Fisheries and Livestock Adviser Farida Akhter today said that tobacco companies must not have any role in amending the Tobacco Control Law.

“The government will never take such an anti-public interest step. Manipulations by tobacco companies have already delayed the amendment, and no further delay is acceptable. Just as the youth of Bangladesh once drove fascism out of the country, they must now lead the way in eradicating tobacco,” she said.

The adviser made the remarks while addressing a discussion titled “Ensuring Public Health Protection by Passing the Proposed Amendments to the Tobacco Control Law without Delay.”

The discussion was organized by Rural Poor-DORP at the CIRDAP auditorium in the capital.

DORP’s founder and chief executive, AHM Noman, delivered the welcome address, while the organization’s project coordinator, Zeba Afroza, presented the keynote paper outlining six key proposals aligned with the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).

These proposals included abolishing designated smoking areas in public places and transport, banning tobacco product displays at points of sale, prohibiting corporate social responsibility activities by tobacco companies, restricting e-cigarettes to protect youth, ending loose and retail sales of tobacco products, and expanding pictorial health warnings on packaging from 50 percent to 90 percent.

Speaking as a special guest, Md. Akhtaruzzaman, Director General of the National Tobacco Control Cell, noted that tobacco consumption kills 161,000 people annually in Bangladesh—an average of 442 every day—while millions more suffer from tobacco-related illnesses.

He rejected claims by tobacco companies that the amendments would lead to major revenue losses. “In reality, after the law was enacted in 2005 and amended in 2013, government revenue from tobacco increased 12.5 times in 18 years, even as tobacco use fell by 18 percent between 2009 and 2017. This proves reduced tobacco use does not harm government revenue,” he said.

Professor Dr. Golam Mohiuddin Faruq, President of the Bangladesh Cancer Society, criticized a decision by a review committee that announced plans to invite tobacco industry representatives to stakeholder discussions.