The Regulatory Officer for the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) in the Central Region, Rosemary Doe Sorkpor has stressed the need for people to refrain from smoking shisha.
According to her, its health implication is synonymous with the health implications associated with smoking cigarettes.
She adds that shisha, also known as hookah or water pipe smoking, has gained significant popularity among young people in recent years where they smoke flavored tobacco through a water pipe, often in social settings such as clubs and lounges.
Speaking in an interview on ATLFM’s ATLANTIC WAVE, she indicated that the perception that the smoking of shisha is harmless as compared to smoking cigarettes is a misconception.
“It is a misconception because whatever you have in there is a tobacco product; so the same harm that cigarette is causing is the same harm that the Shisha is causing. Research has shown that when you sit behind a shisha and smoke it for thirty (30) minutes, it’s like you’ve smoked hundred (100) packs of cigarettes” She said.
She opined that people who do not smoke but are exposed to secondhand smoke are also at risk of equal harmful effects as those who smoke directly.
Some of the known harmful effects of smoking or exposure to smoking include lung cancer, coronary heart disease, and throat cancer among a host of others.
Madam Rosemary Doe Sorkpor, therefore, implored all to stay away from Sisha, cigarette smoking as well as secondhand smoking to safeguard their health.
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Source: Enoch Chanimbe/ATLFMNEWS
