Hookah, also known as water pipe, is a centuries old contraption and shisha is the glamorised, modern version of hookah which is very trendy these days, especially amngst youngsters. Shisha contains various types of tobacco fermented with molasses and various fruity odours which conceals the smells of these dangerous chemicals like nicotine and tar. There are plenty of flavours available in shisha due to which a lot of teens are tempted to try and frequently smoke it. Shisha is gaining popularity not only in Pakistan but it has become a common practice in plenty of Middle Eastern countries, as well as in Bangladesh, India, Turkey and in China. Not only men and teenagers are consuming shisha but a lot of women are also consuming it and more as a fashion statement. It has been surveyed that around 100 million people are smoking shisha worldwide. More and more people are getting attracted to the habit of shisha-smoking because of the misconception that it is safer compared to cigarettes. However, they need to know that there are many adverse health consequences related with shisha that are quite similar to those associated with cigarettes. There was a well-conducted research on shisha which showed that shisha affects the lungs and heart much like cigarettes. Some of the other common diseases related to shisha usage are lungs cancer, food pipe cancer, emphysema, chronic lung disease, asthma and pneumonia. Besides this, there are plenty of infectious diseases that can spread through the use of shisha besides these known diseases. The sad part is that it is gaining a lot of fame and now it is offered in plenty of restaurants, cafés and hotels in Pakistan. Since this is a hazardous habit to adopt, there should be proper steps taken in order to create awareness in people. There are heavy metals like chromium, cobalt, arsenic and lead used in shisha and a normal shisha produces the smoke which contains nicotine and tar equivalent to about 20 cigarettes. So government should take some steps to restrict the use of shisha in restaurants as well as in public places.
SYED MUHAMMAD ABUBAKAR
Lahore
