Numerous cafes and restaurants serving shisha (hubble-bubble) have become a disturbing feature of most residential areas across the emirates and pose a menace due to noise and air pollution.

The increasing trend is also blamed for multiplying the parking woes of the already suffering residents.

What is really serious about the phenomenon is that most shisha smokers wrongfully take to the hubble-bubble thinking that it poses only ‘light’ health risks compared to the serious health related complications of cigarette smoking.

Medical experts have warned that shisha has a more perilous impact on health compared to cigarette smoking. They say most shisha smokers have a misconception based on a wrongful and unscientific notion that tobacco used in shisha is herbal and does not affect body organs.

Residents of buildings with coffee shops and snack counters that serve shisha expressed their resentment over the outlets for the multiple problems they cause them. They called upon the authorities concerned to adopt certain measures to control spread of shisha outlets in the country.

It is to be noted that in their efforts to combat smoking, the health ministers of the GCC states have proposed a hike in the fees of commercial licence issued for cafes and restaurants serving shisha in the member countries. Despite several steps taken by the country to control the spread of tobacco, the UAE is considered among the world’s leading consumers of tobacco.

Medical experts have also cautioned that one of the hazards of smoking shisha is lung cancer.

“Most people misleadingly believe shisha does not contain tobacco and that when they smoke they inhale herbal products. It is the added flavours that make them feel they are smoking herbs, while they are actually taking in tobacco and are highly likely to become addicted to nicotine. Shisha smokers should realise that it is far more dangerous than cigarette smoking because the amount of nicotine in shisha can not be measured due to packing differences,” a doctor in the government sector warned.

Moreover, while smoking hubble-bubble the aluminium foil, which is usually of poor quality, reacts with the burning charcoal and produces aluminium fumes that are carcinogenic or in other words causes cancer, he said.

He clarified that the amount of carbon dioxide inhaled through shisha is very high compared to cigarette smoking, adding that one shisha smoke is equal to seven or 10 cigarettes depending on the packed ingredients.

He stressed shisha smokers should also be aware of the fact that when smoke goes through water humidity in smoke increases and it then tends to stay for a longer time in the lungs. Some germs, mainly bacteria that cause tuberculosis, live in the shisha pipe.

Source: Khalee Times