Tobacco.org

• UF study finds more teens smoke hookah 

Danielle Lee won’t touch a cigarette, but she’ll pass a hookah pipe around a circle of friends any day.

And, according to a recent UF study, an increasing number of middle school- and high school-aged children share Lee’s fondness for the alternative form of tobacco.

The study, presented on Nov. 9 at the American Public Health Association’s annual meeting in Philadelphia, found that 11 percent of Florida high school students and 4 percent of Florida middle school students had smoked hookah at least once.

Hookah burns charcoal and tobacco. Air is first drawn through the tobacco and then into the pipe, where it passes through water, which leads many smokers to believe hookah smoking is safer than cigarette or cigar smoking.

Maureen Miller, alcohol and other drug prevention specialist with UF’s GatorWell Health Promotion Services, was quick to point out hookah’s potentially dangerous effects.

“This isn’t harmless,” Miller said of hookah. “There certainly are some serious health concerns here.” The World Health Organization reported a typical 20- to 80-minute hookah session is the equivalent of smoking about 100 cigarettes and can deliver 11 times more carbon monoxide than a cigarette.

Jump to full article »

• Antismoking Fight Proves a Pyramid-Size Task  

Anyone who has ever spent any time in a Cairo taxicab, restaurant, office, lobby, coffeehouse, cafeteria or university, or even at the zoo, knows just how ubiquitous smoking is. "There is a movement to be tobacco free in the whole world," said Ehab Assad, a tobacco control officer in the Egyptian Ministry of Health. "We cannot be away from this."

Mr. Assad said that as a first step the government late last month banned the shisha, or water pipe, in cafes of the crowded Khan el-Khalili marketplace. But just a few minutes after the government boasted of the ban, hawkers were swarming tourists at the Khan, waving restaurant menus, offering what else but shisha. They were selling apple-, orange-, lemon- and cherry-flavored, tobacco-filled pipes for 10 Egyptian pounds, or about $1.80.

Such is the early fate of the antismoking effort. Shisha is back in the Khan after a brief ban, and all around Cairo there is confusion as to what exactly the government is planning. "The End of Shisha?" read a headline last month on the news Web site Al Masry al Youm. So far, smoking continues unabated. . . .

"The main issue here is that we don't have democracy. Accordingly, our responsible ministers are not elected; accordingly, they don't really care about what they do to their own people," said Alaa al-Aswany, a best-selling author and social critic.

"I am telling you that the shisha will continue," he said.

Jump to full article »

• Ban on sweet hookah tobacco imminent 

The message from Health Minister Jakob Axel Nielsen is clear: young people are hitting the hookahs too much and the addictive tobacco used in the water pipes should be banned.

A parliamentary majority supports a ban on the sweet-flavoured tobacco used in water pipes, and Nielsen agreed measures needed to be introduced to protect the young.

‘It’s a really bad idea to have sweet addictive tobacco in water pipes and worrying that it’s become so popular among young people, which is why I’m investigating whether we can introduce a ban in Denmark,’ Nielsen said to DR News.

The move comes on the heels of a study carried out by the National Cancer Society and Maastricht University, which found young people who use water pipes are three times as likely to smoke regular cigarettes.

About 800 Danish students aged 15-16 were monitored for a year as part of the study.

Jump to full article »

• Ban on hookah tobacco in the works  

Young people in Denmark smoke hookah more than young people anywhere else in Europe, but that is about to come to an end. A parliamentary majority want to ban the addictive, sweet tobacco, according to free daily newspaper 24timer.

- If I was to be optimistic, I would say that we will have a ban before the arrival of spring. In any circumstance, one will be in place before the end of the parliamentary year in the beginning of June, says head of the parliamentary health committee, Preben Rudiengaard (Venstre) to the free daily.

Jump to full article »

• Despite Ban, Shisha Habit Spreading in Public 

RAS AL KHAIMAH -- Despite a ban on smoking of shisha outside shisha cafes and coffee houses, there's a marked increase in the number of people who can be seen puffing away in public places in Ras Al Khaimah.

The trend has sparked concern among residents about the health risks related to smoking of shisha.

Residents fear that smoking shisha in places like coffee shops poses risks to their health because shisha contains tobacco.

Ahmed Hassan, who resides in the Corniche area, said the spread of shisha outlets attracts even youngsters who are below 18 years.

He noted that in the evenings, scores of men and even women can be seen sitting in coffee shops and smoking shisha.

"Many youngsters are attracted into smoking shisha because of the sweet smell of flavoured tobacco or due to peer pressure," said Hassan.

Jump to full article »

• Bay Area hooked on hookah 

Across the Bay Area and nation in recent years, hookah lounges have become increasingly popular gathering places for college students too young to drink legally, transplanted Middle Easterners looking to indulge in a familiar pastime and even for veterans of the Iraq war, who learned to enjoy hookahs while overseas. The practice is believed to have originated in India and spread to the Middle East hundreds of years ago.

