The leaders of Anti-Tobacco Media Alliance (ATMA) have urged the government to finalise the draft amendment of tobacco law by Health Services Division and the National Tobacco Control Cell (NTCC) as soon as possible to safeguard public health.
They made the call at the virtual meeting held on Tuesday.
The anti-tobacco activists also thanked the Health Services Division and the NTCC for preparing the draft amendment which has been uploaded on the website of health ministry for opinion.
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“Many positive issues came up in the draft. So, it should be finalised in a short time,” ATMA Member-Secretary and also PROGGA Executive Director ABM Zubair said.
He added that the draft amendment has incorporated a number of essential proposals and attempted to amend certain articles.
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“The most notable changes incorporated in the draft amendment include eliminating the provisions for Designated Smoking Areas (DSAs) in public places and transport; banning display of tobacco products and packs at points-of-sale; banning tobacco companies’ direct or via third-party involvement in corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs; banning the production, import and sale of e-cigarettes, electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS), heated tobacco products (HTP) and other emerging tobacco products (ETPs); banning the sale of loose tobacco products or tobacco products without packet, package or container; and increasing graphic health warning (GHW) on tobacco packs at least 90 per cent,” he also added.
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ATMA Convener Mortuza Haider Liton, ATMA's Co-Convener Nadira Kiron, Co-Convener Mizan Chowdhury and Hasan Shahriar of PROGGA, Lead Policy Advisor of Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids (CTFK) Bangladesh Md Mostafizur Rahman, and its Senior Policy Advisor Md Ataur Rahman also were present at the meeting.
