Increase duties, fines to curb smoking
Suggests Prothom Alo, Progga roundtable
Experts yesterday recommended innovative methods to create awareness about tobacco use and amending the tobacco control act by imposing higher duties on tobacco products and raising fines to prevent public smoking.
They also advocated accommodating pictorial warnings on tobacco products and creating mass awareness through media and mobile phone messages.
The recommendations came at a roundtable titled “Amendment to the Tobacco Control Act: Importance and Realityâ€, jointly organised by Progga and the daily Prothom Alo at the newspaper's conference room.
Mentioning the draft of tobacco control act, which was approved by the cabinet on Monday, Law Minister Shafique Ahmed said the draft emphasises two things -- punishing those who violate rules against tobacco use and preventing smoking.
The minister said there is still a scope for making recommendations regarding rules and regulations of the act.
Sayid Badrul Karim, chairman of Progga, said tobacco manufacturing companies are actually licenced killers.
Dr Arup Ratan Chowdhury of Birdem hospital suggested mobile companies create mass awareness about the dangers of tobacco use by sending informative short messages to the clients.
If people are bombarded by messages like “Smoking can cause heart diseaseâ€, it can deter them from smoking, he added.
According to Ruhul Amin Rushd, activist and senior news editor at Banglavision, tobacco companies must be brought under more scrutiny so that they stop targeting the young crowd, particularly university students.
Nazma Aktar, MP; Ishrat Chowdhury, technical advisor (Public Health) at International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease; Iqbal Masud, assistant director at Dhaka Ahsania Mission; Md Humayun Kabir, senior secretary at the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, spoke among others.
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