Health Minister Dr Samanta Lal Sen held a meeting discussing strengthening the Tobacco Control Act with a delegation from PROGGA and the Anti-Tobacco Media Alliance (ATMA) at the secretariat on Wednesday.
“There is no alternative to preventing tobacco-related deaths and illnesses caused without strengthening the tobacco control law,” he said hailing the initiative to amend tobacco control law as ‘time-befitting’ one.
During the meeting, it was informed that currently (as per a 2017 WHO report) the prevalence of tobacco use among the adult population (15 y/o and above) stands at 35.3 per cent, which is quite concerning.
Realising the extent of tobacco’s devastating impact, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina voiced her commitment to build a tobacco-free country by 2040 and accordingly provided the directive to bring time-fitting changes to the tobacco control law, reads a press release.
The ongoing amendment process of the Smoking and Tobacco Products Usage (Control) (Amendment) Act 2013 has been taken as a step towards realising the prime minister’s directive.
Some of the proposals included in the draft amendment are eliminating Designated Smoking Areas (DSAs) in all public areas and public transports, banning the display of tobacco products, banning so-called corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes of the tobacco companies, banning the sale of loose tobacco products, banning the production, import and sales of e-cigarettes and other vaping products and increasing the area allotted for graphic health warning (GHW) to 90 per cent from existing 50 per cent.
The meeting’s attendees include 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, ABM Zubair, executive director of PROGGA, and Md Hasan Shahriar, head of Programs at PROGGA.