Hookah lounges in the Bay Area tend to cluster around universities such as Stanford, although there are many in San Francisco - from the Tenderloin to the Haight-Ashbury. High-tech workers and engineers such as Mohammad Aldossary, 25, a Stanford graduate student in petroleum engineering from Saudi Arabia, enjoy them, too.

"It's more fun to be in the social atmosphere here," he said at Da Hookah Spot. "I don't smoke cigarettes, but I smoke from a hookah pipe once or twice a week."

The lounges are often classified as tobacco shops, allowing them to get around California's 1998 statewide ban on smoking in bars. Most cities prohibit the sale of food in such establishments. The sale of nonalcoholic beverages, however, is typically allowed as long as they do not make up a significant portion of revenues, and alcohol is prohibited, according to officials at the city attorney's offices in Palo Alto, Hayward and San Francisco.

Jump to full article »

• Syria bans smoking in public places  

The decree, signed by President Bashar al-Assad, sets a fine of 2,000 ($46) Syrian pounds on anyone flouting the ban in cafes, pubs and restaurants, the SANA agency said.

The ban extends to schools and public transport, and covers the nargile

Jump to full article »

• Sheesha smokers at high risk of catching virus 

Sheesha smokers could be contributing to the spread of the swine flu, it has been claimed.

According to the Bahrain Anti-Smoking Society, sheesha pipes are an ideal tool for users to catch the virus since they are often passed from person to person.

'This is a real threat and all sheesha users should be careful,' said society vice-president Dr Kadhem Al Halwachi.

'We have already been told smokers are at an increased risk of getting complications from the swine flu because a smoker's lungs are already compromised.'

Health officials last week added smokers to a list of 'high risk' individuals who could contract the H1N1 virus.

Jump to full article »

• Booming hookah biz links China, Iran, Egypt - and Texas  

(Fortune Small Business) -- Want to plunge into the modern American melting pot? Try the offices of Social Smoke, a hookah manufacturer in Arlington, Texas.

Here a silk Persian rug and a piece of Arabic calligraphy, The 99 Names of Allah, share wall space with a signed photo of a Willie Nelson impersonator. There's a Chinese green tea set in the conference room, and Mom's homemade enchiladas are chilling in the fridge. Abrahim Nadimi, director of sales and marketing, is tapping a bobblehead doll of Dwight from the TV show The Office. "Welcome to the 21st century," he says. No kidding.

Social Smoke is growing gangbusters, and its success says a lot about the new international, cross-cultural landscape of American small business. It is run by Abrahim's father, Sayyid Nadimi, 51, who emigrated from Iran before the 1979 revolution, and his U.S.-born sons.

The Nadimis are tapping into America's deepening love affair with an ancient Middle Eastern tradition: hookah smoking. The company makes "authentic" Iranian and Egyptian hookahs in China, having tried and mostly failed to source them in the Middle East. Yet Sayyid is anxiously watching developments in Iran -- and praying the U.S. government will soon let him sell his product back to his homeland. Social Smoke is one of the largest and fastest-growing suppliers in the international hookah market.

Jump to full article »

• Many College Athletes Reject Cigarettes But Smoke Hookah, Pitt Study Finds 

College students who participate in intramural or club sports are less likely to smoke cigarettes than non-athletes, but are more likely than non-athletes to smoke from a hookah, according to a University of Pittsburgh study online now in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

"This study demonstrates that many athletes clearly perceive hookah smoking as less of a concern than cigarette smoking," said Brian Primack, M.D., Ed.M., M.S., assistant professor of medicine and pediatrics at Pitt's School of Medicine and lead author of the study. "What they don't realize, however, is that they are exposing themselves to many of the same toxic chemicals contained in cigarettes."

A hookah, or waterpipe, is used to inhale tobacco that usually is flavored or sweetened. The opening of hundreds of hookah cafes in the U.S. over the past decade demonstrates the increasing popularity of hookah smoking. Although the aesthetic appeal of the practice suggests that it is not harmful, studies show that hookah tobacco smoke is just as toxic as cigarette smoke and is associated with substantial harm and addictiveness. For example, one average hookah smoking session exposes the user to 40 times the tar of a single cigarette.

Researchers at Pitt examined survey data from 8,745 college-age individuals who participated in the National College Health Assessment

Jump to full article »

• Hell’s Kitchen neighbors’ fears flamed by hookah bar’s fumes 

But what's it like living above one?

