Smoking related diseases kill 1.61 lakh people every year
Staff Reporter :
Around 1.61 lakh people lose their lives every year due to various tobacco-related diseases in Bangladesh and it is because of the country’s failure to meet the best standards concerning smoke-free environments and the prohibition of tobacco advertising and promotion.
At least 3.78 crore adults are tobacco users, while an additional 3.84 crore adults are exposed to secondhand smoke in public places, including workplaces and public transport.
Organisers of the United Forum Against Tobacco and National Heart Foundation of Bangladesh said this through a press conference at Jatiya Press Club on Saturday.
Considering the consequences of smoking as health hazard, they have demanded of the government to amend the ‘Smoking and Use of Tobacco Products (Control) Act, 2005, (amended in 2013)’further incorporating more stringent provisions, rules and prohibitions.
According to experts, smoking related diseases include heart ailments, stroke, diabetes, cancer, and immune system disorders.
Currently, non-communicable diseases account for 67 per cent of total deaths in Bangladesh, with smoking and tobacco product use being the primary causes, they said.
In the press conference, Professor Sohel Reza Choudhury, Head of Epidemiology & Research at the National Heart Foundation
Hospital and Research Institute, highlighted the alarming rise of non-communicable diseases in the country due to the use of tobacco products.
To prevent premature deaths associated with smoking related diseases, Professor Sohel Reza Choudhury strongly demands that the draft of the Tobacco Control Act prepared by the Ministry of Health be passed in the upcoming Parliament session.
Besides, various anti-tobacco organisations including the United Forum Against Tobacco and the National Heart Foundation of Bangladesh and more than 15,000 individuals recommended that the Smoking and Use of Tobacco Products (Control) Act, 2005 (amended in 2013) be modernized and brought up to global standards.
The experts suggested repealing sections 4 and 7 of the Act, i.e. banning ‘designated smoking areas’ in all public places and public transport; Prohibition of display of tobacco products in places of sale of tobacco products; Total ban on any corporate social responsibility (CSR) program by tobacco companies; Increase the size of pictorial health warnings on tobacco product packets/cartons from 50 per cent to 90 per cent, banning the retail sale of bidi-cigarettes, unwrapped and open smokeless tobacco products and completely banning all emerging tobacco products including e-cigarettes.
