Death Marketing-1

Achieving Tobacco-Free Bangladesh by Awarding Tobacco Businessman!

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has been bestowing a Jarda manufacturer with awards after awards on the ground of being top taxpayers and thus encouraging tobacco business. This stands in sharp contrast to the Honorable Prime Minister's vision of a tobacco-free Bangladesh by 2040, a vision based on the aspiration to end deaths and devastations of tobacco. Users of smokeless tobacco (jarda, gul etc.) constitute the majority of Bangladesh's 37.80 million tobacco consumers. The smokeless tobacco use is particularly prevalent among the women and the poor people of the country. Paying taxes is a strict legal obligation. However, tobacco traders and companies exploit the recognitions received from the authority for paying taxes and create unnecessary contact at the policymaking level. Such interaction and contacts later lead to industry interference and weakening of tobacco control measures. So, to safeguard public health, the government must end bestowing support and awards to tobacco company and businessmen.