Company Pushes to Market Nicotine Pouches, PROGGA-ATMA Call for Ban
The Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI) has recently initiated a process to formulate standards for nicotine pouches, a product considered harmful to public health. BSTI has undertaken this initiative by forming a Tobacco and Tobacco Products Technical Committee, which does not include representatives from the National Tobacco Control Cell (NTCC) and tobacco control organizations. However, the committee includes representatives of tobacco companies. PROGGA (Knowledge for Progress) and the Anti-Tobacco Media Alliance (ATMA) have expressed alarm, stating that the involvement of tobacco companies in such a committee violates Article 5.3 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). In a joint press release issued on 21 July, the two organizations called for a comp...