A puzzling policy turnaround

We are puzzled by the BNP government’s decision to reverse the ban on e-cigarettes and similar products. While many lauded the parliament’s approval of the Smoking and Tobacco Products Usage (Control) (Amendment) Ordinance earlier this month, a report in this daily points out how a crucial section imposing a ban on e-cigarettes was dropped before the bill’s passage. This particular section included an expansive definition of e-cigarettes and outlined an airtight ban on the production, import, export, storage, advertisement, promotion, endorsement, marketing, distribution, purchase, sale, and transport of various forms of e-cigarettes and their components. Additionally, when amending the Land Use Control and Agricultural Land Protection Ordinance ahead of approval, the ban on the cultivation of tobacco on triple-crop land was also lifted.

It must be noted that passing the tobacco ordinance without the provision banning e-cigarettes contradicts BNP’s own health services commitments to curbing tobacco consumption in its election manifesto, which is very disappointing. It is equally disturbing to see the responses of Ziauddin Hyder, an adviser to BNP Chairperson Tarique Rahman, when asked to comment on the reversal by this daily. His argument that the ban has been lifted so that research can be conducted on electronic tobacco products seems disingenuous. His assertion that there are too many regulations on tobacco cultivation already, and that there is no need for more, totally misses the point.

As anti-tobacco groups have pointed out, electronic tobacco products such as vapes are not only detrimental to public health, but they also act as a gateway for young people to develop nicotine addiction. Undoubtedly, the dropping of the aforementioned section would further weaken Bangladesh’s already weak tobacco control framework and may even encourage more of these products to flood the market.

While vapes are banned in as many as 41 countries around the world, including neighbouring India, and with the UK this week imposing a ban on tobacco use for anyone born after 2008, how can Bangladesh let slip the chance to tighten its tobacco control mechanisms? Can we afford such laxness in a country where more than 1.3 lakh people reportedly die each year from tobacco use? The evasive responses of government representatives when questioned about such backtracking are also least reassuring. This is reminiscent of the way previous political administrations brushed aside questions surrounding their policies.

Whether the decision to lift the ban on e-cigarettes is the result of backdoor influence or not, it is crucial that the government reverses it. Vaping is neither recreational nor harmless. In fact, it may even be more harmful in some ways than tobacco smoking. There is still time for the government to act in the public’s best interest by reinstating the dropped provision on the tobacco products usage and control law. We urge that it does so soon.