Kathmandu, April 2:

Resource Centre for Primary Health Care and Society of Health Journalists today demanded implementation of Tobacco Control Act. Though a bill to that effect was proposed in the cabinet a year ago, it has not been endorsed yet.

Addressing an interaction, Babu Kaji Baniya, joint-secretary (legal) of Ministry of Health

Population (MoHP), said the government was busy preparing the draft of the new constitution and it has not been able to look into the act.

Nepal signed the Framework Convention for Tobacco Control in 2003 and ratified it in 2006. “The government should formulate laws to restrict tobacco production and trade,” Baniya added.

Shanta Lal Mulmi, president of the Resource Centre, said Nepal imports tobacco products worth Rs 28 billions annually. He added, “The number of deaths due to tobacco consumption is higher than deaths resulting from tuberculosis, malaria and HIV/AIDS”.

Mulmi said people under poverty line spent 10 per cent of their incomes on tobacco.