PHA-Exchange> Preventing Smoking-More Drastic Measures Needed

[Mahbubul Tahin]

The Bangladesh Observer 
Dhaka, Monday November 25,2002 

Preventing   Smoking-More Drastic Measures Needed 

    Five hundred years of smoking should be enough for
any one, and even though it has come  500 
years too late,  if there is a hope for reigning in
this menace, we are all for  it . In Bangladesh alone
there are 200,000 new cases of cancer each year and as
more and more people fall victim, it
becomes clear that by allowing the tobacco companies
to hold sway over our lives, we have   made
a tragic error for which we are paying dearly. With
medical officials all over the world concerned
about the effect of smoking on people’s lives, it is
also clear that the public awareness   campaign  
must   be geared up. Thailand   adopted a novel way to
inform people of   the bad effects   from  
smoking    and   their cigarette packets   now   carry
  a   warning   sing   that   “Cigarette  
smoking   causes   impotence ``. 

    Although bans on smoking in public places and work
areas have had some effect, the  miserable
fact is that smoking is not going to decline much.
Britain has however, decided to take   more
drastic action to make people understand that by
smoking the put their lives at risk. As the
European Union and the British government step up
action against smoking, the plan is to print 
more graphic health warnings on cigarette packets,
which could include pictures of diseased  
hearts, lungs and brains. Stronger and larger written
warning on tobacco products, including
messages about the dangers of impotence and clogged
arteries, would be in place by this time  next
year. Pictures diseased organs on cigarette packets
might take longer, but officials stressed   Britain
was pressing for rapid legislation enforcing such
measures from Brussels. 

    Descriptions such as “mild” and larger would and
“light” would be banned while lists of additives
in different brands of cigarettes, and their health
effects, would be detailed each year by the
Department of Health. Cancer Research UK and the
British Heart Foundation will be given financial
help for developing more hard-hitting anti-smoking TV
and poster campaigns than at present.
Tackling smoking, which kills 120,000 people a year in
Britain, would make the biggest contribution
to improving public health as smoking is considered a
public health disaster. 

Predictably, tobacco manufacturer BAT is challenging
the legality of the bans on words such as
“light” and “mild”, saying they signal different
tastes and a ban would deny consumer choice.
Government insistence on bigger written warning and
graphic pictures would, they say, contravene
trademark legislation and the company’s intellectual
property rights. But the fact is, ”the poorer you
are the more likely you are to get sick and die
earlier-a disgrace in 21st century Britain and the
best
way the government could curb tobacco-related illness
would be to ban smoking in public places. 

The US-based NATT member ”IN FACT” is challenging the
US to reverse its friendly posture
toward the tobacco industry and to demonstrate its
commitment to public health as smoking will kill
10 million people, 7 million in developing countries
by 2003. We must therefore consider more
carefully what we should do to prevent this health
menace from claiming more lives. If not, our youth
will pay the price for our failure and tobacco
companies will be able to continue to hold sway over
millions of people’s lives. Although it may be true to
say that smoking is an adult choice, it is the
duty of governments to do all they can to educate
those adults into the known dangers. 

- 
Work for a Better Bangladesh 
House-49 Road-4/A 
Dhanmondi, Dhaka-1209, Bangladesh 
Ph- 880-2-9669781 Fax-880-2-8629271 
E-mail-wbb at pradeshta.net 
website: http://wbb.globalink.org 
  

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