Rajshahi seminar urges quitting tobacco, enforcing laws, and raising awareness to achieve a tobacco-free Bangladesh. Photo : BSS

RAJSHAHI, June 17, 2026 (BSS) - Speakers at a seminar here today said people who continue to smoke despite widespread health warnings are foolish as they lack ability to distinguish between right and wrong

Such people are incapable of distinguishing right from wrong, they opined at a divisional-level anti-tobacco seminar in the conference room of the Rajshahi Divisional Commissioner’s office here.

Rajshahi Divisional Commissioner’s office organised the seminar in collaboration with the National Tobacco Control Cell under the Health Services Division, as part of the tobacco control programme.

Additional Divisional Commissioner Rezaul Alam Sarkar addressed the seminar as chief guests, while Additional Divisional Commissioner Habibur Rahman was in the chair.

The keynote paper was presented by the Divisional Director of Health, Dr. Md. Habibur Rahman.
Rezaul Alam said there is no good side to smoking; it has only harmful effects.

 Smokers suffer harm, and non-smokers are also put at health risk through secondhand smoke. 

He urged smokers to quit the habit immediately and called on everyone to raise awareness to keep the next generations tobacco-free.

In the keynote, Dr. Habibur Rahman stated that the tobacco use rate among adult men in the country is about 36 percent.

Currently, around 70 percent of patients in the country suffer from non-communicable diseases, with tobacco use being one of the main causes, he said.  

Due to tobacco use, he said nearly 1.2 million people each year are affected by heart disease, stroke, cancer, and chronic lung diseases. 

He further said tobacco is also extremely harmful economically. While the government earns about Taka 40,000 crore in revenue from tobacco, the cost of treating tobacco-related diseases is about Taka 87,000 crore. 

To build a tobacco-free Bangladesh by 2040, the government has modernized and strengthened tobacco control laws. 

In the open discussion session, participants recommended strict enforcement of tobacco control laws, raising public awareness about the harmful effects of e-cigarettes, and taking effective steps to stop the sale of bidis and cigarettes near educational institutions. 

Members of the Rajshahi Divisional Committee on Smoking and Tobacco Control attended the seminar in person.