[Intl-tobacco] Bangladesh partially bans tobacco ads on TV

[Robert Weissman]

http://indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?artid=32257794

Bangladesh bans tobacco ads on TV

AFP[ TUESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2002 01:43:57 PM ]

DHAKA: Bangladesh has banned private television from running tobacco
advertisements during prime-time as the country tries to cut down on
smoking, officials said Tuesday.

The networks will no longer be able to air tobacco commercials before
10:00 pm, they said.

"The government is considering completely banning cigarette
advertisements on television," said Information Minister Tariqul Islam,
quoted by domestic news agencies.

Tobacco advertisements are already off state television and cigarette
packets sold in Bangladesh carry warnings about the health risks.

Bangladesh has banned smoking in the president's and prime minister's
office complexes and the government secretariat, after which many
private offices and restaurants followed suit.

Some 40 per cent of Bangladeshi men and 10 per cent of women smoke at
least one cigarette a week, according to a 1998 study by the Bangladesh
Cancer Society.

No more recent figures were available. Tobacco use is particularly
prevalent in rural areas and among the poor, who generally smoke bidis,
crude cigarettes popular in South Asia that have no filters, the study said.