District administration has announced Nilphamari town as tobacco advisement-free town.
Alongside launching mass awareness programme, the local administration has strictly enforced the existing laws for stooping advertisement on tobacco and tobacco products in the district town.
Deputy Commissioner Nazia Shirin said, “We are working to stop any kinds of advertisements on tobacco as per the existing laws. We have made Nilphamari as tobaco-free town through creating awareness and enforcing laws.”
Executive magistrate of mobile court Mahbub Hasan said a total of 133 cases were filed against tobacco related advertisement during past three months and the government has amended the Smoking and Using of Tobacco Products (control) Act, 2005 by incorporating strong provisions removing loopholes that were in the law.
As per the tobacco law, all forms of tobacco advertising, promotional activities and sponsorship by tobacco companies have been banned.
World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) was observed today in the country as elsewhere in the world highlighting the health and additional risks associated with tobacco uses and advocating for effective policies to stop tobacco consumption.
This year’s theme for World No Tobacco Day is “Tobacco and Lung Health”.
According to a study in 2004 conducted by WHO, each year tobacco kills six million people worldwide and the death toll is likely to reach eight million a year if the current trend continues.
In Bangladesh, at least 57 thousand people die each year from eight tobacco related diseases. The rate of tobacco use in Bangladesh is one of the highest in the world. More than 43 percent of the adult population use tobacco in any form, reports BSS.