Tobacco.org

Crime in districts on rise 

UNB, Barisal reports that a mobile court in a drive at the Barisal town on Monday fined 14 people for smoking in public places. The mobile court led by Administrative Magistrate Tarafdar Mahmudur Rahman launched anti-smoking drive at Fazlul Huq Avenue, Port Road, DC Office, Post Office, land revenue office Court Compound areas of the town on Monday noon. The court fined 14 people Tk 50 each as there were found smoking in public places.

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57,000 die of tobacco consumption every year 

High taxation on tobacco products was suggested Saturday in city to prevent much of the 57,000 deaths caused by smoking and other tobacco related diseases including cancer each year in the country, reports BSS.

"Tobacco claims 57,000 lives every year and leads 382,000 people to become disabled in Bangladesh," Helal Ahmed, an anti-smoking campaigner, said at a demonstration.

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Banks asked to discourage tobacco farming  

Bangladesh Bank (BB) will give directives to the public and private banks of the country to control tobacco use according to the provision of Tobacco Control Act

Besides, the central bank will also take initiatives to provide alternative jobs through Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) for the poor labours engaging in this sector. BB Governor Dr Atiur Rahman said this while sharing opinions with the representatives of Tamak Birodhi Jote (Anti-Tobacco Alliance) recently.

He said tobacco is bad for health. "Considering this BB will help the government from its standpoint The private organisations should work together to control other aspects related to tobacco control", said Atiur Rahman.

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Stop advertising, publicity of tobacco 

Bangladesh Anti-Tobacco Alliance and Protyasha yesterday jointly staged a symbolic sit-in programme in the city demanding an end to advertising, publicity and promotional activities of the tobacco companies.

Speakers at the programme in front of the National Museum at Shahbagh in the city stated the tobacco companies attract the youth generation to the tobacco applying various promotional activities in favour of tobacco use like advertising and publicity.

The tobacco companies display tobacco signboards and posters and award gifts and arrange different types of competition, though these are completely unlawful.

They also demanded punishment to law violating tobacco companies through driving mobile court. . . .

General Secretary of Partyasha Helal Ahmed, Rafiqul Islam, Kazi Anyet Hossain, Ibnul Sayeed Rana, Bidhan Chandra Pal and Shamsul Alam, among others, addressed the function.

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• Chewing tobacco intake double than smoking 

The prevalence of consuming chewing tobacco is almost double than smoking tobacco in the country, revealed a study yesterday.

At the dissemination programme of the research findings at the National Press Club in the city, it was also revealed that women are taking more chewing tobacco than men.

The prevalence of non-smoking tobacco chewing is 43.2 percent while the tobacco smoking is 23 percent in the country, the study showed.

It found that 42 percent men and 1.3 percent women are habituated to smoking tobacco. On the other hand, 34 percent men and 41 percent women are taking chewing tobacco that include jarda, gul and tobacco leaf.

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Tobacco cultivation going on in Nilphamari 

Instead of the cultivation of food grain, tobacco cultivation is going on in full swing as usual in Nilphamari district, creating grave concern among conscious people.

It is learnt from sources concerned that the farmers are more interested to grow tobacco than food grain as they earn more profits from cultivating tobacco than from growing food crops, although the present government is trying to dissuade them from cultivating tobacco and to grow more food with a view to coping with increasing food deficit prevailing in the region.

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• Tobacco law threatens farms 

One of those problems is that his family's line of work is now illegal in the UAE.

Legislation approved last week bans growing tobacco in the Emirates. Violators could face up to a year in prison and a fine of up to Dh1 million (US$272,250).

Hatta and neighbouring communities near the Oman border, about 120km south-east of Dubai, have been a centre of tobacco production in the region for centuries.

Today, the tobacco farmed in this area supplies most of the country's dokha, the pure tobacco used in traditional slender pipes, known as midwakh.

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Call for effective steps to curb tobacco consumption 

Speakers at a workshop Tuesday underscored the need for effective measures to control the use of smoking and non-smoking tobacco in order to save a large amount of people's funds and protect users from health hazards, reports UNB.

They said that imposition of higher taxes and duties on tobacco products could be a popular decision as 81 per cent people consider it an effective measure in reducing tobacco use without affecting government's revenue collection.

The workshop titled "Effective Utilisation of GATS Date for Tobacco Control Advocacy in Bangladesh" organised by Progga in cooperation with Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

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• Statement Regarding First Release of Global Adult Tobacco Survey Results by Bangladesh 

Bangladesh this week released its first Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) results. Many countries conduct surveys to monitor adult tobacco use, but until recently, no one standard global survey for adults has consistently tracked tobacco use, exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke, and tobacco control measures.

