“Tobacco kills 442 people in Bangladesh every single day. This is nothing short of an epidemic,” warned public health advocate Sharmin S. Murshid during a seminar.

She criticized the government’s internal disagreements over amending the Tobacco Control Act, urging immediate consensus to save lives.

Key proposed amendments include banning smoking zones in public places, prohibiting all forms of tobacco display and advertising, restricting e-cigarettes, ending the sale of single-stick cigarettes, banning tobacco industry CSR campaigns, and enlarging graphic health warnings to 90% of packaging.

Speakers condemned negotiations with tobacco companies and demanded stronger regulation aligned with WHO’s FCTC guidelines.