Non-smoke tobacco companies don’t disclose ingredient

Maximum non-smoke tobacco companies don't disclose the ingredients used to make their products, said speakers at a webinar jointly organised by UBINIG and Narigrantha Prabartana yesterday.

Disclosing ingredients are obligatory according to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco control, speakers said at the webinar where findings of a research project were presented. The project was conducted by Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Executive  Director of UBINIG Farida Akhter presented the findings. The study found that 62 percent Zarda brands have no ingredient information  on the packaging, she said. She  alleged that at least 12 brands export their tobacco to Europe and  America via various Indian companies.

For the study, an organisation named Tamak Birodhi Nari Jote (Tabinaj) collected  109 brands of Zarda. Out of these, only 41 brands disclosed information on top of the packaging.

The information is significant, Farida said, as tobacco product ingredients may affect  public health in various ways.

Rumana Huq, of Dhaka University's Economic Research Bureau, said accurate information of smokeless tobacco companies are not available.

"The government earns only Tk 4 million from this informal sector, when in reality the sector is much bigger," she said.

"In the fiscal year 2018-19, customs duty on smokeless tobacco  was withdrawn, but the reason behind this is unclear," said Rumana Haq.

Several journalists,  NGO representatives, and members of Tabinaj from different districts were  present at the webinar.