Death Marketing-1

Death trader donating life-saving items!

The front running death trader of Bangladesh, British American Tobacco Bangladesh (BATB) has chosen the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic as a ripe opportunity to hide its stained image. The company has recently donated a few Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to hospital staff members and publicized such donations heavily on the media. BATB currently holds the lion’s share of Bangladesh’s cigarette market (62 percent) and is responsible for the massive death and destruction caused by tobacco. Tobacco claims around 126,000 deaths every year in Bangladesh. The World Health Organization (WHO) has also expressed concern that smokers are likely to be more vulnerable to COVID-19 due to hand-mouth contact and also that lung disease or reduced lung capacity due to smoking also greatly increases the risk of serious illness. By manufacturing and selling cigarettes, BATB is, in fact, worsening the spread and extent of COVID-19 crisis in Bangladesh. Such thought is laughable that the company that is responsible for so many deaths is now trying to salvage its image by donating a few PPEs. The govt. needs to protect public health from tobacco industry interference by implementing the WHO FCTC Article 5.3 that rejects such charities from the tobacco industry.