A research report has revealed the information that 62 per cent of tobacco packets and containers in Bangladesh were found without graphic health warning (GPW) on both sides.
Md Bazlur Rahman, member secretary and project director of Tobacco Control and Research Cell (TCRC), and Farhana Zaman Liza, assistant researcher and program manager of the TCRC, said that the graphic health warnings are not being printed on both sides of 62 per cent of the packets of tobacco products.
The duo and some others were involved in the two-year research work. They unveiled their research information at an event titled ‘Implementation of Graphic Health Warning on Tobacco Products: Current Status’ at Hotel Dhaka Golden Inn in the capital on Sunday (January 30). The TCRC of Dhaka International University (DIU) and the Bangladesh Anti-Tobacco Alliance (BATA) jointly arranged the event.
Md Bazlur Rahman, who is also an associate professor of DIU, and Farhana Zaman Liza in their separate reports said that the rate of graphic health warning increased by four per cent compared to the previous year and stands at 82 per cent.
However, public health experts and tobacco control experts opined that this is not enough. Because the GPW is not printed on both sides of the 62% packets. They demanded that the rate of the graphic health warning be increased from 50 per cent to 90 per cent.
Prof Dr Ganesh Chandra Saha, vice-chancellor of DIU, spoke on the occasion as the chief guest, with Helal Ahmed, BATA’s acting coordinator, in the chair. It was attended, among others, by Prof Dr Sohail Reza Chowdhury of Heart Foundation; Syed Mahbubul Alam Tahin, technical adviser of The Union; SM Abdullah, an associate professor of Department of Economics at Dhaka University; Nasir Uddin Sheikh, country manager of Vital Strategies; Prof Shah Alam Chowdhury of DIU; Dr AFM Sarwar; Aminul Islam Bakul; Khalil Ullah; Siddik Alam Khan; Ehsanul Haque Jasim and Md Mohiuddin.
In her keynote, Farhana Zaman Liza said that as per the law, all tobacco products must provide graphic health warning properly. The TCRC from September 2021 to December 2021 collected a total of 1552 tobacco packets from 24 districts in eight divisions of the country to find out the current status of implementation of graphic health warning.
According to her, a number of issues were raised in the TCRC study. These include 82% of tobacco products contain graphic health warning; this warning is not printed on both sides of the 62% of packets; the GPW is printed in 58% of wrappings; the GPW is printed on the top of 28% of packets; 4% did not provide text message with pictures; 4% of the packets are seen printing pictures of neighboring countries without the pictures provided by the Bangladeshi law; 18% of warnings are not printed in black and white; and 71% of bidi wrappers were found to be covered with GPW bandroll.
In his speech, Syed Mahbubul Alam Tahin said that research output should be used in advocacy, while it should also be published in academic journals for proper documentation. “It is often seen that many biased researches of tobacco companies are published, but our standard researches are not published in a proper way. We need to focus on publicity. On the other hand, DC, Civil Surgeon and other concerned should be requested to take necessary steps in order to take effective action,” he added.
Prof Ganesh Chandra Saha said that the work of anti-tobacco organisations needs coordination. The organisations need to play a stronger role against the tobacco companies.
Prof Dr Sohail Reza Chowdhury said that advocacy needs to be strengthened to change the policy. SM Abdullah said it is important to implement laws and policies in this regard.
In his presidential speech, Helal Ahmed said that TCRC is the first private university in Bangladesh to have a tobacco control research cell. Other public and private universities in the country may follow this.
