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Published: 01:31 AM, 06 December 2020

Promise and practice of tobacco policy in Bangladesh

https://dailyasianage.com/news/248941/promise-and-practice-of-tobacco-policy-in-bangladesh

M S Siddiqui

Bangladesh is one of the largest tobacco consuming countries in the world, with over 46

million (43%) adults consuming cigarettes, bidis, smokeless tobacco, or other tobacco

products(e.g., betel quid with tobacco, gul, sadapata, khaini). 58% of all men and 29% of all

women consume some form of tobacco, whether smoked or smokeless.

Smokeless tobacco use is common among both women and men. 28% of women and 26% of

men use smokeless tobacco. Youth tobacco use is a source of concern in Bangladesh, nearly

7% of 13-15 year olds use tobacco products. According to Progotir Jonno Gyan (PROGGA),

an anti-tobacco research organization, tobacco kills over 162,100 people in Bangladesh a

year.

Tobacco-use results in both health and economic costs that are large and growing. Smoking

kills one in 10 people worldwide. According to a study, the deaths and disabilities caused by

tobacco-induced diseases cost the economy of Bangladesh BDT 305.6 billion (USD 3.6

billion), which is equivalent to 1.4% of the national output (GDP) in 2017-18. Approximately

1.5 million adults are suffering from diseases attributable to tobacco use and nearly 61,000

children are suffering from diseases due to exposure to second hand smoke. Smoking causes

lung cancer, cardio-vascular disease, coronary artery diseases, chronic obstructive pulmonary

disease and other tobacco-attributable illnesses in Bangladesh annually.

In addition, tobacco-attributable diseases caused nearly 126,000 deaths in 2018 accounting

for 13.5% of all-cause deaths in the population.PM Sheikh Hasina, while speaking in Dhaka

in January 2016 at the South Asian Speakers' Summit on Achieving SDGs, told about her

hopes to make Bangladesh a tobacco-free country within the next 25 years in order to achieve

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and to build a healthy nation.

Bangladesh signed the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) on June

16, 2003, and ratified it less than one year later, on June 14, 2004, one of the first countries

both to sign and to ratify the treaty. Thus, Bangladesh became a Party to FCTC on February

27, 2005. The FCTC was developed in response to the globalization of the tobacco epidemic.

The spread of the tobacco epidemic is facilitated through a variety of complex factors with

cross-border effects, including trade liberalization and FDI. Other factors such as global

marketing, transnational tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship.

The Smoking and Tobacco Usage Act, 2005 passed by Parliament restricted smoking in a

variety of places; mandated health warning labels on tobacco product packaging with six

rotating text warnings that take up 30% of the front and back of cigarette and bidi pack; most

tobacco product advertising was banned, including on television and radio, in local print, and

billboards. The law has banned sponsorship of any game/ tournament by Tobacco Company.

The National Assembly of Bangladesh also amended the Tobacco Control Law on 29 April

2013 to make the law effective.

Now smoking is prohibited in the majority of indoor public places and workplaces, with a

minor exception for restaurants with fewer than four walls. The law requires pictorial health

warnings to cover at least 50 percent of the main display areas of all tobacco products. The

Ministry of Health was mandated by law to establish and operate the "National Tobacco

Control Cell" and it has been established and headed by an Additional Secretary. The

Government was mandated to elaborate policies to discourage tobacco cultivation. The

government also declared the National Strategic Plan of Action for Tobacco Control, 2007-

2010.

Government rightly adapted the policy of higher tax to reduce production and consumption of

tobacco. Raising tobacco tax to at least 75% of the retail price is considered a benchmark for

best practice promoted by WHO. As of 2016, only 32 countries globally, including

Bangladesh, enforced such a high level of tax on tobacco products. The high level of

achievement for Bangladesh in cigarette taxation is, however not giving due result since due

to higher economic growth, the purchasing power of citizens is increasing at a higher rate

than taxation on tobacco.

Even then, still cigarette prices in Bangladesh are among the lowest in the world and bidis are

even cheaper. Despite the tobacco tax increases, cigarette prices and excise tax rates are still

much lower in Bangladesh than in most neighbouring countries and should be further

increased. In 2010-2018, tobacco tax rates were annually increased. Reportedly, in 2011-

2017, tobacco tax revenue grew by104% in nominal terms or by 38% in real (inflation-

adjusted) terms. Overall, tobacco consumption apparently declined over those years, but the

rate of decline was small as with growing population incomes, cigarette affordability was not

eventually reduced.

Bangladesh has opened up an opportunity for the economic benefit of tobacco production

through export. The tobacco leaf exports have grown much more rapidly, the result of a 10%

incentive on exports provided by the government as part of an export diversification program

begun in 2003. Despite the export tax the market seen a rise in the quantity of tobacco grown

in Bangladesh is accounted for by these increased exports, with the share of exported tobacco

rising from about 2.5% in 2000 to nearly 34% in 2009. In 2008, the export incentive was

eliminated.

In the 2010/11 budget, the government imposed a 10% duty on tobacco leaf exports in an

effort to discourage tobacco growing. In 2017, the government imposed a 25% export duty on

tobacco aiming to discourage their production and consumption as the items are injurious to

health10; however, in 2018 this export duty was reduced to 0%.In 2018, Bangladesh received

$3.61 billion in FDI, of which $1.47 billion came from Japan to acquire local Akij Group's

tobacco business. FDI is substantial since the two major manufacturers are in Bangladesh are

British American Tobacco and Japan Tobacco are the top market players.

Last year, government also drafted a National Tobacco Control Policy to restrict foreign

direct investments (FDI) in the tobacco sector so that the supply of the harmful elements can

be curtailed. The draft proposed that no new licenses will be issued for setting up factories for

producing tobacco products and government is planning another rule to restrict tobacco

production in Bangladesh. The draft also noted that the annual financial losses from tobacco

use in the fiscal year 2017-18 were over Tk 300 billion, much higher than the revenue income

of Tk 228 billion from the sector in the same year.

A new situation arises due to the outbreak of Covid 19. The risk of smokers contracting

Covid-19 is two times higher than non-smokers. Some research also notes that Covid-19

infection can cause serious harm to smokers - a smoker's risk of dying from Covid-19 is 14

times higher than that of a non-smoker. According to WHO, Covid-19 is an infectious disease

that primarily attacks the lungs.

Since smoking impairs lung function, it is harder for the body to fight off coronavirus. Some

countries have suspended tobacco production following the Covid-19 outbreak. In this

situation, The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has requested the Ministry of Industries

to suspend the production, supply, marketing and sale of all kinds of tobacco products to aid

the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.

In contrast, the Ministry of Industries has said that it is not in favor of banning tobacco-

related products during this coronavirus pandemic. The ministry said that according to the

Control of Essential Commodities Act 1956, tobacco products have been listed as essential

commodities. The industry Ministry also reiterated its full supports for the prime minister's

goal to declare Bangladesh as a non-smoking country by 2041.

The declaration of PM to make Bangladesh free of tobacco by 2040 and law of tobacco

control and also the essential Commodities Act declaring tobacco as essential goods and

recent opposite stand of ministries to ban tobacco production and consumption and lucrative

export potentiality of tobacco should be carefully evaluated in the context of coronavirus

pandemic in the country.

Bangladesh has a remarkable FDI in this sector and the export of tobacco is increasing day by

day. Bangladesh may encourage and policy support to encourage FDI and the existing

investors to convert their industries to 100 percent export-oriented and complete ban on local

consumption within the country.

The writer is a legal economist.

E-mail: mssiddiqui2035@gmail.com