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State Minister for the Ministry of Religious Affairs has called for strengthening the tobacco control act to save the country from the curse of nicotine addiction.
“To save the country from the curse of tobacco, the tobacco control act must be further strengthened. When the honourable Prime Minister declared to rid the country of tobacco by 2040, she clearly pointed out the need to strengthen the tobacco control act along with rehauling the tax structure for tobacco products,” the state minister said.
He made the call as the chief guest at a dialogue titled ‘Strengthening Tobacco Control Act’, said a press release.
The dialogue, organised by Unnayan Shamannay, was held at the Bishwo Shahitto Kendro auditorium in the capital on Wednesday.
Professor Dr Atiur Rahman, chairperson of Unnayan Shamannay and former governor of Bangladesh Bank, presented the keynote paper at the programme.
In his keynote, Dr Rahman presented six points to strengthen the tobacco control act. These are: 01) cancelling the provision of designated smoking areas in all public places and public transport; 02) banning the display of tobacco products at points of sale; 03) banning the scope of CSR activity by tobacco companies; 04) increasing the area of tobacco product packages to be covered by pictorial warning messages; 05) banning the sales of single stick cigarettes/bidis and unpacked smoke-less tobacco products, and 06) banning e-cigarettes.
Members of parliament Aroma Dutta and Shirin Akhter were present as special guests at the function.
Representatives from different anti-tobacco organisations, media professionals and other stakeholders participated in the discussion.