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<font size=5><b>Call to enact tobacco Control Law<br>
</b></font>The independent, Saturday 1, 2003<br>
<br>
<br>
A total of 118 Physicians yesterday urged the government to enact tobacco
control law immediately aiming to protect public health. <br>
<br>
In a joint-statement the physicians under the banner of Madok
Drabya-O-Nesha birodhi Council (Manobik) also called for imposing band on
all kinds of advertisements of cigarettes on the mass media. As the
demand of tobacco products in dwindling in the developed countries,
multinational drug and tobacco companies have shifted their attention to
the poor countries in a bid to occupy market says the statement.<br>
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Formulating the anti-tobacco act in Bangladesh and its effective
enforcement is a demand of the day as many developed nations have already
framed such an act, the statement said. <br>
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The World Health Organisation is going to strike a deal on Framework
Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) soon to protect world people from
the detrimental effects o tobacco and tobacco related items.
According to physicians, smoks of cigarettes contain over 4,000 toxic
elements, including Carbon monoxide, methanol, DDT, tar, naphthalene,
Benzopyrin and cyanide. <br>
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These also harmful chemicals are responsible for 50 percent of lung
cancer incidence in Bangladesh,they said. <br>
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Many developed countries, including Canada, Australia and Brazil have
made it mandatory for the tobacco companies to publish cautionary
pictures of drug-related diseases on the packets of cigarettes said the
statement, adding Bangladesh should also replicate this
method. <br>
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<i>FWD: Syed Mahbubul Alam Tahin <br>
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--<br>
<b>Work for a Better Bangladesh<br>
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