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• 70 pc smokers plan to give up: Awareness about bad effects on rise 

As over 5 million people die globally each year due to tobacco-related diseases, nearly 70 percent of the current smokers in Bangladesh are planning to quit smoking, according to a survey.

"More significantly, almost half of the current smokers (47.3 %) made attempts to give up smoking in the last 12 months," the survey says.

The survey titled 'Global Adult Tobacco Survey, Bangladesh Report 2009, is the first ever assessment made in Bangladesh in private sector using electronic means of data collection.

The National Institute of Preventive and Social Medicine (NIPSOM) in collaboration with Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) and the National Institute of Population Research and Training (NIPORT) conducted the survey. . . .

Researchers suggest formulation of a policy to make public places and offices 100-percent free from smoking and ensure its effective implementation.

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• Tobacco use among adults in Bangladesh reaches 43.3% 

Use of tobacco among adults in Bangladesh has increased to 43.3 percent this year, higher than the 37 percent of 2004, despite massive campaign and enactment of law, local media reported on Wednesday.

The report, titled "The Global Adult Tobacco Survey Bangladesh Report-2009" showed a total of 41.3 million people in the South Asian country are now in the habit of using tobacco -- either in the form of smoking or chewing, said a report of the leading English newspaper The Daily Star Wednesday.

According to the study, which was conducted on 11,200 households by the World Health Organization in association with the Bangladeshi government, 58 percent of the respondents are male and 28.7 percent are female. The prevalence of tobacco use in rural areas is 45.1 percent and 38.1 percent in urban area, it said.

The report also revealed an estimated 1 percent of the national income in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) is spent on purchase of cigarettes and 0.4 percent on bidis (a kind of locally manufactured tobacco).

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Bangladesh To Benefit From Tobacco Control Scheme 

The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union) has extended a helping hand to the Government of Bangladesh, a coalition of more than 300 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other groups to work together to implement its 2005 national tobacco control law.

As part of the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use (BI), since 2007 The Union has provided more than $US 1.5 million in technical and financial support to strengthen tobacco control efforts through improved cooperation between the government and NGOs.

"Assisting their collaboration ensures that tobacco control activities are cohesive and consequently more effective", said Dr Nils E Billo, Executive Director of The Union in a press release sent to Leadership Correspondent in New York.

Bangladesh is one of the top five tobacco-using countries in the world and one of the most densely populated.

"Changing the law is a major achievement, but implementing it fully will take time and action on many fronts", added Dr Billo.

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Tax hike on tobacco products in plan 

Health Minister AFM Ruhal Haque on Tuesday said the government has a plan to increase tax on tobacco products, especially bidi, so that the supply and consumption of these harmful stuffs can be cut down significantly.

"It's essential to have effective tobacco-control programme in the country to prevent premature deaths and disabilities as 57,000 people die owing to smoking every year in Bangladesh," he said.

He emphasised education for all which can be the best option to make smokers aware about its bad impact on health as the rate of smokers is higher among the uneducated people.

"Tobacco is more prevalent in rural areas (45.1 percent) than urban areas as people there are mostly uneducated. So, we want to make it costly so that people cannot afford it," the health minister said while addressing as chief guest the launching ceremony of 'Global Adult Tobacco Survey: Bangladesh Report 2009' at Hotel Sheraton in the city.

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• Tobacco farming increases again for maximum profits in greater Rangpur  

Farming of harmful tobacco has been increasing rapidly in recent years in greater Rangpur posing a threat to human and soil health when hectic efforts are on to discourage use of all tobacco products.

Many of the farmers are being attracted towards tobacco farming following more profits and lucrative incentives being given by the multinational and local tobacco companies in the area in recent years, the farmers told the national news agency.

A large number of farmers cultivated the harmful crop in two to three times more lands last year than that of the previous years and they are expected to bring even more land under tobacco farming this season in the area, they said.

The farmers told BSS that they cultivated tobacco on more lands last season than that of the previous years as the tobacco companies encouraged and provided them with adequate necessary inputs.

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Stop exhibiting use of tobacco in films  

Speakers at a human chain yesterday demanded immediate steps to stop the use of tobacco in dramas, films and electronic media to prevent the youths of the country picking up the tobacco habit including smoking.

They also called upon the government to take initiatives to implement Tobacco Control Law to save the new generation of the country from wrong path and destroying their lives.

'Pratyasha' Anti Drug Club and Work for a Better Bangladesh (WBB Trust) jointly formed the human chain in front of Fine Arts Faculty of Dhaka University. . . .

The speakers said that the children, juveniles and youths watch drama and films and tend to follow the actors and actresses. So they can easily be habituated in the use of tobacco following them, they added.

'If the government does not stop the use of tobacco in the drama, films and electronic media, the aims and objectives of formulating the Tobacco Control Law will be frustrated,' they said.

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