74.8% tobacco products sold without pictorial warnings: Study

Around 74.8 percent tobacco products are being marketed without any pictorial health warning violating law, according to a study.

Thirteen anti-tobacco organizations, which conducted a survey in eight divisional towns, revealed it today. 

According to the relevant law, no tobacco products can be marketed without pictorial warning after March 19, 2016 and doing so is a punishable offence.

Hasan Shahriyar, project coordinator of Progga, presented the findings at the capital's Press Club at 11:00am

Progga, ACD, Dhaka Ahsania Mission, BCCP, Shimantik,Ubinig Ipsha, National Heart Foundation, EC Bangladesh, WBBT Trust, Pratyasha, Aid Foundation and NATAB are among the anti-tobacco organisations who conducted the study.

At the programme, speakers of the organizations recommended that at least 50 percent of the face of the packets containing the tobacco products should have a pictorial health warning.

The government should fine the companies for violating the law and also introduce mobile courts to ensure implementation of the law, they said.

National professor Brigadier (retd) Abdul Malik, also founder and president of the National Heart Foundation Bangladesh, observed that most patients who come to the hospital suffer from diseases related to smoking such as cancer, heart and lung diseases etc.

He said that the pictorial warning is extremely important because it discourages smokers and creates a negative image in their minds against smoking.