Young doctors have urged the government to urgently amend the Tobacco Control Act to better prevent non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as heart disease and cancer and to protect youth from tobacco-related harm.

Speaking at a seminar titled “Need to Amend the Tobacco Control Law for NCD Prevention and Youth Protection: The Role of Young Physicians,” organised by the National Heart Foundation of Bangladesh at the CIRDAP Auditorium in Dhaka on Wednesday (22 Oct), speakers said the existing law is outdated and not aligned with the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).

Presenting the keynote paper, Dr Farzana Rahman Munmun, joint general secretary of the Platform Doctors Foundation, noted that youth tobacco use remains alarmingly high, with over 9% of boys and nearly 3% of girls aged 13–15 smoking, while more than half of all students are exposed to secondhand smoke in public places, said a press release.

Chief Guest Prof Dr Bidhan Ranjan Roy Poddar, adviser to the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education, described tobacco as a “silent killer” and said he would personally urge authorities to expedite the law’s amendment to protect public health.

Experts, including Dr Mahfuzur Rahman Bhuiyan and Prof Dr Khondker Abdul Awal Rizvi, called for banning designated smoking areas, prohibiting tobacco product displays and corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes by tobacco companies, and introducing strict regulations on e-cigarettes.

They emphasised that over 161,000 Bangladeshis die annually from tobacco-related diseases and that swift legislative action is essential to safeguard the country’s youth and advance its health and development goals.