Place anti-tobacco ordinance before parliament on first day of first session: Campaigners urge govt

Anti-tobacco campaigners today demanded that the new government place the Smoking and Tobacco Products Usage (Control) (Amendment) Ordinance, 2025 before the parliament on the first day of its first session, to have it adopted as an act.

The ordinance, which was passed by the interim government in December last year, incorporating several stringent provisions to curb tobacco use, will lose its effectiveness unless it is adopted by the parliament within one month of its placement, they said.

Seven anti-tobacco non-government organisations placed the demands at a press conference at the Jatiya Press Club today.

The organisations are: National Heart Foundation Hospital and Research Institute, Dhaka Ahsania Mission, Development Organisation of the Rural Poor (DORP), Nari Moitri, Progga, PPRC and Ubinig.

Citing The Tobacco Atlas 2025, Aruna Sarkar, coordinator of the Tobacco Control Program at the National Heart Foundation, who presented the keynote, said approximately 21.3 million people aged 15 years and above in Bangladesh use tobacco, and nearly 200,000 people die each year from tobacco-related diseases -- an average of 545 deaths per day.

Scientific research confirms that secondhand smoke is as harmful as direct smoking. Therefore, protecting citizens from exposure to secondhand smoke is a responsibility of the state, she added.

Representatives from these organisations also spoke at the briefing with Prof Sohel Reza Choudhury, head Epidemiology and Research Department at the National Heart Foundation, in the chair.