DHAKA: Some 85 percent of the tobacco workers in the country are women and children and they are vulnerable to various diseases, like breast and skin cancers, specialists in the field said Saturday.

A total of 24 lakh workers are involved with tobacco production across the country, 85 percent of them women and children. As a result, the women are affected by breast cancer and various kinds of skin diseases on a higher scale. At the same time, the child workers are also affected with numerous deadly diseases, they said.

The claim came from a seminar jointly organized by National Girl Child Advocacy Forum (NGCAF) and WBB (World for Better Bangladesh) Trust at Dhaka Reporters Unity.

Presided over by Latifa Akand, Vice-President of the NGCAF, the seminar was arranged ahead of the World No Tobacco Day-2010, on 31 May, which would be observed on the theme ‘Tasks to reduce terrible effects of tobacco on women’.

Prof. Dr. Arup Ratan Choudhury told the function that direct and indirect impacts of tobacco products such as cigarettes, bidi, jorda, gul and shadapata cause mothers to give birth to immature and disabled babies.

“A woman engaged in tobacco production becomes an easy victim... Also, the child-workers of bidi factories who work in with their families are deprived of going to school,” he said.

Aminul Islam Sujan, senior program officer of the WBB Trust, mentioned in his keynote that according to reckoning of 2004, about 12 lakh people are suffering from eight kinds of tobacco-related diseases.

As a result, the national economy faces a loss of Tk 5,000 crore annually, if minimum 25 percent of those patients get admitted into hospital. “On the contrary, our economy makes Tk 2,400 crore out of tobacco sector, which means the country suffers a net loss of Tk 2,600 crore per year.”   

Dr. Arup Ratan informed that a total of 57,000 people die and 382,000 are paralyzed every year out of tobacco hazards. But there are no such reckonings as to how many of them are women and children.

Nasrin Mukti, Senior Assistant Secretary of Health and Family Welfare Ministry, said the ministry has formed taskforce committee with funds from WHO in every upazila and district to control tobacco products. The district committee comprises Deputy Commissioner as President and Civil Surgeon as Secretary.

“Although the ministry gives necessary directions, but they can’t play effective roles in the sector because they are involved with their primary tasks,” she added.

Prof. Latifa Akand noted that the government passed a law in 2005 to control smoking and tobacco products and that’s why advertising on tobacco is stopped in the media nowadays.  “But cunning tobacco companies are dominant with their business in rural areas by cheating the innocent people,” she alleged.

The campaigner made a strong plea the government stop these companies from doing harm to the people with tobacco hazards. “The people must come together and be conscious in this regard,” she said.

Nasima Akhter Jolly, secretary of NGCAF, and Tazima Hossain Majumdar also spoke at the seminar.

BDST: 1430 HRS, May 22, 2010
RT/AK/MUA