The WBB Trust has sent a letter of protest to the editor and publisher in a letter to the Bhorer Kagaz newspaper entitled "Public Smoking Rises Due to Lack of Smoke Zone". The health and death risks due to smoking are increasing day by day. According to the World Health Organization in 2021, more than 12 million smokers die each year from secondhand smoke, most of them children and women. In addition, according to the Tobacco Atlas 2016 data, more than one lakh 61 thousand people died in Bangladesh from various tobacco related diseases. Tobacco is spreading non-communicable diseases including cancer and asthma as well as communicable diseases like Kovid-19. In order to treat these diseases, an economic loss of Tk 30,560 crore is being incurred every year.
This government is committed to implement the firm commitment of Hon'ble Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to build a tobacco free Bangladesh by 2040. In order to implement the pledge and maintain the fertility of the food producing land and soil of the country, it is necessary to control tobacco use as well as control the cultivation. According to the BBS, in the fiscal year 2019-2020, tobacco has been cultivated in about 40,46 hectares or 1,60,06 bighas of land in 3 countries. Not only does this pose a threat to food security but it is also detrimental to health, the environment and the economy at all levels of production, processing and marketing of this poisonous plant. There is no substitute for discouraging the cultivation of tobacco in order to achieve the desired goals. Companies are expanding its cultivation in the country in various ways to create obstacles in the control of key tobacco.