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EXCESSIVE cigarette smoking may have a major role in altering sperm quality, thereby adversely affecting male reproductive health, a study conducted by Qatar University in collaboration with Hamad Medical Corporation has indicated. Seminal parameters such as sperm concentration, total sperm count and forward motility, and sperm morphology, which refer to the size and shape of the sperm, were changed due to heavy smoking, it was revealed.
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As if smokers did not have it bad enough already, a group of 'enforcers' have been roaming around the Najma area of the city asking shopkeepers to stop selling cigarettes. While some shopowners have complied, others are selling cigarettes from literally under the counter.
A request for a package or a carton of cigarttes sees the counter salesman or his assistant scurrying to a back room to fetch the 'contraband'. In other cases, cigarettes have discreetly been stashed in the cash drawer while in other cases, they are kept in innocuous plastic carry bags.
A shopkeeper told The Peninsula yesterday when asked why cigarettes are no longer at hand: "One day a group of bearded men came to the shop and asked us to stop selling cigarttes. They were mutawas I think and certainly not from the municipality." . . .
Shopkeepers say the gentleman visitors were courteous and in no way threatening. A shopkeeper said: "We felt it was safest to listen to them. In any case, we are still selling cigarettes although not displaying them openly."
British American Tobacco joined forces with prominent cooperative societies to launch the Partners in Responsibility youth smoking prevention campaign in Kuwait. The campaign, which aims to raise awareness of laws that regulate underage smoking, was launched on the 4th of May 2008 in all outlets of Dasmah and Bnaid Al-Gar, Bayan, Al-Adeliyiyyah, Kaifan and Al-Rawda and Hawally cooperative societies. Bassem Bekdache, Head of Corporate and Regulatory Affairs for British American Tobacco in the GCC stated that "We hope that the Partners in Responsibility campaign will help increase awareness of the law. We take the matter of youth smoking prevention very seriously and are backing up words with actions. In addition to Kuwait, this campaign has also been rolled out in Bahrain and Qatar with more countries to follow by the end of 2008."
A TOTAL of 52 participants including mall managers, restaurant and hotel managers, health professionals, legal experts, law enforcement agents and government officials recently attended a National Health Authority’s (NHA) workshop on Tobacco Law number 20 of 2002.
Penalties for violating the law include fines of up to QR5,000, closure of establishment which violates the law and jail of up to six months.
The aim of the workshop, which is one of the activities lined up for the commemoration of the ‘World No Tobacco Day’ was to discuss how to improve the implementation of the law among other things.
The theme for the year is ‘Tobacco-Free Youth’.
PEOPLE openly flout the law that bans smoking of tobacco in public or closed areas in Doha, Gulf Times has found. Most of the youngsters frequenting billiards club, Internet cafes and other closed areas have been found smoking cigarettes – in some instances, boys as young as 8 years old. “When the law was introduced in 2002, we actively campaigned against any smoking in public malls or hospitals and that saw the number of smokers coming down, with some even encouraged to the point of quitting. But the numbers are creeping back and going up,” said Dr Abdul Rasheed, president of India Anti-Smoking Campaign. According to him, the initiative lost its vigour a couple of years ago after the NHA was setup in place of the Ministry of Health (MoH).
e National Health Authority (NHA) has launched a public campaign in a renewed bid to effectively implement the anti-smoking law in Qatar.
The health authorities in the country have been facing criticism from concerned circles for their alleged laxity in implementing Law No: 20 of 2002 concerning the control of tobacco and its derivates.
The Authority has now started deploying inspectors with judicial powers to check violations of the law, especially smoking in public places. It has also issued posters and brochures to inform the public about the relevant articles of the law.
The National Health Authority (NHA) has launched a public campaign in a renewed bid to effectively implement the anti-smoking law in Qatar.
Doha * An expert from the Cardiology and Cardiovascular Surgery Section at HMC has lamented the lack of interest on the part of the authorities in effectively implementing the anti-smoking law in Qatar.
Addressing a press conference yesterday, Dr Omar Al Tamimi, consultant, Cardiology, said it was a pity that several coffee shops in Doha are now allowing their customers to smoke inside despite the fact that the law has banned smoking in public places.
FOUR Asian employees of a cigarette distributing company have been accused of selling cartons of cigarettes and pocketing the money from the proceeds amounting to QR209,000, sources said.
The four – three salesmen and a driver – were arrested on August 9. Authorities are investigating the case.
A survey carried out by recruitment portal GulfTalent.com reveals Middle Eastern countries are among the most smoker-friendly in the world.
