A momentous move to cut down smoking

Smoking cigarettes is a severe burden on our society. It works like a double edged sword particularly for the poor. On the one hand it takes its toll on their health, on the other it diverts money away from the purchase of food and other essential items.

Think about the rickshaw pullers. Their hard labour demands more calories and nutrition. Many of them are heavy smokers and buy more cigarettes and less food. They deprive themselves of nutrition and calorie and inhale poison instead. Thus they are doubly affected and fall easy prey to tuberculosis, asthma, bronchitis and broken health at an early age.

It has been proved beyond doubt that smoking cigarette is much more harmful for health than it was first thought of in the fifties of the last century. Tobacco smoke contains more than 4000 chemicals, many of which are known to be cancer-causing agents.

Smoking cigarettes increases the risk of lung cancer. It may cause other types of cancer like leukemia and cancer of the kidneys, pancreas, stomach and cervix. Lung damage from smoking increases the risk of pneumonia, bronchitis and emphysema, a disease that slowly rots the lungs. Smokers are also more susceptible to getting colds and the flu. Smoking substantially increases the risk of cardiovascular disease including stroke, heart attack, aortic aneurysms and sudden death. Smoking cigarettes increase the risk of poor blood circulation and hardening of the arteries and lowers the level of high density lipoprotein (HDL), the "good" cholesterol. Smokers are also at great risk of developing stomach ulcers. Two leading causes of blindness in older adults -- cataracts and macular generation -- are more common in smokers. Smoking may cause complications form diabetes, wound infections and reproductive problems. Thus smoking can cause disease in nearly every organ of the body.

The new law that Dr. Mosharraf Hossain piloted through parliament bans smoking in public places and transports with provision for penalty. The category of public places include educational institutions, government, semi-government and autonomous offices, libraries, lifts, hospitals, clinics, court buildings, airports, sea and river port buildings, railway stations, bus terminals, ferries, cinema halls, covered exhibition centres, theatres, children's parks and other places designated by gazette notifications.

Prohibiting smoking in public places was long overdue. Such smoking seems to be a criminal act. You may hurt yourself knowingly, but you have no right to hurt others. Indirect smoke or passive smoke poses threat to the health of the nonsmokers. It is often found that insensible people puff smoke in a crowded bus or the like. They do not even have an iota of consideration for women or children around. Smokers do not pay any heed to those who even politely request them not to smoke in that environment. Not only that, we frequently hear the loud voice of defiance of the smokers. The newly introduced law will give moral courage to a sufferer to oppose such offenders.

The purpose of an advertisement is to promote a product, allure people to buy it and boost the sale. The flashy billboards, colourful ads for cigarettes in the dailies and on the television with 'Statutory Warning : Smoking is bad for health' is a mockery and hypocrisy. It entices smokers to buy more cigarettes; it allures young nonsmokers to fall in the trap of smoking. Arranging competition and making any offer of scholarship or donation to publicise tobacco products offend a sensible mind. The net result of all these is constant rise of number of smokers and increase of consumption of cigarettes in the society. According to the new law, putting up billboards and printing leaflets and handbills or any other documents, including films and videotapes containing advertisement of tobacco are banned. This new law will definitely help to curb smoking in Bangladesh.

Along with the restriction on smoking and ban on advertisement of cigarettes, there should be an increasing awareness campaign against smoking. Let there be a culture of dislike for this multifaceted evil. Particularly let the young generation develop a distaste for the destructive habit. Habitual smokers should be motivated to quit smoking. Smokers often fear that they have smoked for so long that it is too late to derive benefit from stopping. They are wrong. It is true that the sooner in life a person quits smoking, the greater the benefit he or she will gain. However, in most cases, no matter how long or how heavily a person has smoked, quitting smoking reduces a smoker's risk of disease and increases life expectancy. Smokers who quit also avoid exposing their families to passive smoke and set a good example for their children, who are less likely to smoke if their parents do not.

In spite of lobbying and pressure otherwise, the bold step of the government to introduce this historic law is highly commendable. We are hopeful that the law will be implemented effectively and will not be flouted or ignored. We share the dream of Dr. Khandakar Mosharraf Hossain that the new law will have effect on the health and life of mass people in the whole of the country. Bangladeshis as a nation have a hunger for doing something good collectively, achieving something that will enhance their image. This law has given the opportunity not only to free the nation from the burden of smoking, but to set an example for other developing nations where the curse of smoking is ever increasing.

Dr. M. Aminul Islam Pro-Vice-Chancellor, National University