Jump to full article: The Independent Florida Alligator (University of Florida), 2009-11-18
Author: JARED MISNER, Alligator Writer
Intro: 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.
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