Campaign warns against hazards of hookah smoking
The slogan of the Ministry of Health campaign for this year that reads, “It may look harmless, but smoking a hookah is as harmful as smoking 100 cigarettes.”
On the National Day Against Tobacco, Aug. 29, the government and civil society organizations raise the red flag on the harmful effects of smoking a hookah, a type of smoking pipe commonly used in Eastern countries. The slogan of the Ministry of Health campaign for this year warns that “It may look harmless, but smoking a hookah is as harmful as smoking 100 cigarettes.”
According to a psychologist and expert consultant for the Cancer Foundation, Cristina Perez, a hookah session lasts an average 60-80 minutes. During this period, the smoker is exposed to the same toxic substances found in the smoke of a hundred cigarettes – including tobacco and nicotine.
The risks are similar to those associated with tobacco smoking, including cardiovascular and respiratory diseases and some types of cancer, according to Perez. Even more hazardous in the case of a hookah is the often social nature of a smoking event, in which the same pipe is shared by a group of people. This group use increases exposure to such diseases as herpes, hepatitis C, and tuberculosis.
“Some people believe that smoking a hookah is innocuous because there's water in it. But in fact, it also contains tobacco smoke and has the same harmful effects,” the expert said. The tobacco industry, she says, is aware that people understand that smoking is harmful, causes diseases and can lead to death, so it tries to offer a wider range of products in order to secure its market. Example alternatives include hookahs and electronic cigarettes.
Data from the Special Survey on Tobacco, a partnership of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) with the National Cancer Institute (INCA), indicates that there were 300,000 hookah users in Brazil as of 2008.
In its study called Perfil do Tabagismo entre Estudantes Universitários do Brasil (a national version of the Global Health Professional Students Survey), the Ministry of Health also highlighted the high ratio of hookah users among university students in selected health-related courses in 2011. In Brasília and São Paulo, among students who said they frequently use some other tobacco-related product, 60% and 80% respectively have used a hookah.
According to INCA, about 200,000 people die every year in the country as a result of diseases caused by smoking. Lung cancer is one of the largest indicators of the effects of tobacco on health, to the extent that 90% of cases occur among smokers or former smokers. In Brazil, this is the type of cancer that kills most men and the second type to kill most women.
Translated by Mayra Borges
Fonte: Campaign warns against hazards of hookah smoking
