Mahbub Murshed, MBBS, MPH, Department of Biological Anthropology, University of Cambridge (UK), Flat 5A1, Jayakunja, House 85, Rd 8/A, Dhanmondi R/A, Dhaka 1209, Bangladesh, 88 02 9133886, mursh64@hotmail.com

To demonstrate how tobacco companies dominate the popular imagination of a poor Third World country through aggressive marketing, public relation clout and big business influence in spite of government restrictions. Clearly evident is the fact that these companies refuse to put statutory warnings of tobacco and tobacco related complications for special vulnerable groups like pregnant mothers, young children and persons suffering from malnutrition. They also refuse to put down the names of diseases that can be contracted through tobacco smoking or chewing. The government has devised strategies and policies to curb the number of tobacco smokers and discouraging new smokers through effective measures and legislation.

Learning Objectives:

• To demonstrate how tobacco companies dominate the popular imagination of a poor Third World country through aggressive marketing, public relation clout and big business influence in spite of government restrictions. Clearly evident is the fact that these companies refuse to put statutory warnings of tobacco and tobacco related complications for special vulnerable groups like pregnant mothers, young children and persons suffering from malnutrition. They also refuse to put down the names of diseases that can be contracted through tobacco smoking or chewing. The government has devised strategies and policies to curb the number of tobacco smokers and discouraging new smokers through effective measures and legislation.

Keywords: Adolescent Health, Tobacco Litigation

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: British Allied Tobacco (BAT), Bangladesh's cigarette packet of Benson& Hedges
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.