The Egyptian government's recent decision to prevent the country from hosting an international shisha competition highlights its efforts to reduce smoking among Egypt's nine million smokers.
The Shisha Masters World Contest was expected to take place in Cairo on April 24th and 25th, with the participation of shisha manufacturers from around the world. However, the Ministry of Health banned the event, calling it "a clear violation" of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, signed by Egypt in 2005.
The event's competitions were to have included prizes for the best shisha design and best tasting shisha tobacco. "The decision to ban the event stems from the ministry's keenness on not breaching the terms of the WHO Framework Convention, which aims to reduce the spread and consumption of tobacco in addition to protecting people from passive smoking," said Abdul Hadi Mustafa of the Ministry of Health.
The agreement also prohibits tobacco advertising and promotion, Mustafa said. The government is fully compliant with the agreement, especially with regard to preventing the sale of tobacco to minors, preventing tobacco advertising, adding warning labels about risks of tobacco on packaging, and mounting regular national campaigns to educate the public about the consequences of smoking addiction, he said.
The ministry will review the laws relating to exhibitions and competitions and modify them so this situation will not be repeated in the future, Mustafa told Al-Shorfa.
According to the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics in a 2013 report, there were 9.4 million smokers in Egypt in 2011, representing 17% of the total population older than 15 years of age. A recent joint study by the WHO and the Ministry of Health documented around 170,000 smoking related deaths per year in Egypt.
The planned shisha event was a clear public promotion of shisha smoking, said Dr. Fathi Karim of the Egyptian Doctors Syndicate committee on anti-smoking and addiction.
Shisha is considered more dangerous than cigarette smoking, as "one shisha contains the nicotine equivalent of 25 cigarettes", he said. "It has been scientifically proven that smoking shisha can cause lung cancer, chronic infections to the bronchial tubes" and other diseases.
"Unfortunately, shisha is widespread in Egypt, and it is not limited to adults, but also young people are drawn to it because they see it as fashionable despite all the harm it causes," he told Al-Shorfa.
If you love hookah, you may buy cheap hookah tobacco online at http://www.cigarettestime.com/al-fakher-hookah-tobacco
The Shisha Masters World Contest was expected to take place in Cairo on April 24th and 25th, with the participation of shisha manufacturers from around the world. However, the Ministry of Health banned the event, calling it "a clear violation" of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, signed by Egypt in 2005.
The event's competitions were to have included prizes for the best shisha design and best tasting shisha tobacco. "The decision to ban the event stems from the ministry's keenness on not breaching the terms of the WHO Framework Convention, which aims to reduce the spread and consumption of tobacco in addition to protecting people from passive smoking," said Abdul Hadi Mustafa of the Ministry of Health.
The agreement also prohibits tobacco advertising and promotion, Mustafa said. The government is fully compliant with the agreement, especially with regard to preventing the sale of tobacco to minors, preventing tobacco advertising, adding warning labels about risks of tobacco on packaging, and mounting regular national campaigns to educate the public about the consequences of smoking addiction, he said.
The ministry will review the laws relating to exhibitions and competitions and modify them so this situation will not be repeated in the future, Mustafa told Al-Shorfa.
According to the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics in a 2013 report, there were 9.4 million smokers in Egypt in 2011, representing 17% of the total population older than 15 years of age. A recent joint study by the WHO and the Ministry of Health documented around 170,000 smoking related deaths per year in Egypt.
The planned shisha event was a clear public promotion of shisha smoking, said Dr. Fathi Karim of the Egyptian Doctors Syndicate committee on anti-smoking and addiction.
Shisha is considered more dangerous than cigarette smoking, as "one shisha contains the nicotine equivalent of 25 cigarettes", he said. "It has been scientifically proven that smoking shisha can cause lung cancer, chronic infections to the bronchial tubes" and other diseases.
"Unfortunately, shisha is widespread in Egypt, and it is not limited to adults, but also young people are drawn to it because they see it as fashionable despite all the harm it causes," he told Al-Shorfa.
If you love hookah, you may buy cheap hookah tobacco online at http://www.cigarettestime.com/al-fakher-hookah-tobacco
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