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Hubble Bubble Myths Up in Smoke

DUBAI - The myth that smoking shisha at social events cannot turn into an addiction is one of the reasons for its growing acceptance despite being as harmful or even more than cigarettes, stated a researcher of water pipe tobacco smoking on Wednesday.

Dr Rima Nakkash, assistant research professor of health behaviour and education at the American University of Beirut Dubai, highlighted the growing number of shisha smokers, which has become a global phenomenon, and its effects that are often ignored at the Global Health and the UAE conference taking place at the UAE University in Al Ain.

“The water pipe is looked at as a trend, whereas a cigarette as an addiction,” Nakkash, said.

“They think it is something that can be given up.”

Researchers also believe that shisha could be a gateway to cigarette smoking and other harmful addictions like drugs among the youth.

Shisha with its variations — hubble bubble, hookah, water pipe and many more — is an apparatus that burns tobacco enveloped in flavours like apple and coffee that passes through water and is inhaled through a pipe. This ‘herbal tabacco’ often creates the misconception that they are a better alternative to cigarettes.

However, it has been documented by the Department of Health and the Tobacco Control Collaborating Centre in the United Kingdom that one session of shisha resulted in carbon monoxide levels at least four to five times higher than the amount produced by one cigarette.People often tend to compare the two, leading to less resistance by parents and early adoption. The belief is that the toxins are filtered by the water in the apparatus.

“The smell of cigarette is disliked but the water pipe, because of its flavour, is preferred,” Nakkash said.

“While cigarettes are associated with stress, the water pipe is associated with happiness and relaxation,” she added.

According to her, coffee shops and restaurants have acted upon these factors and made it a lucrative business.

Shisha is popular in the Arab culture. In the UAE, several shisha cafes are daily visited by the young and the old, after a long day of work and especially during Ramadan. Public smoking of shisha in parks and outside cafes has been banned in the UAE.

In 2008, the Dubai Municipality introduced regulations for shisha cafes requiring them to move out of residential areas, arrange for proper ventilation, designate smoking and non-smoking zones.

But the Dubai Municipality last year said it would not exercise a blanket ban on shisha but ensure that healthy people are not exposed to second-hand smoking. Dr. Nabilla Al-Sadat, Associate Professor of Social and Preventive Medicine at the University of Malaya, said active intervention and research for facts are required to combat the issue of tobacco use among the public.

“We need international collaboration and regional consolidation,” Al Sadat said.

Nakkash said the easy availability of the shisha apparatus and the material smoked must be tackled with stricter regulations.

“Google water pipe and you will be able to buy it online... so this is a global issue,” Nakkash said.

“There should be health warning labels on water pipes and full information about them must be on the menu in the cafes so that the public is not misguided or misinformed.”

afshan@khaleejtimes.com