Bangladesh: Activists Fear Anti-tobacco Law May ''Stumble''

Source from:  Dhaka Tribune (bd)  05/21/2013

An anti-tobacco law which parliament passed recently could "stumble" if proper implementation and monitoring were not ensured, anti-tobacco activists said on Sunday.

Parliament recently passed an amendment to the anti-tobacco law with strict provisions about tobacco promotion. Activists, however, fear it may turn into "another fruitless measure" in the war against nicotine products.

The concerns were expressed yesterday at a workshop organised by Anti-Tobacco Media Alliance (Atma), a platform of journalists, and Progga, an NGO promoting a tobacco-free society.

Dr Mahfuzul Haq, technical officer of WHO in Bangladesh, said countering the marketing strategy of the billion-dollar industry was a complex issue. "We have to understand that as a product, tobacco is not a normal one. It is probably the single product in the world that is legal yet deadly."

To effectively counter the industry's promotional activities, proper studies were needed based on sound methodology and credible data, he said, adding since businessmen were not likely to cooperate by disclosing their strategy, data collection "can be a really tough job."

He said 19 countries, representing 425m people or 6% of the world's population, have now put into place comprehensive measures to eliminate tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship. This was 80m more people protected than in 2008.

Of these countries, nine are classified as middle-income, six as low-income and four as high-income. On the other hand, 74 countries have little or no restrictions at all, he added.

"We now have a strict law in our hands and we need to define our position as a country in tobacco control in the global arena," he said.

Taifur Rahman, advocacy and media coordinator of the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids (CTFK), said legal restrictions on tobacco promotion was necessary. "Tobacco promotion is mainly aimed at luring young people into smoking. Therefore, effective restriction on its promotion will have a tremendous impact on smoking initiation. Young people respond more to promotional activities. Thus, the main purpose of restricting tobacco promotion is to ensure that young people do not start using tobacco," he said.

He said the scope of "point-of-sale" advertisements was a major weakness in the tobacco control law, and that the tobacco industry took full advantage of it in the absence of advertisements in the mainstream media.

"Now, we have an amended tobacco control act with which point-of-sale advertising has been prohibited. If the act can be implemented properly, the war against tobacco will get a new dimension. If not, it will fall flat on its face just like many other regulations," he said.

Experts argued that the "jinx of tobacco" can be broken only through continuous advocacy and campaigning against it in the media, and with a strong commitment from the authorities to the law's implementation. Enditem