Bangladesh Health Reporters Forum has said that taking opinions from tobacco companies in the process of amending the tobacco control law is unacceptable, terming it a violation of the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Article 5.3 and a serious threat to public health.
Speaking at a workshop in Dhaka on Wednesday, organised by the forum in association with the National Heart Foundation of Bangladesh, they urged the government to immediately withdraw from the decision to collect tobacco companies’ opinions under the banner of stakeholder meetings.
Professor Sohel Reza Choudhury, head of the Department of Epidemiology and Research at the National Heart Foundation Hospital and Research Institute, said tobacco is one of the leading causes of heart disease, cancer and respiratory illnesses. He noted that in Bangladesh, more than 161,000 people die every year from tobacco-related diseases, while over 400,000 are left disabled. Citing WHO data, he said about 38.4 million adults are exposed to second-hand smoke in public places and on public transport every day.
“To prevent this alarming situation, the existing tobacco control law must be amended without delay,” said Professor Choudhury, calling on the government to approve the amendment proposed by the health ministry in the upcoming meeting of the Advisory Committee on Government Procurement.
Forum president Rashed Rabbi said tobacco use claims an average of 442 lives every day in Bangladesh, and the government’s delay in revising the law will only increase preventable deaths. He said the interim government came to power with a pledge for reforms, yet in the past year no effective action on the law has been seen. Instead, influenced by misinformation from tobacco companies, it has decided to take their views in stakeholder meetings, which he described as a clear breach of the WHO convention.
Journalists at the workshop said tobacco companies have no interest in public health and involving them in policymaking means ignoring public interest. They noted that the 13 July meeting of the advisory committee decided to seek input from the tobacco industry on the draft amendment, which they called completely unacceptable.
Speakers explained that the health ministry’s six key proposals include closing all Designated Smoking Areas to make public places and transport completely smoke-free, banning product displays at sales points to deter youth, prohibiting corporate social responsibility activities of tobacco companies, protecting young people from e-cigarettes and other emerging tobacco products, increasing pictorial health warnings on packs from 50 per cent to 90 per cent, and banning the sale of single sticks, unpackaged and loose smokeless tobacco products.
The workshop was attended by the National Heart Foundation’s tobacco control project adviser Naimul Azam Khan, coordinator Dr Aruna Sarker, senior communications officer Abu Zafar, Reporters Unity general secretary Mainul Hasan Sohel and other media representatives.