Those who don't agree that shisha is considered to be a part of Arab culture and consequently more appealing to us might want to consider why its use is growing in the 13 to 15 age group in the UAE.
Despite efforts to decrease tobacco use, experts say that the number of smokers in the UAE is increasing overall.
According to Tobacco Atlas, the fifth edition of which was launched in the capital last month at the World Conference on Tobacco, there were 27 deaths per week because of tobacco in 2010 in this country. It said that just under 1 per cent of adults smoked a water pipe. That was five years ago and shisha doesn’t seem to have become less popular since then.
Cultural reasons are a factor but the lack of information is also a problem. Most people think that shisha is safer than cigarettes because the smoke is passed through water, thereby filtering it and making it less harmful. But research shows that smoking shisha is much more dangerous than cigarettes. In an hour-long shisha session, a smoker would get as much carbon monoxide as from 150 cigarettes and as much tar as from 600.
Those who smoke cigarettes are not stupid. They are adults and aware and can work out the consequences of their actions. They choose to smoke knowing that it is going to destroy their health and despite the graphic warnings on cigarette packets. In some countries, packets even have terrible photos showing the negative results of smoking. But, when it comes to shisha there aren’t any warnings, any graphic images or public advertising. It’s not there on the pipe, which would be the first place to start. The sort of public information available about the dangers of smoking cigarettes is just not there in the case of shisha. As Wedad Al Maidoor, head of the Ministry of Health’s tobacco control team, told me, the misconception about shisha is that it is “socialising, relaxing, attractive and less harmful”.
And then there are the psychological factors that encourage the idea of becoming a smoker. Whether it is cigarettes or shisha, some young people here think it makes them look hip. There are two basic ways to bring home to the public the perils of smoking: price and publicity.
First to price. A packet of Marlboro is Dh9 in Dubai while in the US, smokers can expect to pay up to $15 (Dh55) a pack in some states and in Australia, 16.11 Australian dollars (Dh46). We should raise the price of cigarettes and shisha and tobacco for medwakh pipes.
This week, the UK implemented a ban on the display of tobacco goods in small shops, which expands the rules that have been in place for large stores since 2012. It’s part of the attempt to discourage young people, as Hazel Cheeseman, of the UK’s campaigning public health charity Action on Smoking and Health explained: “Two-thirds of smokers start before the age of 18, so it is vital that everything is done to put tobacco out of sight to protect future generations”.
Young people here also need to be protected and there should be a sustained public health message. It should stress that the perceived feel good factor of smoking does not match what you’re doing to your body and your health. Exercise produces a more lasting feel good glow; so does anything creative such as drawing or writing; or enjoying a hobby.
It is a hard fought war against tobacco. Cigarette manufacturers have been trying to increase the level of addiction of existing smokers. Research from Harvard School of Public Health has found that the amount of nicotine normally consumed per cigarette, regardless of brand name, rose by an average of 1.6 per cent every year between 1998 and 2005. Higher nicotine levels obviously make it harder for smokers to quit.
Fighting addiction – to cigarettes or shisha – is a long and hard job. But it can be done.
Sarah Khamis is The National’s social media editor
salalawi@thenational.ae
On Twitter: @SarahKhamisUAE