The local administration has announced Nilphamari district town as tobacco advisement-free town. The anti-tobacco activists are happy over the announcement.
Alongside launching mass awareness programme, the Nilphamari district administration has strictly enforced the existing laws for stooping advertisement on tobacco and tobacco products in the district town.
Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Nilphamari Nazia Shirin said, “We are working to stop any kinds of advertisements on tobacco as per the existing laws. We have made Nilphamari as tobaco-free town through creating awareness and enforcing laws.”
Executive magistrate of mobile court Mahbub Hasan said that a total of 133 cases were filed against tobacco related advertisement during last three months and the government has amended the ‘Smoking and Using of Tobacco Products (control) Act, 2005’ by incorporating strong provisions removing loopholes that were in the law.
As per the tobacco law, all forms of tobacco advertising, promotional activities and sponsorship by tobacco companies were banned.
Talking to the Bangladesh Post on Saturday, Technical Consultant of the Union Advocate Syed Mahbubul Alam Tahin said, “We welcome the initiative of Nilphamari district administration. We hope that the local administration will strictly implement their decision.”
Syed Mahbubul Alam Tahin said that the authorities concerned should take action against those who violate the law. It is unexpected that the Japan Tobacco Company recently used poet Rabindranath Tagore’s image in an advertisement of a program run by popular singer Tahsan Khan. The advertisement has been published in some leading newspapers. “We demand action against the tobacco company,” he said.
The World No Tobacco Day was observed on Friday (May 31) in the country as elsewhere in the world highlighting the health and additional risks associated with tobacco uses and advocating for effective policies to stop tobacco consumption.
This year’s theme for World No Tobacco Day was “Tobacco and Lung Health”.
According to a study in 2004 conducted by the WHO, each year tobacco kills six million people worldwide and the death toll is likely to reach eight million a year if the current trend continues.
In Bangladesh, at least 57 thousand people die each year from eight tobacco related diseases. The rate of tobacco use in Bangladesh is one of the highest in the world. More than 43 percent of the adult population use tobacco in any form.
