At least 43% of the population above 15 years of age used tobacco in Bangladesh last year, while tobacco consumption caused as many as 160,000 deaths in the county in 2016.
Anti-tobacco campaigners at a press conference in the city on Monday said this in reference to the findings of a study conducted last year by Washington-based independent population health research centre, Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME).
Demanding a hike in tobacco tax, the campaigners also referred to the IHME study - Global Burden of Disease Study 2017 - to note that total economic cost of tobacco use from lost productivity and direct healthcare costs of smoking-related illness is Tk158.6 billion or 1.4% of Bangladesh's GDP.
Seven organizations jointly held the press brief on 'A Call to the Public Leaders for Making a Strict Tax Law for Tobacco Products to Decrease the Diseases and Death Caused by Tobacco' at National Press Club.
The organizations are Bangladesh Anti-Tobacco Alliance (BATA), Bureau of Economic Research of Dhaka University, Bangladesh Cancer Society, Bangladesh Lung Foundation, Doctors for Health and Environment, Women's Alliance to Tobacco Control, and Work for Better Bangladesh.
The speakers said consumption of tobacco products is the first step of drug consumption while a great portion of new tobacco users is young. So it is high time to stop them from using tobacco, they said.
They came up with the demand to increase the tax on tobacco products, as the move would help increase tobacco prices and thereby discourage people from tobacco use.
Mentioning the strict tax law of Norway, Canada, South Africa and Thailand, they said in Bangladesh at least eight percent of tobacco consumption decreased in the last eight years, which was made possible by the government's anti-tobacco initiatives but tobacco use still remains high.
Fahmida Aktar of Women's Allaince to Tobacco Control said tobacco use would come down if the existing law on tobacco was properly implemented.
Dr Hena Khatun, member secretary of Bangladesh Lung Foundation said the prime reason of lung diseases in Bangladesh is smoking, and at least 90% of the time lung cancer is caused by tobacco use.
Romana Haq, Bureau of Economic Research of Dhaka University, said increasing the tax on only premium brands of cigarette would not help. Rather tax has to be increased on all tobacco products regardless of premium brand to local brands and smokeless tobacco products.
She said along with other measures like awareness building, price increasing of the products also help to reduce tobacco consumption.