DOHA * There's bad news for the votaries of 'Quit Smoking', at least in the case of professionals in the Middle East.
Qatar, which has imposed a blanket ban on smoking in government offices and public places and with many private companies following suit, still has 32 per cent of professionals who smoke in the workplace. Forty-two per cent of private offices are free of smokers, a survey carried out by recruitment portal GulfTalent.com said.
Over one-third of the adult male population smokes – and with no protection for passive smokers, Qatar is in the grip of a smoking epidemic, according to a study conducted by the 12th Gulf Forum for Tobacco Control and Prevention.
In a country where smoking typically starts at 15 years of age, and with no studies on tobacco prevalence, consumption and related disease, it is almost impossible to gauge the severity of Qatar’s situation accurately, said a press release.
Minstry of Health representatives from Qatar have just returned from attending the seminar held in Saudi Arabia.
With this in mind Dr Ahmed Abdul Kareem al-Mulla, a senior official of the National Anti-Smoking Committee, Qatar, attended the 12th Gulf Forum for Tobacco Control and Prevention.
The Gulf Forum was a milestone in the history of GCC public health and international collaboration.
Seesha smoking among women has shown an alarming increase in the country, in spite of warnings from physicians and other experts that it can be equally if not more harmful than smoking cigarettes.
An Arabic daily spoke to a group of women sitting around in a Ramadan tent dragging away on seeshas. Twenty-eight-year-old Amani, said she first took up the seesha when she went out with a group of friends and started to imitate them in order not to feel left out.
Amani said: "I then got used to it and have become a seesha smoker. Before that, I used to smoke cigarettes. I feel a woman has a right to do what she wants and I prefer smoking in front of everyone. It is better to do it in front of people rather tank keep a secret."
S A said her mother was a heavy smoker, constantly with cigarette in hand.
The Indian Anti Smoking Society(IASS) has expressed serious concerns on the spread of sheesha smoking among men and women in the country. The increasing number of sheesha cafes are pausing serious threat to the health and well-being of society and effective measures to curb this practice is need of the hour, the society officials said.
Friends sitting together, talking and taking their turns of syrupy fruit-flavoured tobacco smoke from bubbling water pipes have once again become a common scene in Qatar, which was the first Arab country to ban smoking in public places.
It is sad to see this evil habit is spreading very fast and especially the number of sheesha smokers are on rise during Ramadhan, the society officials said. Those who partake of the seesha thinking it is a safer option to cigarettes or other tobacco products are simply deluding themselves, Dr Abdul Rasheed, president of the society explained.
Those who partake of the seesha thinking it is a safer option to cigarettes or other tobacco products, are simply deluding themselves.
Dr Mohammad Ghaith Al Kuwari, a specialist in Social Medicine at Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), told an Arabic daily that these days, even women have hopped onto the sheesha bandwagon.
"People are justifying smoking the sheesha on the grounds it is supposedly less harmful than other forms of tobacco. They claim it is a safe alternative," he said. Non-smokers are also being roped into taking up the sheesha, he said, as they are led to believe that it helps in socialising. . . .
Mohammad Ghaith stated that studies have shown that a bowl of seesha is the equivalent of having 20 cigarettes a day.
With people sitting around and enjoying bowl after bowl, they can end up consuming the equivalent of two to three packs of cigaretess a day.
Across the entire Gulf, major hotels are using massive luxury tents to attract those breaking their fast at nightfall during the month of Ramadan when they can once again eat and smoke.
The Sheraton in the Qatari capital Doha has this year opted for the open air, putting up a giant Bedouin-style air-conditioned tent looking out over a lagoon.
"We named our tent 'Children of the Medina', after the masterpiece by the Egyptian writer Nagib Mahfuz", the Nobel literature laureate who died last month aged 94, the hotel's Shukri Hussein told AFP. . . .
The cheapest charge for entry to these Ramadan soirees is 75 riyals, or about 20 dollars.
During Ramadan, Muslims must abstain from eating, drinking and smoking from the rising of the sun to its setting. But when night falls they make up for it. The evening gatherings often last until "suhur", the final meal before fasting resumes at dawn.
Restaurants, hotels, cafes and especially Bedouin tents brim with those paying lip service to the temperance urged during the holy month, when long evenings are often marked by sessions with a shisha water pipe. . . .
It is the same in all the main cities of the Gulf's other monarchies. Whether it be Dubai or Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, Jeddah or Riyadh in Saudi Arabia or in Kuwait, restaurant owners and hoteliers compete to outdo each other in their efforts to attract as many Ramadan patrons as possible.