87% Hookah Tweets are in Positive Context

Researchers found that daily young people mention 12,000  times hookah use in a positive context on Twitter. It means that hookah becomes more popular among teenagers due to belief that hookah is less harmful than cigarettes. However, researchers say that hookah is not safe. The author of the study is Melissa Krauss who is a

Hookah Popular Among Students

A new study found that American college students think that using hookah is safer than smoking cigarettes. Scientists from the University of South Florida College of Public Health analyzed hookah use among young people and described behavioural and social factors connected to hookah smoking among students. Jaime Corvin, USF assistant professor of global health and

Egypt seeks to discourage tobacco use

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.

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Mobile City to Ban Youth from Using Hookah

Young people say that though hookah smoking lounges owners claim they do not permit underage people to enter their establishments, there must be implemented tighter regulations in order to fight smoking among youth. Also the regulations must include e-cigarettes that these days became extremely popular due to a belief that they are safe. The City

Is Hookah Less Harmful Than Cigarettes?

Smoking a "hookah" may be less harmful than a cigarette as it contains lower levels of four toxic metals, claims a new international study released here Monday.

A team of scientists, headed by Joseph Caruso of American Chemical Society and Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, conducted the study on 12 different varieties of hookah tobacco manufactured in the US and Middle East and broke it down to liquid form.

"The test results revealed that hookah tobacco contained fewer toxic metals like arsenic, lead, cadmium and chromium as compared to cigarette tobacco," a spokesperson said.

The outcome of the research was presented to the American Chemical Society (ACS) at its recent meeting, the spokesperson added.

Unlike popular belief that the difference could be due to filtering smoke through water, the research team's finding points to the composition of the hookah shisha itself.

The tobacco for hookah contains molasses, honey and flavouring agents which have lower levels of toxic metals.

The researchers did not detect excess amounts of the toxic metals even in the hookah water.

A growing fad among urban youth, hookah parlours have been banned in several Indian states, including Maharashtra.

Hookah comprises a narghile, shisha and goza which is a water pipe with a smoke chamber, a bowl, a pipe and a hose.

Specially made hookah tobacco is heated in the bowl and smoke passes through water and is then drawn through a rubber by the smoker.

"The new study reiterates that hookah smoke is a less harmful option compared to cigarette smoking. But I would emphasise more on herbal hookahs which are free of tobacco or nicotine as the best alternative," said Shireen Parker, vice-president of Arabian Nights, a leading exotic lifestyle store in Mumbai.

She said that Arabian Nights has launched a range of herbal hookahs which have become very popular among the youth and health conscious young professionals.

Alternative tobacco use up in teenagers

Children younger than 18 are using different types of tobacco products more often across the state of Ohio.

Instead of smoking cigarettes, some students are chewing tobacco, or smoking cigars or flavored tobacco from a hookah, according to the American Lung Association in Ohio.

But these students who are expanding their tobacco use aren't just high school students. According to the study, 4.5 percent of middle school students have smoked cigarettes, compared with 16.7 percent of high school students.

The numbers are comparable to these figures throughout the different types of tobacco use. Between 3.5 percent and 3.9 percent of middle school students have used chewing tobacco, smoked a hookah or cigars or used Snus, a chewless tobacco. For high school students, the percentages are lower for chewing tobacco and Snus, 8.8 percent and 7 percent, respectively, with a spike for hookah use, at nearly 20 percent.
Locally, there isn't much going on in terms of prevention for students outside of the school walls.

Students are introduced to the harms of smoking in their health classes and through the D.A.R.E. or P.L.U.S. anti-drug programs, if their school districts use them.

The Peers Learning Usable Skills program will be cut because of lack of funding for the coming school year. The program is conducted by the Lake County Narcotics Agency.

Funding has been a problem across the county for youth smoking prevention programs, said Ron Graham, Lake County deputy health commissioner.

The Lake County General Health District is looking to partner with Lake Health in hopes of beginning programming, he said.

"We tend to be more of a smoking community in Lake County than in others," he said, adding he thinks it's time to create more options that address young smokers.

The conversations between the health district and Lake Health are just beginning. Graham said he hopes the partnership will make cessation programs affordable for adults and minors.

New data was collected in 2012, but it is unknown when that will be released. The latest statistics from the American Lung Association are from 2010.

Cigarette use has actually dipped from previous available records from 2008, as students seemingly favor other methods of using tobacco.

Pipes, bongs and hookahs could disappear

Pipes, bongs and hookahs could soon disappear from shelves in Florida Rep. Darryl Rouson is supporting HB 49 that takes away exclusion in existing law that permits cigarette stores to sell smoking pipes. His bill would prohibit the selling all pipes in Florida. Nevertheless, the St. Petersburg Democrat’s bill does not presently present any exclusion