"Stronger anti-tobacco law is needed to reduce consumption"

Health and Family Welfare Minister Professor Dr Samanta Lal Sen today laid emphasis on strengthening tobacco control law to discourage people from consuming tobacco and tobacco products.

"There is no alternative to stronger anti-tobacco law. A stronger tobacco control law is a must to reduce the death toll caused by tobacco," he said while speaking at the Secretariat here during a meeting with delegations from PROGGA (Knowledge for Progress) and Anti-Tobacco Media Alliance (ATMA).

During the meeting, Senior Journalist Manzurul Ahsan Bulbul and Programme Manager of Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids (CTFK) Md Abdus Salam Mian, Executive Director of PROGGA ABM Zubair and ATMA Convenor Mortuza Haider Liton, among others, were present on the occasion.

Realising the extent of tobacco’s devastating impact, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina voiced her commitment to build a tobacco-free country by 2040 and accordingly provided the directive to bring time-fitting changes to the tobacco control law.


The ongoing amendment process of the Smoking and Tobacco Products Usage (Control) (Amendment) Act 2013 has been taken as a step towards realising the prime minister’s commitment.

Among others, Senior Journalist Monjurul Ahsan Bulbul, Mortuza Haider Liton, convener of ATMA, Mizan Chowdhury, co-convenor of ATMA, MD. Abdus Salam Mia, Bangladesh Programme Manager, Campaign for Tobacco-free Kids (CTFK), ABM Zubair, executive director, PROGGA, and Md. Hasan Shahriar, head of programmes, PROGGA, were also present.