With numerous court cases being brought against tobacco companies in the West, and with public opinion turning increasingly anti-smoking as well, the companies sought greener pastures to make up for their falling profits, finding new targets in developing countries, such as Bangladesh.
Now they’re here reaping unimaginable profits, selling cigarettes to poor, unsuspecting consumers, many of whom have no or at best an incomplete idea about the detrimental effects cigarettes have on their health.
Unlike in the West, where consumers have been bombarded with the facts, here in Bangladesh, there remains a massive difference between what producers and consumers know.
Consumers in the West are well-aware of the link between cigarettes and lung cancer, as well as other health problems, due to public health education and the companies following through with legal requirements to put warning labels on all packs, not to mention the numerous no-smoking campaigns.
In Bangladesh, however, for years tobacco companies took advantage of the lax enforcement of laws, not bothering with warning labels, although that has now changed.
Warning labels are now included on all packs, both foreign-made and Bangladeshi ones, for the most part, but the damage is already done to those who began smoking years ago.
The tobacco companies should be held accountable for their actions. One way to ensure this happens is to mandate that they contribute funds for public health, as they do in the West. This should be the price for the privilege of being allowed to sell their product in the first place.
Developed nations have already held the tobacco companies accountable for their actions.
Is it not time for us to follow suit?
