Change in law to check smoking on cards
The five-year old tobacco control law is going to be amended further shortly with effective control measures to reduce smoking and other forms of tobacco uses and check manipulation by the tobacco companies.
Officials from health and ministries concerned said a draft has been prepared, for which opinions from different stakeholders are now being collected to give it a final shape before sending it to the law ministry for vetting.
“I urge every concerned people to give specific opinions and suggestions to improve the draft law that would be placed soon before the policymakers for approval,” Joint Secretary of Health Ministry Dr Syed Umar Khyyam said on Wednesday.
Khyyam said the country was supposed to witness a slow pace of tobacco cultivation because of various government steps, but things happened opposite. The tobacco production has gone up in new areas, although the existing anti- tobacco law has an impact on smoking reduction.
The Tobacco Control Law was enacted in 2005 in line with the framework convention on tobacco control (FCTC), world's first public health treaty on tobacco control approved in the 56th world health assembly in 2003.
More than 169 countries have so far signed and ratified the treaty with Bangladesh becoming one of pioneering countries to implement it domestically.
The tobacco control law banned smoking in public places and schools and prohibited commercial advertisements in newspapers and television channels in Bangladesh.
But evidences show it fell short of addressing smokeless tobacco uses, expanded tobacco production in farmlands and many more issues that allowed companies to manipulate the law during the last five years.
“The law has just touched one aspect of tobacco use -- smoking, but overlooked the issue of tackling smokeless chewing tobacco and their supply line,” said Dr M Mostafa Zaman, national adviser of World Health Organisation (WHO) on non-communicable diseases.
Dr Zaman said FCTC's provision for making smoke-free zone was partly present in the law, while definition of so called 'public places' was very narrow that now applies only to restaurants and few other confined places.
The definition of public places needs to be widened, Dr Zaman said, adding that smoking should be banned at every educational institutions instead of existing provisions at 'schools' only.
Citing some other loopholes of the tobacco control law, he said Bangladesh is a place of seasonal fairs and festivals and smoking should be made illegal in these places as well.
He also said the law has prohibited direct commercial advertisements of tobacco products, but indirect publicity should also be stopped.
Dr Zaman urged the ministry officials to remain cautious about the conspiracies of the tobacco companies, whose hidden agents last time had twisted many provisions to make it a weak law.
Health Minister Dr AFM Ruhal Haque at a function recently reaffirmed his ministry's commitment to amend the law and make it time-befitting. He said use of chewing tobacco as well as the health risks of passive smokers should be given utmost importance during amendment of the law.
Statistics show that Bangladesh ranks eighth among 10 top tobacco-consuming countries in the world. The country earns nearly Tk 2,400 crore revenues from tobacco products while spends over Tk 5,000 crore for treatment of tobacco-related diseases, especially lung diseases and cancer.
More than 57,000 people above 30 years of age die of tobacco- related diseases, while 3.82 lakh become physically disabled in Bangladesh every year. The country produces 98,000 metric tonnes of tobacco on 49,000 hectares of land per annum.
Over 1.2 million people, out of 140 million populations, suffered in 2004 from eight tobacco-related diseases that include heart attack, stroke, paralysis, lung cancer, lung tuberculosis, asthma and tooth decay.
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