Dhaka, Broadcasting News Corporation : Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Md Shahab Uddin said that as per the announcement of Honorable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, everyone has to work together to build a ‘tobacco-free Bangladesh’ by 2040. We must be sincere in stopping smoking and the use of tobacco products, which are a threat to the environment, public health, and the economy. To keep the society, especially the youth, away from smoking and the use of tobacco products, we must raise awareness among all levels of people including parents through radio, TV, print and electronic media. The environment minister said these things while addressing the chief guest at the ‘National Seminar to Support Smoke Free Environment and Tobacco Control in Bangladesh’ organized by Bangladesh Parliamentary Forum for Health and Wellbeing at CIRDAP Auditorium in the capital on Thursday. The environment minister said that the cause of death of more than 1 lakh 61 thousand people in the country every year is tobacco aggression. Indirect smoking increases the risk of heart disease in non-smokers by 25-30 percent. Increases the risk of lung cancer by 20 to 30 percent. Therefore, public places and transport should be made 100% smoke free. Educational institutions should ensure that students do not smoke. Tobacco should be socially boycotted as it is poison. The minister also said that it is necessary to take steps to control the increasing use of e-cigarettes in the country before it reaches a dangerous level. Parliamentarians are continuing efforts to ban the import, manufacture, sale, marketing and use of e-cigarettes in Bangladesh and to amend the Tobacco Control Act. Along with the government, political organizations and NGOs should make a concerted effort to build the ‘Tobacco-free Bangladesh’ of the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s dream. Bangladesh Parliamentary Forum for Health and Wellbeing President and Member of Parliament Dr. Md. Habibe Millat chaired the national seminar, among others Secretary of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Dr. Farhina Ahmed, Member of Parliament Aftab Uddin Sarkar, Roshan Ara Mannan and Rubina Akhtar and National University Vice-Chancellor Professor Moshiur Rahman and others. Dr. Nizam Uddin Ahmed, Executive Director of Health Protection Foundation, presented the keynote paper at the seminar. In addition, the representatives of government, private and development aid organizations urged people to abandon this harmful practice in their speech.