Strengthen anti-tobacco law to protect health of youth: Progga

Anti-tobacco campaign group Progga has urged the government to build a healthier Bangladesh by strengthening laws against tobacco and keeping youth from consuming it.

“A strong anti-tobacco law can protect the youth from tobacco’s poisonous embrace,” Progga said in a statement issued on Thursday, which is also World Youth Day.

The group demanded the tobacco control law be amended to reduce the chance of young people developing health complications due to smoking or chewing tobacco.

“Tobacco is a colossal impediment that needs to be overcome to build a healthy generation. To discourage the youth from tobacco the existing tobacco control law should be amended at the earliest opportunity to make it more time-fitting and strong,” ABM Zubair, executive director of Progga, said in the statement.

According to the latest information provided by Tobacco Atlas, there are over 172,000 tobacco users aged between 10 to 14 years in Bangladesh.

Getting addicted to tobacco at such an early age gradually decreases lung capacity and also hampers the natural growth of lungs with age, Progga said. 

Tobacco is also responsible for lung cancer, cardiovascular diseases, premature ageing, mental unrest and several other serious ailments.

According to the World Health Organisation, those who start consuming tobacco in their adolescence are three times more likely to become alcoholic and 22 times more likely to become cocaine-addicted.

It is not merely an addiction, but also a gateway to other disastrous addictions, Progga said.

In addition, tobacco products also facilitate COVID-19 infections and increase the risk of serious illness once infected.

To safeguard the youth from tobacco, the amendment must include banning the display of tobacco products at points of sale, banning the sale of single sticks of bidi and cigarette, banning the sale and import of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products, increasing the area of the Graphic Health Warning on tobacco packs to 90 percent, and eliminating provisions for designated smoking areas in public places and transportations, the group further added.