In need of strong steps to stop smoking

Goutam Gourab Barua "Smoking is pernicious to health" - a small quotation is written in every cigarette packets. Anyone who can read, just read it and then starts to smoke. This has become a common scenario in Bangladesh. Only those who have strong determination to relinquish smoking have become successful. Therefore, the government of Bangladesh should take strong steps to stop those who are reluctant to give-up smoking and also prevent entering newcomers. Rising price through taking huge tax from cigarette - manifesting companies are just yielding revenue for government but not doing any good to smokers. It is proven because the number of smokers is incrementing day by day in Bangladesh. Recently, a gallant piece of legislation has been enacted by the Australian government to lessen the habit of smoking. From December next year, cigarettes will have to be sold there in plain olive packets, with no mention of the brand. They would continue to show graphic images of the harm that smoking can causes. Similar moves have been taken in Europe, New Zealand and Canada. We hope Bangladesh which has more than 21.9 million smokers will adopt a similar kind of move and take befitting steps to abate smoking. Especially these graphic images will help to understand the bad-effects of smoking among 16.6 million rural smokers, as people there are mostly illiterate. It is notable that Bangladesh has its own laws on smoking. But the most culpable is that these laws are abortive and puny. Laws like not smoking publicly and creating smoking zone have became a myth. Today when the smoking-related problems are getting bigger and bigger (57000 deaths and 382000 disabilities for using tobacco), it is high time for the government to take some pragmatic, bold and effective steps to reduce smoking. The first and foremost amendment should relate to reducing the size of each stick of cigarettes with the price remaining the same. This will decrease the quantity of smoking of tobacco through cigarettes. Rehabilitation programmes should be popularized. Incentives like giving bikes, flats etc., to lucky ones will help such programmes to become more popular. All small advertising posters of cigarettes in tea-stalls and stores should be banned. And the most important thing to do is to ensure that the laws are effectively enforced. By taking such, steps, we can hope for a better smoke-free Bangladesh. *All numerical Data have been collected from: the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The writer is at Development of Economics, Jahangirnagar University and can be reached at email- gourab.goutam@gmail.com