Home ›› 31 May 2023 ›› Opinion
Wednesday 31st May is ‘World No Tobacco Day 2023’. Like every year this year also the day will be celebrated properly in Bangladesh. And to strengthen the tobacco control programme in the world in 1987 World Health Assembly decided to celebrate one day of the year as World No Tobacco Day.
The first year, World No Tobacco Day was celebrated on April 7, 1988, but the World Health Assembly of the same year set the date as May 31. The day has been celebrated all over the world since 1989. Like other countries, Bangladesh officially celebrates the World No Tobacco Day on May 31 to raise awareness about the harmful effects of tobacco. But officially National Tobacco Free Day is not observed yet. It should be noted that since October 9, 2011, the anti-tobacco coalition in Bangladesh has been celebrating the National Tobacco Free Day across the country. In the past years, the organizations working on tobacco control throughout the country have held various programs including meetings, seminars, sit-in programs, rallies, focusing on the issues of amending the tobacco control law, increasing taxes, increasing smoking-free areas, providing pictorial health warnings on packets, increasing taxes on tobacco products, etcThe day is being celebrated throughThe use of tobacco and tobacco products is increasing the threat to public health day by day. Due to tobacco, heart disease, stroke, lung cancer, oral cavity cancer, diabetics, asthma are increasing. These diseases are fatal, treatment is expensive and long-term. Still, about 44 percent of the country’s adults use tobacco. Out of which some percentage uses tobacco through smoking and some percentage uses smokeless tobacco. However, the study found that the rate of smokeless tobacco use was higher among women than among men. Smokeless tobacco products such as bark, gull, white leaf etc. also cause irreparable loss of phosphorus. It contains more than 30 types of cancer-causing chemicals. Among these are certain types of nitrosamines, which have been shown to be responsible for lung cancer. In addition to lung, smokeless tobacco is also responsible for oral cavity, larynx and stomach cancer.
Tobacco products are available to buy at lowest prices in Bangladesh. As a result, tobacco use is higher among the poor. That is why the impact of tobacco on the economy of Bangladesh is very negative. More than twice the amount of revenue the government earns from all tobacco products is spent on the health sector to treat tobacco-related diseases.
According to the World Health Organization, tobacco use and secondhand smoke are responsible for about 12 per cent of heart disease deaths. Tobacco use ranks second only to hypertension as a cause of heart disease.
According to the latest data from the US-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), heart disease has risen from the 7th place to the 1st place in the list of causes of premature death in Bangladesh between 2005 and 2016, and the rate of change is about 53 percent. And tobacco ranks fourth as responsible for this death.
Smoking not only harms users, but also those around them cannot be immune from its harmful effects. Even if they don’t want to, they are exposed to secondhand smoke, causing health damage. Second-hand smoke causes both communicable and non-communicable diseases. Especially children, women and unborn children are affected. At the South Asian Speakers Conference held in 2016, the Prime Minister announced that Bangladesh should be tobacco-free by 2040 due to the dire health and economic risks posed by the use of tobacco products in the country.
The English word ‘tobaco’ for tobacco comes from the Spanish word ‘tabaco’. The word originates from the Arawakan language. The tobacco plant is native to North and South America. The dried leaves of the tobacco plant are called tobacco. Tobacco plants grow 12-18 inches tall. It is an addictive substance. Cigarettes, bidis, cigars, hookahs, and other smoking media are prepared by burning copper. Apart from smoking, tobacco is used in various ways as jorda, khaini, nasy. Nicotine, the main addictive substance in tobacco, is a neurotoxin that acts on a type of acetylcholine receptor (cholinergic acetylcholine receptor).
Initially, tobacco cultivation was low, but since the beginning of 2009-10, tobacco companies have been tempting farmers to increase the price of leaves. This enabled companies to bring more land and new districts under tobacco production than before. Extensive land has been brought under tobacco cultivation in various areas of the country, especially in Rangamati, Chalanbil, Natore, Jessore, Jhenaidah, Lalmonirhat, Rangpur, Rajbari, Manikganj, Paturia and Tangail. And most of the farmers in Bangladesh are poor. Even if they raise one crop at home, they do not have any money to produce new crops. Therefore, house crops are sold and used to grow new crops. Tobacco companies are profiting from their poverty. Farmers have turned to tobacco cultivation for providing other benefits including fertilizer and pesticides subject to conditions. Farmers are being forced to grow tobacco by the company’s multifaceted strategies. Due to this, tobacco cultivation has to be chosen reluctantly. For example, Tobacco Company is giving loan of 20 thousand rupees per acre of land, besides giving seeds and fertilizers. It is not possible to grow rice-jute or other crops on this land. As the price is low, the cost of planting cannot be recovered. And there are natural disasters. But the farmers believe that the income is high even though the labor is more in tobacco cultivation. Apart from this cultivation, no benefit can be made in vegetable cultivation for two consecutive years. Accepting the conditions given by the company, fertilizers and pesticides are available, but despite knowing the harmful aspects of tobacco cultivation, they are forced to grow tobacco. Various NGOs pointed out the harmful aspects of tobacco cultivation and suggested to grow alternative crops, but the farmers refused to accept it. Because planting new crops on tobacco land does not yield good results at first. So the farmers are leaning towards tobacco cultivation under the temptation given by the company.
Copper mainly contains the toxic substance nicotine. Also contains various carcinogens, such as polycyclic aromatic compounds such as benzopyrene. If the amount of tobacco in a cigarette enters the body, quick death is inevitable. However, smoking also causes a gradual reduction in life expectancy and tobacco has serious harmful effects on heart disease. Tobacco residue can enter the heart and cause fatal diseases including cancer. And because of this, most of the people are suffering from various diseases. The cause of death of Bangladesh’s legendary writer, novelist, dramatist and filmmaker Humayun Ahmed has been identified as colon cancer caused by smoking. According to a survey, 60,000 people die every year due to smoking in Bangladesh and 11,000 crores are spent due to tobacco.
