Dr. Md. Shairul Mashreque and Dr. M. Abul Kashem Mozumder :
Only legislative intervention for controlling smoking is not enough. The government ought to ensure strict implementation of smoking and tobacco product control act. Implementation measures may well be undertaken for creating smoking-free public places, transports, meetings and gatherings. All advertisements for tobacco products should be stopped. Any act of violation must be liable to prosecution. Previously advertises about smoking appearing on TV and news papers encouraged smoking. Now any advertisement in connection with tobacco and cigarettes /biri illegal. Cigarettes are available as there is no ban on their marketing and selling. They are available in pan-biri shops and in any groceries. There is a statutory waning on the on every cigarette packet like’ smoking is injurious to health-a sort of anti-smoking campaigning. Despite this warning there is no reduction on the use of cigarettes and tobacco. We see cigarette advertisement on billboard with the statutory warning.
Ant- tobacco activists observed ‘no tobacco day holding various programmes expressing grave concerns over the tobacco companies promoting tobacco use. They pointed at the need for awareness building on the dangers of smoking and the use of tobacco products. The Bangladesh Anti-tobacco Alliance (BATA) alleged that ‘tobacco companies are violating tobacco control law illegally doing advertisement promoting addiction and smoking.’ They think that punishment should be given to those tobacco companies who encourage smoking and tobacco consumption through sponsorship of tobacco. We agree with the views of the anti- tobacco activists that tobacco companies and shop keepers should not be allowed to do any advertisement making sign and symbols for tobacco and promotion of tobacco products. We know using tobacco in film, TV and drama are banned, but in this case rules and regulations are grossly violated
Although most of us are aware of the health dangers associated with smoking, millions of South Africans still light up. This is unfortunate because smoking puts you at risk of developing illnesses such as lung cancer, chronic lung diseases and heart disease.
Research shows that cigarettes will kill half of those who smoke. Tobacco contains nicotine, a highly addictive drug that you start to crave when you are without it. This is what makes it so difficult to give up. Your body and brain soon starts to need nicotine in order to feel good, resulting in addiction.
We cannot feel the suffering of the oral patients better than sufferers themselves. . After realizing severity of the ill-effects of tobacco, some of these patients have turned into anti-tobacco crusaders pleading for giving up addiction. They may happen to prevent others, especially the younger generation, from taking to tobacco use. ‘Besides these addicts turned crusaders, there are those running anti-tobacco campaign because they are either closely related to cancer victims or who have suffered cancer despite never having consumed tobacco.’
In Bangladesh some professional medical practioners and health officers carry forward anti-tobacco campaigning participating in talk shows and seminars. They try to make it clear that how smoking ruins a person leading him onto death being a silent killer. Even cigarette smokes harm non-smokers when he come in touch with any smokers.
National NGOs try to give anti-tobacco advocacy through project intervention. The change catalysts work with a missionary zeal to purge the society from the evils of intoxication and addiction. They approach the project beneficiaries with motivation techniques. They organize the movement with signature collection.
Effective mass media campaigns are a key part of any tobacco control intervention. For, they can help prevent young people from starting to smoke, encouraging smokers to give it up. ‘ Mass media campaigns are critical because they can create population-wise changes in knowledge about tobacco, attitudes toward tobacco use, and behaviour change amongst users and non-users alike
An expert commented that ‘campaign commercials might be effectively adapted at different levels depending on the tobacco control environment in the region that they would be aired in. Adaptations of the television commercial of the campaign range from high-level adaptation such as using the campaign concept and reproducing the commercial to better represent the population it is targeting, to low-level adaptations where only the end-frame of the commercial is changed to represent local sponsors.’
An expert added that campaign television commercials can be adapted at a low-level by:
changing the voiceover to suit local accents
translating the script into the local language
changing/ adding to the script to suit local tobacco cessation issues and smoking rates
Amending the end frame A television commercial can be adapted at a moderate-level by:
reducing the television commercial length to suit media strategies
adding/ deleting or replacing visual elements of the campaign to address local issues, saving costs on talent
replacing music in the television commercial to suit local tastes or reduce costs on music rights
What we need is the proper use of all anti-tobacco campaigning techniques with media participation and TV commercials. But such advocacy projection with all modern trajectories must appeal the society at its depth. Mind that social cost of smoking is heavier than economic ones setting the youth society onto destruction. We do not think that Biri stimulates working class doing jobs in factories or pulling rickshaws. This class must be persuaded to give up smokes to prevent TB.
Recently a seminar on implementation for controlling smoking and tobacco products wa held in Rangpur(The New Nation, 26 December, 2014). One speaker ‘narrated different aspects and violation of amended TCA and health hazards in public places. He reported that ‘Bangladesh is one of the biggest tobacco products consuming countries and 46 million people including males ,females and adolescents have been consuming tobacco products in the country posing a severe threat to public health. Besides, 1.2 million people are being affected annually by tobacco related diseases like brain hemorrhage, lung cancer, cerebra-vascular, coronary artery and chronic obstructive pulmonary and other tobacco-attributable diseases in the country.’ Other participants stressed on awareness building among the tobacco product sellers,(retailers and small scale sellers), suppliers, marketers and dealers about the threat of increasing use of tobacco products to improve the situation.
(Dr. Md. Shairul Mashreque Professor, Department of Public administration, Chittagong University and Dr. M. Abul Kashem Mozumder Professor of Public Administration, Jahangirnagar University)
