarette Sales For Youth In Malta”

Nov 23 2023

The government is advocating discussions to prohibit the sale of cigarettes to individuals born after a specific date, marking the inception of a potentially smoke-free generation.

This proposal is outlined in a public consultation document released by the Ministry of Social Policy and Children’s Rights on Monday.

The suggested measure urges national-level deliberations to ban cigarette sales to individuals born after a collectively determined date, aiming to positively impact the health of forthcoming generations.

Part of a comprehensive vision to enhance child well-being over the next six years, this proposal is one of 198 measures disclosed in a Children’s Policy Framework document presented at a conference. While lacking specific details, if enacted, this ban would initiate the elimination of tobacco smoking.

Notably, the UK government recently implemented a similar measure, describing it as a groundbreaking law prohibiting cigarette sales to those born on or after January 1, 2009. Positioned as a significant public health intervention, the UK anticipates saving lives and reducing healthcare costs.

This initiative follows New Zealand’s comparable anti-smoking legislation, aligning with broader goals to achieve a smoke-free status by 2025. However, the smoking prevalence among Maltese citizens remains high, as indicated by a 2021 EU-wide survey, revealing that Maltese smokers exhibit one of the highest daily smoking rates in the bloc.

Despite these efforts, a local study found that a majority of children in Malta had detectable levels of second-hand smoke, contradicting parental reports of non-exposure at home. Read full document here.

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Elderly Struggling To Communicate With Carers, PN Leader Laments

Nov 23 2023

In a speech given to parliament, Opposition leader Bernard Grech lamented about how, in her last few days, his 92 year old mother had to struggle to communicate with her carers.

Grech said that despite his mother being able to speak English and despite the carers doing their job with love and compassion, his mother could not communicate and this made her last few days a struggle.

The PN leader said how his mother should not have to resort to communicating with a language that is not her native tongue. Her pains and other risks, he said, were not being understood.

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He said that these are real experiences of people and that they cannot be hidden away with ‘talk’ and ‘PR’.

Connecting to the millions lost in the Vitals-Steward scandal, he accused the government of continuing to give money to these entities and ignoring the real experiences of people.

The speech by Grech follows a proposal put forth by PL MP Omar Farrugia, which proposes a quota for low skilled third country national workers.

Farrugia had, however, noted that exceptions will probably have to be made in critical sectors such as healthcare and caregiving. The quota was directed mainly at sectors where there was an oversupply of workers, with Farrugia suggesting taking inspiration from the UK’s points based immigration system.

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Can You Imagine The Coast Road Without Magħtab?

Nov 23 2023

During an episode on waste and waste management, Popolin posed the question: do you remember – or better yet, can you imagine – the Coast Road without the Magħtab junkyard?

Malta’s waste problem goes back decades, with old footage presented by Popolin showing youth in 1967 handing out fliers to raise awareness about waste management.

The feature explains how Malta had multiple sites wherein waste would be relegated to, including Żurrieq’s Wied Fulija, il-Qortin in Gozo and, of course, Magħtab.

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Many of the zones, like Wied Fulija, were transformed into parks for families, whereas Magħtab was closed off in 2004, with the government making use of other areas in the vicinity to manage waste in a more engineered way.

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PN MP Shares Video Of Car Floating In Flooded Mrieħel

Nov 23 2023

Taking to social media, Nationalist MP Alex Borg shared a video of a car floating away in Mrieħel as heavy rain hit the Maltese islands.

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Borg shared the video, writing: a bit of rain and you don’t expect these scenes after an investment of €700 million into infrastructure. All this after a summer of work’.

The PN MP said that this shows a clear lack of planning on behalf of the relevant authorities. This comes as other videos and images show further flooding across Malta due to a storm which has been anticipated for days this week.

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