Restaurants should be safe spaces— places where families gather, laughter flows, and children grow up with fond memories around food. But when tobacco smoke quietly creeps in through Designated Smoking Areas (DSAs), those memories come at a cost. A cost we may not realize until it’s too late.
As someone who has worked in the anti-tobacco movement for years — engaging youth, working with doctors, and raising awareness across Bangladesh — I’ve seen firsthand the dangers of secondhand smoke. It doesn’t matter whether the smoke comes from the next table or the other side of a glass wall. Smoke doesn’t respect boundaries. Children don’t get to choose the air they breathe — but we do.
Under the current tobacco control law in Bangladesh, restaurants can set up DSAs, thinking it’s a balanced approach. But science tells us otherwise. Even in a separate area, smoke particles linger and spread. And no matter how modern the ventilation is, secondhand smoke still poisons the air. This isn’t just theory — it’s real. And it hurts our children every single day.
Secondhand smoke has been linked to everything from childhood asthma and pneumonia to long-term cardiovascular diseases. Imagine a six-year-old child walking into a restaurant with their family, unknowingly inhaling toxic chemicals with every breath. For a country already battling high tobacco-related death rates, can we afford to gamble with our children’s health like this?
Worse, DSAs quietly normalize smoking in public spaces. Young minds are impressionable. Seeing adults light up in a restaurant sends a powerful message — that smoking is part of social life. That it’s okay. And that’s the trap the tobacco industry wants us to fall into. We must not let them win.
Countries around us — like Nepal and Thailand — have already declared all public places 100% smoke-free. It’s time Bangladesh takes a bold step in the same direction. This isn’t just a policy shift. It’s a moral obligation. If we want to raise a healthy generation, we must start by protecting the air they breathe.
Through my work with youth and as part of the National Heart Foundation of Bangladesh and Platform Doctors Foundation, I have met countless families who lost loved ones far too soon — victims of diseases caused by tobacco and its silent companion: secondhand smoke. Their stories are reminders that prevention is always better than cure. I have witnessed the devastating toll of tobacco use and secondhand smoke on public health. While many believe DSAs are a compromise between smokers and non-smokers, science says otherwise: there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke.
The message is simple. We must ban DSAs in restaurants. Not tomorrow — today. Every child deserves a smoke-free childhood. And every citizen deserves a safe, breathable public space.
Let’s make that a reality — before another child pays the price.
Note: the author, Dr. Farzana Rahman Munmun, is a Youth Advocate at the National Heart Foundation of Bangladesh.
