State Minister for Women and Children and Social Welfare Farzana Sharmin said that the Tobacco Control Ordinance raised in the first session of Parliament will be passed into law for the health protection of women, children and youth.
He made this comment while speaking as the chief guest at the youth conference organized by Nari Maitri at Bangla Academy poet Shamsur Rahman seminar room yesterday.
Farzana Sharmin said, ‘One of the ordinances we have agreed on is the Permitted Smoking and Use of Tobacco Products (Control) (Amendment) Ordinance, 2025. This ordinance is of great importance both in terms of public health and economy. As we have all agreed on this Ordinance, it will be passed into law within the stipulated time of the first session in compliance with the obligations of the Parliament.’
It was informed in the conference, according to Tobacco Atlas 2025, about 2 lakh people die of tobacco-related diseases in Bangladesh annually, which is an average of about 546 people per day. According to the recent research data of the Institute of Health Economics of Dhaka University, the revenue from the tobacco sector in the year 2024-25 was about Tk 41 thousand crores, on the other hand, death due to tobacco use, other health damage and damage to the environment was about Tk 87 thousand crores annually. That is, the loss is more than double the revenue received.
The ‘Smoking and Tobacco Use (Control) (Amendment) Ordinance, 2025’ proposed by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare was approved in the meeting of the Advisory Council on Prevention of Premature Death and Public Health Protection on December 24 last year. Prohibition of smoking and use of tobacco products in public places and public transport in approved ordinances; Prohibition of all forms of advertising, promotion and sponsorship of tobacco products in any medium including print, electronic, social media, OTT and digital media including prohibition of display of tobacco products at the point of sale; Other important issues included banning the sale of tobacco products within 100 meters of educational institutions, hospitals and sports venues and provision of pictorial health warnings to be printed on tobacco product packets covering 75 percent of the area instead of the existing 50 percent.
The president of Bangladesh Cancer Society was present as a special guest in the meeting. Ghulam Mohiuddin Farooq. He said that the basic responsibility of the state is to protect public health. The government gives us more money to treat tobacco-related diseases than the tobacco companies do in revenue. But we don’t want that. We want no one to get this disease. And that is why the Tobacco Control Ordinance needs to be passed into law in the very first session of Parliament.
Tasfia Nowreen, a member of Nari Maitri Anti-Tobacco Youth Forum, said that according to the latest census (2022), about 28 percent of the total population of Bangladesh is young. The progress of the country is not possible without passing this young population. Because the main target of tobacco companies is this young population. Therefore, the newly elected government should turn the Tobacco Control Ordinance into a law in the first session of the Parliament by stopping this strategy of the tobacco companies. Because they promised this in their election manifesto. Therefore, I strongly demand to pass the ordinance and turn it into a law to protect the election promise.
