Health Minister Dr. Samanta Lal Sen has said that there is no alternative to preventing tobacco-related deaths and reducing illnesses caused by tobacco use without strengthening the tobacco control law.
"The initiative to amend the tobacco control law is deemed 'time-befitting,' and it will be done soon," said the health minister during a meeting with a delegation from PROGGA (Knowledge for Progress) and ATMA (Anti-Tobacco Media Alliance) held at the Secretariat today (20 March), reads a press release.
During the meeting, it was informed that currently (according to the 2017 WHO report), the prevalence of tobacco use among the adult population (15 years and above) stands at 35.3 percent, which is quite concerning.
Realizing the extent of tobacco’s devastating impact, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina voiced her commitment to building a tobacco-free country by 2040 and accordingly provided the directive to bring time-fitting changes to the tobacco control law, as stated in the press release. The ongoing amendment process of the Smoking and Tobacco Products Usage (Control) (Amendment) Act 2013 has been undertaken as a step towards realizing the prime minister’s directive.
Some of the proposals included in the draft amendment are eliminating Designated Smoking Areas (DSAs) in all public places and public transports, banning the display of tobacco products, banning so-called corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs of tobacco companies, banning the sale of loose tobacco products, banning the production, import, and sale of e-cigarettes and other vaping products, and increasing the area allotted for graphic health warning (GHW) to 90 percent from the existing 50 percent.
Monjurul Ahsan Bulbul, Senior Journalist, Mortuza Haider Liton, Convener of ATMA, Mizan Chowdhury, Co-Convenor of ATMA, Md Abdus Salam Mia, Bangladesh Program Manager, Campaign for Tobacco-free Kids (CTFK), ABM Zubair, Executive Director, PROGGA, and Md. Hasan Shahriar, Head of Programs, PROGGA, attended the meeting."
