Tobacco shortfall

Tobacco users’ risk of developing three major types of cancer – lung, larynx and oral – is 109 percent higher than that of non-users, according to a story in The Daily Star citing the results of a recent study.

The Star story went on to say that tobacco users’ risk of developing seven life-threating diseases, including stroke, heart-disease and tuberculosis, was 57 percent higher than that of non-users.

And it said the economic loss caused by the health hazards created by both tobacco usage and second-hand smoke was about Tk305.7 billion (US$3.6 billion) per year.

The study, which involved 10,000 families from all districts of the country, was conducted between July 2017 and April 2018 by the Bangladesh Cancer Society in association with Dhaka University, the American Cancer Society and Cancer Research UK.

The findings of the study, Economic Cost of Tobacco Use in Bangladesh: A Health Cost Approach, were unveiled at a conference at the Dhaka Club on February 23.

More than seven million people over the age of 30 are said to suffer from various diseases related to tobacco use.

The productivity of such people is said to be reduced; they are said to spend a substantial amount of money on treatment and to cause the government’s health-sector spending to rise.

The idea that tobacco made a significant contribution to the country’s economy was ‘only a misconception,’ the study said.

The government received TK22.8 billion during the 2017-2018 fiscal year as revenue from the tobacco sector, it said, but the economic loss caused by tobacco use and second-hand smoke was Tk30.6 billion. The latter figure was said not to have taken into effect the environmental hazards caused by tobacco cultivation and smoking.

To close the gap between income and costs, and to make Bangladesh a tobacco-free country by 2040, the study suggested that Government increased the price of tobacco products by imposing higher tax.