Social acceptability disguises shisha health threat

Health experts are warning that Shisha smoking is so socially acceptable in Bahrain that its dangers are being ignored, according to a Gulf Daily News story.

The News said that the dangers of using traditional tobacco pipes were highlighted last week when a 20-year-old woman was taken to hospital in Sydney, Australia, reportedly suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning after smoking shisha for an hour every day.

Dr. Babu Ramachandran, head of anti-smoking at the American Mission Hospital (AMH), was quoted as saying that what had happened in Sydney was probably an isolated incident. The woman in question probably had other underlying conditions that caused her to suffer carbon monoxide poisoning; so there was no need to panic.

“But it is true that smoking shisha for an hour is as harmful as smoking 100 cigarettes and there are genuine heath concerns that may arise from habitual smoking, but these are commonly overlooked,” he said.

“In many ways shisha smoking is more dangerous than cigarettes because it is more appealing as it comes in different flavours.

“There is also the misconception that when the smoke goes through water most of the bad chemicals are filtered out, which is simply not true.”

Ramachandran is concerned that local mores make it difficult to counter shisha smoking. Shisha was so ingrained in the culture that visiting a café would sometimes be considered a family outing. “In fact no one has ever come into the AMH anti-smoking centre saying they were addicted to shisha and needed help to quit,” he said.

The reason why shisha smoking hadn’t caused a huge number of health issues, Ramachandran suggested, was because shisha smoking was not as easy or as widespread as cigarette smoking, and because most people had to go to a place and spend time consuming shisha.

“If it became easier to smoke it on the run I am sure we would see a lot more shisha-related illnesses,” he said.