IASS members during the discussion.

Doha • The Indian Anti Smoking Society(IASS) has expressed serious concerns on the spread of sheesha smoking among men and women in the country. The increasing number of sheesha cafes are pausing serious threat to the health and well-being of society and effective measures to curb this practice is need of the hour, the society officials said.

Friends sitting together, talking and taking their turns of syrupy fruit-flavoured tobacco smoke from bubbling water pipes have once again become a common scene in Qatar, which was the first Arab country to ban smoking in public places.

It is sad to see this evil habit is spreading very fast and especially the number of sheesha smokers are on rise during Ramadhan, the society officials said. Those who partake of the seesha thinking it is a safer option to cigarettes or other tobacco products are simply deluding themselves, Dr Abdul Rasheed, president of the society explained.

The World Health Organisation had selected the theme Tobacco deadly in any form or disguise as the topic of discussion during the World No Tobaco Day 2006 and Sheesha was one of the main concerns of the topic, Dr Rasheed said.

Most Seesha smokers have a misconception that the tobacco used in the Seesha’s herbal and does not affect the health. They forget the fact that while smoking hubble-bubble the aluminum foil, which is usually of poor quality, reacts with the burning charcoal and produced aluminum fumes that are carcinogenic, causing cancer.

The amount of carbon dioxide inhaled through the Seesha smoke is very high compared to the cigarette smoking, he added. When smoke goes through water, humidity in the smoke increases and this tend suspend the smoke for a longer time in the lungs.

There is a strong possibility of the presence bacteria mainly that causes tuberculosis, in the seesha pipe.

Studies have also proved that the sheesha pipe could be a carrier of bacteria causing infectious diseases like Hepatitis A that can be easily transmitted when seesha pipe is used by multiple smokers, he said.

People are justifying smoking the sheesha on the grounds it is supposedly less harmful than other forms of tobacco. They claim it is a safe alternative. But it is not al true and is not supported by medical researches.

Special tents are setup during Ramadan for Sheesha smoking and even Non-smokers are being roped into taking up the sheesha, as they are led to believe that it helps in socialising.

We are planning to launch a massive campaign to underline the evil effects of Sheesha smoking, the society officials said.