And although the drug problem in Bangladesh is not as severe as in the West, the use of drugs is increasing. The backbone of a country is youth and youth. And the main victims of the brutality of this terrible death addiction are the youth and the youth. According to a survey, 80 percent of drug addicts are young people. Due to drugs, the youth and youth of our country are in dire straits today, they are losing vitality, creativity, morals and intelligence due to drug consumption. As a result, most of them are involved in various anti-social activities. Drug abuse is one of the causes of theft, robbery, extortion, murder and terrorism in the cities of this country. As a result of drug abuse and illegal trafficking, such as theft, robbery, extortion, murder and terrorism are increasing, law and order is also deterioratingTherefore, tobacco cultivation in food land is threatening food security, environment and public health. Tobacco cultivation is encroaching on various food storage lands. As a result of growing tobacco in the land, the amount of food production is decreasing. As a result, every year increasing population is facing shortage of food.
Tobacco cultivation is not only a threat to food security, but the cultivation, production, processing and marketing of this poisonous plant harms the public. During the season of picking tobacco leaves, women, men, children and teenagers all have to work in the field together. During this time the children go to school and work in the fields with their parents. As a result, it becomes difficult for children of tobacco farmers to continue their education. Thus, a large number of children are being deprived of the light of education due to disruption in their educational life.
Tobacco consumption is a serious bad habit. Statistics show that 161,000 people die of tobacco-related diseases in Bangladesh every year. Hundreds of thousands of people were crippled. Still about 4 crore adults in the country use tobacco. Due to this it causes diseases like cancer. There is no benefit in smoking and tobacco consumption even if it feels good temporarily. Tobacco smoke contains approximately 35 carcinogens and smokeless tobacco contains 24 carcinogens. Carcinogens are substances or chemicals that cause cancer or contribute to cancer. Besides being a carcinogen, copper contains nicotine, which causes intoxication and increases the sensitivity of blood vessels. The result is high blood pressure. Apart from this, it causes lesions inside the blood vessels and fatty substances accumulate there. As a result, blood flow is obstructed. Once upon a time
Blood circulation may be completely stopped. This can lead to stroke. Tobacco consumption can cause cancer in lungs, larynx, oral cavity, pharynx, esophagus, stomach, bladder, kidney, cervix, breast, pancreas. Apart from cancer, other diseases caused by smoking are high blood pressure, stroke, angina pectoris, asthma, bronchitis, putrefaction and some skin diseases. Another complication of tobacco use in pregnant women is low birth weight and small baby. So quit smoking and tobacco use today.
There are many smokers who have no shortage of willpower to quit. Because tobacco is addictive, it may take some time to quit.
Finally, I would like to say that tobacco products should be removed from the list of essential products by amending the Essential Products Control Act of 1956 as soon as possibleTobacco is the most litter producing product. Wherever cigarettes, bidis are consumed, its ashes and remains are thrown into the garbage. Where jorda, sadapata is eaten with betel leaves, red spittle spoils the environment. Gull users can be seen leaving small plastic bags lying around. In offices that are not smoking or tobacco-free, a container with sand is placed on the steps of the stairs, as if the end of a cigarette (butt) is put there, although smokers do not always have that feeling. These cigarette butts are found as litter on roads, railway stations, bus stands, seashores, and even hospitals or health centers. Ashtrays or ashtrays were kept in drawing rooms for smoking guests to dispose of their cigarette waste. Which when full creates garbage in the house. Most people who smoke in a bus or car easily throw their cigarette out the window; Those who go by boat throw it in the river, the passengers of the train sit outside while moving.
Although the cigarette butt looks like it is made of paper, it is actually a type of plastic, which is made of cellulose acetate (cellulose acetate) and contains hundreds of toxic chemicals. It will take at least 10 years for them to leach into the soil, and the chemicals they contain will remain in the environment for many more years. Around 4.5 trillion cigarette butts are littering the world. In Bangladesh, 12.3 million cigarettes are consumed regularly every day, that is, equivalent amount of trash is thrown away. Adding in the number of occasional smokers here creates even more litter. 7 crore 20 lakh bidis are consumed every day, equivalent amount of which is generated as garbage.
There are about 7000 chemicals in cigarettes which on one hand seriously harm health and on the other hand cigarette ends pollute soil and water. In this, small particles of plastic break down and the chemicals pollute the environment.
Tobacco, whether smoked or smokeless, is produced in a process that is extremely harmful to the environment.
And to build a tobacco-free Bangladesh, the ownership of tobacco companies must be abandoned. New areas of revenue generation need to be found, not tobacco. At the same time, it is expected that the government will play an effective role in implementing the Prime Minister’s declaration of ‘Tobacco-free country by 2040’ through the proper implementation of the guidelines published by the Ministry of Local Government to control the use of tobacco products. In that case, it can be said that one day in the future, production, supply and marketing of all types of tobacco products will be stopped in Bangladesh. In order to pave the way for this, it is necessary to exclude cigarettes from the list of daily necessities. Otherwise, it will be difficult to ensure the implementation of other laws. Therefore, a resistance movement against drug dealers should be developed. Care must be taken that no one becomes addicted to drugs by being curious about them. And those who have already become addicted to drugs should be brought back to a healthy normal life through proper treatment and rehabilitation. Remember, a drug addict is not crazy but he is sick, your supportive attitude can help a drug addict to return to a healthy normal life.
The writer is Chairman, Jatiya Rogi Kallyan Society. He can be contacted at drmazed96@gmail.com
