Public Health on Top

The larger Investment in tobacco businesses gets, the larger gets the number of death and losses caused by tobacco. It will be impossible to achieve a tobacco-free Bangladesh while letting the tobacco business expand. Very recently in the name of brining foreign direct investment (FDI), the government of Bangladesh has permitted Japan Tobacco (JT) group to start its business in the country. From a public health point-of-view, this move of the government is utterly reprehensible. With the govt.’s permission, this multinational tobacco giant has signed an agreement to acquire the United Dhaka Tobacco Company Limited (UDTC), the tobacco business of local Akij group for a lucrative BDT 124.3 billion ($1.47 billion), as per the agreement signed between these two companies. The youth of the country will undoubtedly be the primary target of JT, the fourth largest tobacco company of the world. It should be noted that the youth consist 31 percent of the country’s total population.

Each year about 160,000 people of the country die of diseases caused by tobacco use, hundreds of thousands become handicapped and permanently incapacitated. Realizing the damage caused by tobacco, The PM of Bangladesh has expressed her commitment to transform Bangladesh into a tobacco-free country by 2040. But the move of allowing the tobacco business arena to expand its trade will hinder the country’s journey towards that goal.