Anti-Tobacco Law

University Degree Education and Teaching

CHAPTER 1:

Anti-Tobacco Law

Global History:

Pope Urban VII's 13-day papal reign included the world's first known public smoking ban (1590), as he threatened to excommunicate anyone who "took tobacco in the porchway of or inside a church, whether it be by chewing it, smoking it with a pipe or sniffing it in powdered form through the nose." But the first modern, nationwide tobacco ban was imposed by the Nazi Party in every German university, post office, military hospital and Nazi Party office, under the auspices of Karl Astel's Institute for Tobacco Hazards Research, created in 1941 under direct orders from Adolf Hitler himself. Major anti-tobacco campaigns were widely broadcast by the Nazis until the demise of the regime in 1945.

In the latter part of the 20th century, as research on the health risks of secondhand tobacco smoke were made public, the tobacco industry launched "courtesy awareness" campaigns. Fearful of revenue losses, the industry created a media and legislative program that focused on "accommodation". Tolerance and courtesy were encouraged as a way to ease heightened tensions between smokers and those around them while avoiding smoking bans. In the USA, states were encouraged to pass laws providing separate smoking sections.

Up to this point, bans were limited to individual cities and counties. In 1975, Minnesota enacted the Minnesota Clean Indoor Air Act, making it the first state to ban smoking in most public spaces. To begin with, restaurants were required to have No Smoking sections, and bars were exempt from the Act.

In 1998, California enacted a complete smoking ban that included an initially controversial ban of smoking in bars, extending the statewide workplace smoking ban enacted in 1994. The success and subsequent popularity of the California ban encouraged other states such as New York to implement bans of their own. There is an increasing trend for entire states or countries to pass laws banning smoking in various indoor public sites and workplaces, including bars, restaurants, and social clubs. There are now 35 states with some form of smoking ban on the books.

Again in the forefront, some areas in California have recently begun making whole cities smoke-free, which would include every place except residential homes. More than 20 cities in California have passed park and beach smoking bans.

On March 29, 2004 the Irish Government implemented a ban on smoking in public places. In Norway similar legislation was put into force on July 1 the same year. In 2007, with legislation affecting England coming into force, smoking in all enclosed public places was made illegal and banned in the entire United Kingdom. The age limit of smoking will also be raised from 16 to 18 in October 2007. Smoking was also banned in public indoor venues in Victoria, Australia on July 1, 2007.

Bangladesh History:

BATA's(Bangladesh Anti-Tobacco Law) birth dates back to 1999, and ironically its origins are due to the activities of a major transnational tobacco company, British American Tobacco (BAT).

In June 1999, advertising for Voyage of Discovery, a huge multinational promotional campaign for BAT’s John Player Gold Leaf cigarettes, began to appear. The campaign consisted of a yacht sailing to 17 countries in 170 days, with the final destination being Chittagong, a port city in Bangladesh.

In the months that followed, more and more groups got together to discuss what to do about the Voyage, and possible collaboration in other areas of tobacco control. Outrage at the advertising campaign was universal, perhaps matched only by a sense of impotence in dealing with the multinational which in 1996 bought the controlling share of the former Bangladesh monopoly, Bangladesh Tobacco Company, and is now reported to be the biggest taxpayer in Bangladesh.

As the months progressed and Voyage ads on billboards, in newspapers, and on tobacco sales cases multiplied, about 15 organizations came together to protest this Voyage in search of new cigarette addicts. With this surge of interest came a name: the Bangladesh Anti-Tobacco Alliance, or BATA. The Alliance consists of an informal alliance of health, anti-drug, tobacco control, and other organizations.

Things heated up when Bhorer Kagoj, the only national newspaper that voluntarily refuses to publish tobacco ads, convened a roundtable on the 13th of November. Tactics to counter Voyage were discussed, and Tania Amir, a barrister working pro bono on the issue, suggested filing a writ petition to prevent Voyage from docking in Chittagong. While she did not expect the petition to be successful, she explained that we could learn why they are allowed to land, and test the opinion of the High Court on tobacco advertising.

The High Court responded favorably to the petition, and banned all further promotional activities around Voyage, declaring it illegal based on the 1990 law, though unfortunately, the law did not seem to extend to other forms of tobacco advertising. As a result of the decision, the concerts and other events planned around Voyage were canceled, as were the newspaper ads that had been appearing daily in the newspapers. The boat left quietly a few days later.

On the 7th of February, in response to writs filed by BATA and ADHUNIK, the High Court reiterated that Voyage was illegal, and further ...