Horus Too--a hookah joint from the operators of three similar locations in the East Village--recently landed in the ground-floor space at 416 W. 46th St. between Ninth and 10th Aves. The Mediterranean restaurant/bar, and its fragrant hookah fumes, has gotten many of the residents of the building smoking mad since opening in April. They're tired of the sickly sweet smell and noise emanating from the front and back of the space. But the tenants couldn't have known what they were in for, as the owner framed the operation as a family-friendly restaurant on a residential block when it appeared before the local community board in the spring.

Hookah bars avoid the indoor smoking ban because the product being puffed on doesn't contain tobacco and they need no special license to operate. Sally Sarhan, a manager at Horus Too, said that her restaurant's hookahs contain hardened molasses and fruit, which can be flavored with tea, milk or wine. A hookah costs anywhere from $15 to $40 for "top shelf" ingredients. Some hookah proponents--including a waitress at the restaurant, according to an online review--claim it's not as harmful as cigarettes, and proponents also say it aids in digestion. . . .

But for Scott Moyer, a 14-year resident of an apartment above the restaurant, the problem isn't as simple as the smell and noise--he's worried about the health of his infant son. Nine months old when Horus Too opened in April, Moyer's son developed a chronic cough within two months, which the doctor agreed was due to smoke coming from the restaurant.

"He says if it doesn't go away I'll have to move," Moyer said, adding that his son's cough subsided when they left town for a month, but came back shortly after returning to the city.

Moyer now keeps his windows closed, but said that the smoke still seeps in through air-conditioning units. . . .

Camille Turchel, who was "born and bred in Clinton," bought her apartment in the same building more than 20 years ago. She keeps her window closed most days to avoid the smoke, and claimed patrons often "stand outside at midnight or 1 o'clock, talking loudly. They're not very good neighbors."

Jump to full article »

• Shisha 'as harmful as cigarettes' 

Smoking a shisha pipe is as bad for people as smoking tobacco, the Department of Health and the Tobacco Control Collaborating Centre has found.

People who smoke shisha, or herbal tobacco, can suffer from high carbon monoxide levels, its research revealed.

It found one session of smoking shisha resulted in carbon monoxide levels at least four to five times higher than the amount produced by one cigarette.

High levels of carbon monoxide can lead to brain damage and unconsciousness. . . .

The study found shisha smokers had 40-70 ppm of CO in their breath - affecting 8-12% of their blood.

Dr Hilary Wareing, director of the Tobacco Control Collaborating Centre, told the BBC's Asian Network she was shocked by the results of the research. . . .

"You never see it in the news - 'that is terrible, don't do it' - there's no shock tactics like (there is with) cigarettes," said one young woman.

"If my mum sees me smoking shisha, she isn't going to take it as seriously as if I was smoking cigarettes," said a British Pakistani man.

It was this misconception - and finding dangerous levels of carbon monoxide in a pregnant woman who had stopped smoking tobacco, but continued to smoke shisha - which prompted the research.

"We found one session of smoking shisha - that's 10 milligrams (of fruit tobacco) for 30 minutes - gave carbon monoxide levels that were at the lowest four and five times higher than having a cigarette," said Dr Wareing.

Jump to full article »

• NGO acivists on hunger strike demanding closure of hookah parlours 

Activists of Lok Adhikar Welfare Trust, a city-based NGO, today went on an indefinite hunger strike demanding closure of hookahs parlours in the city.

Talking to UNI, president of the NGO, Anil Nair said, ''We have started an indefinite hunger strike against the hookah parlours and our demand is that the government should immediately close down discos, pubs and other public places, where hookah is sold and strict action should be taken against those who violate this ban. Surprise checks should also be carried out by the police and the BMC at the public places to avoid cropping up of any such parlours in future.'' The protestors also submitted a memorandum of their demands to the District Collector.

Jump to full article »

• VIDEO: Swine flu fears impact hookah smokers in Jordan 

Worldfocus partner Al Arabiya reports from the front lines of the hookah-smoking world in Jordan (translated and narrated by Worldfocus producer Mohammad al-Kassim).

Jump to full article »

• Talking To: Public Health expert Rima Nakkash  

Rima Nakkash, assistant research professor at the American University of Beirut’s Faculty of Health Sciences, is heading a project to study smoke-free policies in Lebanon. The project, funded by the International Development Research Center-Research in International Tobacco Control (IDRC-RITC) in Canada, aims to publish findings that can then influence the decisions of policymakers in Lebanon.

NOW Lebanon asked Nakkash about the research project, the prevalence of smoking in Lebanon and effective policies for tobacco control.

How prevalent is smoking in Lebanon, compared to regional and international countries?

Nakkash: [The two most prominent reports] are the worldwide Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) which examines self-reported smoking behavior among 13 to 15 year-olds in Lebanon, and the Mpower report by the World Health Organization. There is no nation-wide census in Lebanon, but cross-sectional studies show that the prevalence of smoking among the overall population, and in particular among youth and women, is very high.

Jump to full article »