Tobacco must be controlled to save youths: Speaker

Mentioning that tobacco must be controlled to save youths of the country, Speaker of the Parliament Dr. Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury has said the amendment of existing Tobacco Control law is vital.

“Smoking among young people has risen in recent times, posing a threat to the country’s public health. Therefore, in addition to raising public awareness against the harmful effects of tobacco products, it is important to amend the existing tobacco control law and enforce it,” she said while talking to the ‘Bangladesh Parliamentary Forum for Health and Wellbeing’ at her office in Dhaka on Thursday, said a press release.

The Speaker said, “The government is taking numbers of initiatives to prevent Non-Communicable Disease. But if we could not control the use of tobacco products, all these initiatives will be useless.”

“The use of tobacco products including smoking is increasing among the youth in the country day by day. If we want to protect them, we have to take action immediately.”

Increasing of public awareness is a must, said the Speaker adding that “We have noticed, use of E-Cigarettes is also increasing. The ingredients in this heated tobacco are just as harmful as cigarettes. In order to implement a tobacco-free Bangladesh by 2040 as decelerated by the prime minister, we have to get out of this.”

Prof. Md. Habibe Millat MP, the chairman of Bangladesh Parliamentary Forum for Health & Wellbeing, discussed some key initiatives taken by MPs to tobacco control.

He said, “In every year, around 1 lack 62 thousand people died in Bangladesh, due to tobacco-related diseases. Tobacco is also the main cause of non-communicable diseases in our country. Because of tobacco, most of our health budget is spent on medical services.”

“We have to amend our existing tobacco control law to get rid of it. Along with it, an increase in tax and price on tobacco products are also necessary. Members of the Parliamentary forum are working on all of these.”